In the winter of 2006/2007, a “one hundred year” storm came tearing through the pacific and intermountain northwest, dumping massive amounts of rain, causing major landslides and road failures throughout the region. The flood even caused a major blowout on the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park.
Then the same thing happened again this December. Another major storm event came through the Pacific Northwest once again causing massive landslides, road failures, power outages and other damage. Global climate change seems to be increasing the severity of winter storms in the region, and with those storms come significant impacts to the land and water. And while we can’t stop the storms, we do have some great tools at our finger tips to reduce the damage they cause. Dealing with the decaying, under-maintained forest road system is one of the first, and most important, steps we can take.
Yesterday the US Congress acknowledged that step, thanks in very large part to Washington Congressman Norm Dicks. The Congress appropriated $39.4 million to restore fisheries and clean water resources through road removal and remediation on national forests – especially those that have experienced significant storm damage. The funding can be used to reclaim unneeded, ecologically damaging forest roads, and to upgrade culverts to withstand higher water flows, and to reduce barriers to fish passage.
This is a fantastic first step towards dramatically reducing the very real threats of road failures posed by severe winter storms. But the Forest Service estimates that their national maintenance backlog on national forest roads is more than $5 billion. This is how much money it would take to bring all of the roads up to their full maintenance standard. But one way to reduce the maintenance backlog is to reduce the overall amount of Forest Service roads.
Nationally, the Forest Service has stated that they should reclaim between 140,000 and 180,000 miles of roads to get the road system down to the size that they can afford to fully maintain and that would still meet the needs of all forest users. Economists who compiled a report on the costs of such a significant road removal program estimated that it could cost approximately $90 million a year over 20 years to accomplish that goal, or approximately $1.8 billion over the life of the effort. At a more localized level, the state of Washington conservatively estimates that it will cost $300 million over the next ten years to bring the national forest roads in that state alone up to compliance with state standards. That will include a significant amount of road reclamation, as well as culvert upgrades and critical maintenance on the roads that we need to keep.
Wildlands CPR is a member of the Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative (WWRI) that helped advocate for passage of Congressman Dicks’ “Legacy Roads Remediation Initiative.” The WWRI is a coalition of conservation groups, tribes, recreation interests and state agencies working to address the severe impacts roads have on clean water and fisheries in Washington state. We’re thrilled this funding has been approved, and we’ll be working next year to ensure it is well-spent to truly address road problems. In addition, we’ll be working to find sustained, long-term funding sources that are needed to really deal with the impacts of roads on our watersheds, fisheries and wildlife.
For more information see our press releases on this issue or go to our Washington or Montana campaign pages.
To listen to a 2-minute radio interview, visit Montana Evening Edition and fast forward to the beginning of the segment at 6:57.
Read articles by The Missoula Independent about the appropriation.