Increasing Public Funding to Address Damaging Federal Forest Roads
PRC is partnering with many other NGOs and state agencies, with support from U.S. Representatives and Senators, to increase federal funding for targeted road-related watershed restoration and to build upon the success achieved by the Washington Watersheds Initiative, through appropriations and the economic stimulus package.
Roads are widely recognized as a risk to aquatic ecosystems on federal lands nationwide. Road restoration has been specifically identified in the Northwest Forest Plan and other recent federal policies as a high priority for aquatic conservation on federal lands. Although this work has progressed in some National Forests and BLM districts, only a fraction of the road restoration work identified to date has been accomplished – primarily due to lack of resources.
- Road fill failure on federal forest near Indigo Creek, Southern Oregon. Photo by C. Frissell, PRC
PRC is partnering with many other NGOs and state agencies, with support from U.S. Representatives and Senators, to increase federal funding for targeted road-related watershed restoration.
PRC co-sponsored briefings for Congressional staff on Tuesday, June 9th, on Capitol Hill, in support of FY 2010 funding. Download our "Roads and Rivers Fact Sheet" here, which was provided to participants.
In February 2010, The Wilderness Society released a memo showing how much carbon could be sequestered just by revegetating unneeded forest roads across the United States. This memo reveals yet another benefit of decommissioning this problematic road system and yet another reason PRC and our colleagues support increased funding for this initiative.
Congress Appropriates Ninety Million Dollars for Urgent Road Decommissioning and Repair
On October 23, 2009, Congress enacted an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2010 that provides ninety million dollars to the Forest Service for "urgently needed road decommissioning, road . . . maintenance. . . and removal of fish passage barriers, especially in areas where Forest Service roads may be contributing to water quality problems in streams and water bodies which support threatened, endangered or sensitive species or community water sources." Public Law No. 111-88. This bill increased funding for the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative from the 50 million dollars provided for Fiscal Year 2009.
Read more about the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative, a funding program to address urgently needed watershed restoration across the United States on National Forest Lands. This Initiative developed as a result of work by the PRC and its partners in the Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative. The Forest Service recently recognized the work of the Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative, presenting the coalition with the Rise to the Future Award for Public Awareness. Read the full story here.
Stimulus Funds for Forest Service Protect Rivers while Creating Watershed Restoration Jobs
The federal economic stimulus package appropriated $650 million to the United States Forest Service for "priority road, bridge and trail maintenance and decommissioning, including related watershed restoration and ecosystem enhancement projects." A large proportion of these funds may be directed to road removal and stormproofing projects necessary to protect water quality on western rivers and streams which support imperiled salmon and trout, and supply drinking water to millions of citizens. PRC is following these dollars closely with an eye to ensuring that watershed benefits and job creation go hand in hand. Read a conservation group letter advocating for how these funds can be best spent to address road-related watershed restoration.
Read more about funding for watershed restoration through the President's Stimulus Package.
