>From: George Sexton >Subject: WALL: "Temporary" roads kill forests >Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 15:44:57 -0800 > >Howdy folks: > >Many of you who are doing forest monitoring have probably noted the shift >toward "temporary" roading in recent USFS timber sales. Virtualy every >timber sale in the Willamette National Forest now contains a number of >these so-called temporary roads. I encourage you to visit the post-harvest >mitigation and "obliteration" of such roads. The footprint of these roads >is inevitably permanent. Hydrological systems are altered through the >irreversible diversion of sub-surface flows, the creation of new water >channels and the formation of gullies. And more often than not, the >proposed "obliteration" is simply never done at all. I suggest appealing >"temporary" roading with the same vim and vigor that you use for all new >roading proposals. The following article by Bethanie Walder of Wildlands >CPR does a fantastic job of explaining the impacts of such "temporary" >roading. > >your pal, >George > > >THE PROBLEM WITH TEMPORARY ROADS: > >In December 1997, the FS revised their estimate of the National Forest road >network from 380,000 to 440,000 miles. The extra 60,000 miles comes from >unauthorized and unengineered roads -including the ubiquitous, stealthy, >temporary road. The Forest Service has no method for tracking tempoary >roads, nor does it include public highways, state or county roads in its >inventory. However, temporary roads cause lasting impacts to the National >Forests, as explained below. > >Temporary roads are not considered "system" roads. Most often they are >constructed in conjunction with timber sales, and financed by the timber >purchaser. Timber sale contracts typically require that temporary roads be >obliterated and revegatated, but they often remain on the ground after the >contract is closed, at which point they become the responsibility of the >Forest Service. > >The Forest Service has no design constraints for temporary roads other than >clearing width and location (though location is decided in conjunction with >the timber purchaser). Best management practices (in states having them) >may also apply to temporary road construction. If a temporary road is >proposed for sensitive habitat, the Forest Service can impose design >parameters, but that changes the road designation from "temporary" to >"specified short-term." In addition to the lack of design constraints, no >length constraints exist; a temporary road could be 1/8th of a mile or 18 >miles. In addition to timber sale access, temporary roads are often used >for mineral and gas exploration. > >Environmental analyses consider a maximum amount of temporary roads for a >project, and the contractor is limited to this amount. The FS sale >administrator and the timber sale contractor then jointly determine where >they will be built. > >According to Forest Service Manual (FSM) 7703.1, the agency is required to: >"Reestablish vegetative cover on any unnecessary roadway or area disturbed >by road construction on National Forest System lands within 10 years after >the termination of the activity that required its use and construction." > >Regardless of the FSM 10-year rule, temporary road can remain for much >longer. for example, timber sales typically last 3-5 years or more. If a >temporary road is built in the first year of a 6 year timber sale, its >intended use doesn't end until the sale is complete - 6 years. The timber >contract often requires the purchaser to close, obliterate the road a few >years after the FS completes revegetation work, slash burning, etc. So this >temporary road could remian open through this 6 years, plus another 2-3 >years before the 10 year clock starts ticking on the FSM guidelines. >According to several agency road specialists, FS contract administrators >also have signed off on contracts even though closure/obliteration has not >been done. Once the contract is closed, the timber purchaser is absolved of >responsibility, and the Forest Service absorbs the responsibility and cost >of complying with the FSM. > >Therefore, temporary roads can legally remain on the ground for up to 20 >years or more, yet they are constructed with few, if any environmental >safeguards. This leads to increased erosion and sedimentation, access for >illegal off-road vehicles, and other problems. But because temporary roads >aren't tracked, their total mileage and impacts are unknown. Their status >as non-system roads often makes them priorities for obliteration, though >timber sale contracts require this anyway. And as the agency obliterates >these roads, total road mileage doesn't change because they are not part of >the system. Therefore, scarce obliteration funds are wasted fixing problems >that timber purchasers were supposed to pay for, while obliteration for >system roads proceeds at a snail's pace and road construction and >reconstrucitn continue to scar the landscape. > >In addition, the Forest Service has been known to misapply the term >"temporary" to allow road construciton in places it is prohibited. The FSM >(2432.35b) states: Use temporary roads only for short-term non-recurrent >purchaser use." But when the Superior National Forest, as part of a Forest >Plan Amendment, implemented road density standards to comply with wolf >habitat requirements, the standards exempted temporary roads from density >calculations. Since the Amendment, the Superior has built few forest >development roads, but has built and rebuilt temporary roads. > >Temporary roads cause significant impacts on the land, require little >environmental oversight and remian untracked by the Forest Service. They >often remain on the land beyond their allowable term and eat up limited >road obliteration money that might be better spent on system roads. >Wildlands CPR is continuing our research into how to understand and >challenge temporary roads. For more inormation please contact us. > >www.wildrockies.org/wildCPR > > > > > > > >To subscribe to WALL-List send a blank email to: >mailto:wall-list-subscribe@igc.topica.com > >_____________________________________________________________ >Keep up with breaking news! Join our Hot Topics list. >http://www.topica.com/lists/breakingnews/t/12 > > ===================================================== Tim Hermach Native Forest Council PO Box 2190 Eugene, OR 97402 541.688.2600; fax 689.9835 or 461.2156 web page: http://www.forestcouncil.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~