Wildlands CPR Partners with Lolo National Forest to Assess Road Hazards
This past summer Wildlands CPR partnered with the Lolo National Forest (LNF) to assess the condition of old roads, evaluate past road removal work, and document instances of illegal off-road vehicle use. Our expert field crew carefully evaluated 53 miles of abandoned roads while taking over 450 photos and recording 310 GPS locations of noteworthy observations.
We focused on three areas in western Montana, with the first just west of Missoula around Rennic and Stark Mountains. We then went to the Clear Creek area in the Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District, and to a separate project area near an antimony mine site.
By carefully walking each road using GPS devices, as well as traditional data collection methods such as string boxes and clinometers, our field crew provided the LNF with extensive and detailed assessments. They recorded the presence and condition of culverts, fillslope failures, and roadbed erosion and gullying. They documented instances of weed infestations and wildlife sign. They documented illegal, user-created off-road vehicle routes. And they also corrected old Forest Service maps that still showed roads that were no longer on the ground; in some cases they documented old jammer roads that were not on the maps.
Wildlands CPR Staff Scientist Adam Switalski managed the effort, and worked with Lolo National Forest Engineer Randall Gage to coordinate data collection and ensure accurate field techniques. Montana ORV Coordinator Adam Rissien helped arrange the partnership through a Cost Share Agreement, with Wildlands CPR funding 20 percent of the total project and the Forest Service paying the rest.
After the field season, Adam and Adam presented a summary of the data and key findings to LNF resource specialists and program managers. The Forest Service spent significant time reviewing the data for each road in order to set restoration priorities and determine what is needed to fix resource damage. Our work also highlighted challenges the agency faces in addressing road problems. For example, we found several problem culverts on old roads that are now heavily revegetated and provide cover for wildlife. Properly removing the culverts would require heavy equipment, which necessitates the use of the revegetated roads for access. So the conundrum the agency faces is whether or not to clear the road’s vegetation so heavy equipment can access the stream crossings and replace the culverts. This would benefit fisheries and water quality while temporarily reducing wildlife cover. Without action, research shows the culverts are likely to fail.
To reduce impacts, the LNF is looking at new ways to reach remote areas that need active restoration, such as using hand crews to walk in and remove culverts. However, the feasibility of this approach is uncertain. Ideally, the Forest Service would use heavy equipment not only to remove the culverts, but also to remove the old road bed and recontour the slope. While this may be more expensive, it would provide a permanent solution and improve watershed integrity. We expect that fully recontoured, de-compacted roads would revegetate in a few years and quickly provide wildlife cover again.
With limited funds for road maintenance and restoration, the Forest Service will have to weigh many competing needs for management — they don’t have enough money to fix every abandoned culvert. This is why Wildlands CPR is working to secure additional Forest Service funding for road remediation. In the 2010 budget, Congress appropriated 90 million dollars for the agency’s Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative. This money can be used to address problems with old, abandoned roads.
We focused on three areas in western Montana, with the first just west of Missoula around Rennic and Stark Mountains. We then went to the Clear Creek area in the Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District, and to a separate project area near an antimony mine site.
By carefully walking each road using GPS devices, as well as traditional data collection methods such as string boxes and clinometers, our field crew provided the LNF with extensive and detailed assessments. They recorded the presence and condition of culverts, fillslope failures, and roadbed erosion and gullying. They documented instances of weed infestations and wildlife sign. They documented illegal, user-created off-road vehicle routes. And they also corrected old Forest Service maps that still showed roads that were no longer on the ground; in some cases they documented old jammer roads that were not on the maps.
Wildlands CPR Staff Scientist Adam Switalski managed the effort, and worked with Lolo National Forest Engineer Randall Gage to coordinate data collection and ensure accurate field techniques. Montana ORV Coordinator Adam Rissien helped arrange the partnership through a Cost Share Agreement, with Wildlands CPR funding 20 percent of the total project and the Forest Service paying the rest.
After the field season, Adam and Adam presented a summary of the data and key findings to LNF resource specialists and program managers. The Forest Service spent significant time reviewing the data for each road in order to set restoration priorities and determine what is needed to fix resource damage. Our work also highlighted challenges the agency faces in addressing road problems. For example, we found several problem culverts on old roads that are now heavily revegetated and provide cover for wildlife. Properly removing the culverts would require heavy equipment, which necessitates the use of the revegetated roads for access. So the conundrum the agency faces is whether or not to clear the road’s vegetation so heavy equipment can access the stream crossings and replace the culverts. This would benefit fisheries and water quality while temporarily reducing wildlife cover. Without action, research shows the culverts are likely to fail.
To reduce impacts, the LNF is looking at new ways to reach remote areas that need active restoration, such as using hand crews to walk in and remove culverts. However, the feasibility of this approach is uncertain. Ideally, the Forest Service would use heavy equipment not only to remove the culverts, but also to remove the old road bed and recontour the slope. While this may be more expensive, it would provide a permanent solution and improve watershed integrity. We expect that fully recontoured, de-compacted roads would revegetate in a few years and quickly provide wildlife cover again.
With limited funds for road maintenance and restoration, the Forest Service will have to weigh many competing needs for management — they don’t have enough money to fix every abandoned culvert. This is why Wildlands CPR is working to secure additional Forest Service funding for road remediation. In the 2010 budget, Congress appropriated 90 million dollars for the agency’s Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative. This money can be used to address problems with old, abandoned roads.
Conclusion
This project represents a new direction for Wildlands CPR, where we collect data the Forest Service needs to help inform projects that will lead to better functioning watersheds. We hope to continue this work in the coming year and want to thank the Lolo National Forest for a great partnership. Finally, and most important, we want to thank our field crew, Heather Vaughn-McAdams and Adam Bender, for all their fine work and diligence in the field.Resource Information
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Field Note
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