The wind-driven 2020 Almeda fire that destroyed thousands of homes and businesses in southern Oregon also burned down invasive blackberry bushes. Some were as high as six feet along Bear Creek, which flows almost 30 miles past a series of small cities, including Phoenix, until finally reaching the Rogue River.

A section of the creek at Phoenix’s Blue Heron Park is now called the Miracle Mile, thanks to an off-duty hydrogeologist who soon after the fire accidentally stepped into a long-forgotten spring.

That turned out to be one of 16 springs that had been blocked from Bear Creek 75 years ago after northbound Oregon 99 was redirected.

A berm, as high as nine feet in places, obscuring the view of the creek from people using the Bear Creek Greenway.

The berm has been removed and peopl

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