Conservation Northwest

Roads and wildlife Fewer Forest Service roads Bringing down the Costs to wildlife Moose and calf use a road closed and restored on the Clearwater National Forest in Idaho. Photo Wildlands CPR More than 21,000 miles of roads crisscross Forest Service lands in Washington State—three times the mileage of the state highway system. You could drive across the United States seven times before retracing your steps on that amount of road. Seventy-two percent, or 15,000 miles, of these roads are open to public travel, but nearly all forest roads cause impacts. Open roads and those closed can create opportunities for illegal off-road vehicle use. Indeed, closed roads often receive the least maintenance, sometimes being abandoned to nature. Unfortunately, big storms don't always play nice with abandoned roads. Local/state governments and private entities are spending millions of dollars to address road-related stormwater problems on their roads in Washington, but Forest Service roads are essentially left neglected—even though, as of 2005, the Forest Service estimated their road maintenance backlog in the state at about $300 million. In 2011, the Forest Service could only afford to maintain 18% of their roads in our state to standard. But failing to maintain roads only exacerbates the significant impacts to water quality, fisheries, and wildlife. Most Forest Service roads were built decades ago. Often, they were poorly designed and even more poorly sited— running adjacent to streams and cutting across steep slopes. Storms and rain on snow events quickly eat away at this simple infrastructure. Undersized culverts get plugged with debris, turning roads into dams. When the force of the water is high enough, culverts and entire road sections can fail, potentially dumping tons of sediment into the stream. As roads deteriorate they can fail and become impassable, preventing people from getting to their favorite recreational areas. A series of major storm events over the past decade have time and again illustrated these significant problems. Most Forest Service roads are unpaved, unsealed dirt roads, creating a source of chronic erosion and stream sedimentation, especially as muddy water collects in road ditches that drain directly into streams. Many of these streams are drinking water sources for Washington's cities and towns, yet excess sediment from problem roads can greatly increase water filtration costs. 12 Washington's headwater streams also provide cool, clear water and spawning habitat for numerous threatened salmon stocks. Excess fine sediment clogs the gravel streambed, suffocating eggs and reducing cover and food for young fish. But roads don't only impact water quality and fisheries. They are also a leading cause of habitat fragmentation for wildlife. Wildland roads carve important habitat into smaller and smaller pieces, forcing wildlife to use roadless and wilderness areas as refugia even if those areas tend to be higher elevation, lower productivity lands. For many species, both endangered and common, road densities above one mile of road per square mile of land cause significant habitat degradation. Roads help spread nonnative, invasive plants, pests, and pathogens, many of which further degrade wildlife habitat. Legacy Roads and Trails Fortunately, concerned citizens, land managers, and even elected officials have begun investing in solutions to these problems. For example, Wildlands CPR leads the Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative (WWRI), a 20-member organization including Conservation Northwest, the Washington Dept. of Ecology, the Upper Columbia United Tribes, and many others. WWRI is working to reduce the harm caused from Forest Service roads by pressing the Forest Service to fix the ones we need and reclaim the ones we don't. The lead WWRI campaign is advocating for the Forest Service Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Program. Since 2008, Congress has appropriated $270 million to Legacy Roads and Trails nationally, with $17.7 million going to national forests in Washington. That indispensable Washington funding has been used to reclaim 166 miles of unneeded roads and restore fish passage at 33 bridges and culverts. It has Box Canyon Creek Floodplain closure and rehabilitation, upstream from Kachess Lake— before (left) and after (right). Work funded by Conservation Northwest and USFS R6 Fish/ Wildlife Program. Photos Bill Ehinger Spring-Summer 2012www.conservationnw.org 12 Spring-Summer 2012www.conse

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