In the winter of 1995-1996, right on schedule with predicted historical records, the Clearwater National Forest in Idaho experienced a dramatic rain-on-snow event that caused extensive flooding and more than 900 landslides. Old, unstable logging roads were the cause of more than half of the landslides, several of which literally carried homes off the mountains and others which smothered tribal fisheries in the streams below.
A recent front-page article in the Missoulian, “Preliminary study: Removing roads improves wildlife habitat” http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/11/09/news/local/news05.txt [1] highlights work by Wildlands CPR to assess the ecological benefits and impacts of restoring watersheds by removing unneeded, damaging old roads. The article gives a nod to the economic benefits of road removal on the Clearwater National Forest as well, noting multi-million dollar investments by the Nez Perce Tribe.
Turning a Natural Disaster into Ecological and Economic Opportunity
The Clearwater National Forest responded quickly to the crisis, acquiring emergency funds from Congress to begin an extensive road decommissioning program. The Nez Perce Tribe, wanting to restore and protect traditional fisheries of salmon and trout, brought additional funding, staffing and commitment to the project. With as many as 40 miles of road per square mile of land in legacy logging areas, the agency and tribe had their work cut out for them. To date, the agency and tribe have removed more than 600 miles of unused, unsafe and ecologically harmful roads.
Road decommissioning on the Clearwater provides high-wage jobs for local worker, restores watersheds, and reduces the likelihood of future landslides. The Tribe alone has invested over $12 million in road decommission projects, much of which is used to employ local folks to do the work.
However, budget cutbacks in the Forest Service haven’t allowed the Clearwater National Forest or the Nez Perce Tribe to monitor if wildlife and native plants use restored habitat more than old roads. In fact, there isn’t much peer-reviewed scientific research about the effects of road decommissioning on wildlife, vegetation, and stream integrity.
Wildlands CPR recognized both the extraordinary nature of the restoration program on the Clearwater and the importance of comprehensive monitoring of that work. In 2004 Wildlands CPR received a generous grant from the National Forest Foundation that enabled us to create the first citizen monitoring program. Our goals were twofold: to collect data about the effectiveness of road removal as a restoration strategy and to increase local community understanding of and support for watershed restoration.
Citizen Scientists Help Measure the Benefits
During the first year of the program, a University of Montana graduate student and professional wildlife biologist helped us develop research methods for citizen scientists to use. Citizen science is simply the incorporation of volunteers into the planning, data collection, or analysis of a scientific project. These monitoring methods have included:
- remotely-triggered cameras to photograph large animals in action;
- baited track plates to collect the footprints of smaller critters;
- identification of noxious weed problems;
- stream sediment measurements and collection of aquatic insects whose abundance and diversity help us measure the health and biodiversity of the stream.
Cliff Swanson, a citizen science volunteer from the Clearwater Flycasters understands the importance of participating in the project: “As a retired mathematics teacher it was exciting to see science and math used in a real world setting. It made me feel good to help with a project that will have an impact on future restoration practices.”
Over the course of the project 125 volunteers have contributed nearly 1,000 hours of their time documenting the return of the wild on the Clearwater National Forest! Individuals and groups of volunteers from Idaho and Montana have joined us in the field:
- the Clearwater Flycasters and Friends of the Clearwater;
- Hellgate, Orofino, and Kamiah High Schools;
- the University of Montana, the University of Idaho, and Washington State University.
For more information on this project, please visit http://www.wildlandscpr.org/restoration [2] or contact Wildlands CPR Science Coordinator Adam Switalski [2].