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Introducing the Watershed Restoration Initiative for
Washington State National Forests
by Bonnie Phillips
Thursday, March 27, 2007
Prolonged under-funding for road decommissioning and maintenance has led to a crisis in the watersheds of Washington’s national forests. Resolving this crisis—through a 10-year, $300 million effort—is the emphasis of a new and ambitious OFCO program. We are joined by the State Department of Ecology (DOE) and ten other environmental organizations in this effort. Our goal is to engage Congressman Norm Dicks and other members of our delegation as well as Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell in supporting funding for this massive effort.
In 2000, the DOE signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Regional Office of the U.S. Forest Service covering all national forests in the state of Washington. This MOA required, among other things, major road decommissioning efforts on the part of the Forest Service. In 2005, the Forest Service reported to DOE that it would take $300 million and 100 years at the current rate of funding to fix the problem. In the meantime, each year more roads fail and the backlog has become simply overwhelming.
Two-thirds of the problem occurs in the rivers that empty into Puget Sound and thus the early years’ efforts will focus there. This covers the entire Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and that portion of the Olympic National Forest from the Strait of Juan De Fuca down the east side of the Hood Canal (from the Elwha River to the Skokomish River).
It is time for the Forest Service to stop building new roads—whether temporary or permanent—and restore the failing watersheds that are so important to our ailing Puget Sound.
Why should OFCO be concerned about failing roads? Here are only a few reasons.
- Polluted water from failing and washed-out forest roads harms endangered and dwindling runs of salmon that need cold, clear water to thrive and reproduce. These waters harm the gills of salmon and trout. Fish eggs smother when silt settles into lean gravel beds.
- Deteriorating, unmaintained and poorly designed national forest roads contribute sediment-laden runoff into forest streams, making them wider, shallower and more susceptible to warming by the sun.
- Record storms further degrade stream habitat from already failing national forest road systems. As time passes, the price tag on fixing these harmful roads goes up.
- Predictions on changing climate call for more severe and frequent storms.
OFCO would like to applaud the Olympic National Forest staff for the good work they have already done on road decommissioning. Even before the Northwest Forest Plan went into effect in 1994, they were leaders in efforts to move from a timber-first forest to one looking at how to best restore the land from the overcutting, with resultant roads, in the past. After a great deal of public involvement, they finalized an Access and Travel Management Plan several years ago that showed they would like to decommission about 1/3 of their current system roads. There are many examples of the excellent work they have done. However, they are greatly limited by lack of Congressional funding. Our efforts to provide this funding show OFCO's long-term commitment to work for a healthy forest and aquatic ecosystem on public land.
Currently, OFCO is playing the coordinating role between DOE Director Jay Manning and his staff and the ten other environmental organizations which include: The Wilderness Society; Cascade Chapter, Sierra Club; American Whitewater; Pacific Rivers Council; Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility; Alpine Lakes Protection Society; North Cascades Conservation Council, Washington Wilderness Coalition; Pilchuck Audubon Society and The Mountaineers.
Bonnie Phillips and Kevin Geraghty are OFCO’s major contacts for this program..
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