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Volunteers Needed to Help OFCO
Monitor
Back Roads of South Fork Skok
Kevin Geraghty
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
This summer OFCO will be conducting a walking survey of undrivable federal roads in the South Fork Skokomish watershed.
The "Skok" has probably the greatest visibility of any watershed on the forest. A history of abusive logging has led to a severely aggraded bed and chronic flooding along the lower river floodplain, non-federal land which is home to private residents and to the Skokomish Tribe. The Skok is the most important river to flow into Hood Canal, and its freshwater contribution is vital to the aquatic health of the entire Canal. Historically, it had the most significant anadromous fish runs on the Canal. Re-establishing these imperiled runs is a priority for the Skokomish Tribe and for Hood Canal restoration efforts. The Skok's visibility has made it a magnet for aquatic restoration dollars and for restoration planning efforts. Over the last five years, a high proportion of the Olympic National Forest's (ONF) road decommissioning and aquatic upgrading expenditures have gone there.
Against this background, our field surveying will focus on two sorts of roads: 1) roads which have been decommissioned as part of ongoing Skok restoration efforts and are no longer system roads; and 2) system roads which are not currently drivable, either by intent (level 1 "storage" roads) or by neglect (level 2 roads, which are officially drivable, high-clearance roads).
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Although the Skok is arguably the most studied and monitored watershed on the ONF, the parts of the extended road system that cannot be reached by automobile are in fact still under-monitored. Walking roads is time consuming, and the ONF has few "boots on the ground." We hope OFCO can help fill this knowledge gap. Significant aquatic risks often lurk undetected on undrivable system roads, and our system road surveying will focus on those which, by virtue of their landscape position, are likeliest to conceal such problems. On decommissioned roads, we will be most interested in those segments which have been tested by at least one big winter flood. We will be looking for any evidence that the decommissionings were not done properly, or were not successful in reducing sediment delivery into streams to natural background levels. Recent road removals on the ONF have generally been done to fairly exacting standards, but some earlier work does not meet modern standards.
Mike Haggerty, the fisheries hydrologist who is under contract to OFCO for work on state lands, will be collaborating with me on a protocol (survey form) for the monitoring work. Wildlands CPR, one of our partner organizations in the Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative Coalition, developed a survey form for use in tracking implementation monitoring of the work done through the Forest Legacy Fund. Mike will use some of that information for our final survey form. He also will be producing special maps and entering data into GIS. In mid-May, a small group of our board members will spend a day in the field with Mike and me to test the protocol and to learn what to look for. Then we'll modify the survey form, as necessary, and be ready to start the program—with your help.
We are looking for volunteers for the surveying project this summer. Volunteers will receive training and should expect an enjoyable time walking the ground in seldom-visited portions of the Skokomish watershed.
Contact OFCO Executive Director Bonnie Phillips at bonnie@olympicforest.org or (360) 456-8793 for more information.
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