Reducing the Impacts of Forest Roads on State and Private Lands in Oregon

Recent studies confirm that road drainage issues are a problem on Oregon’s nonfederal forestlands. Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) monitoring reports have found a general lack of filtering of drainage waters near streams, and have found that steep gradient roads tend to have cross drainage structures at wider spacing than lower-gradient roads. ODF further found that a significant proportion of active and inactive roads on state and private lands can deliver sediment to streams by ditch delivery (ODF 1996). Skaugset and Allen (1998) found that of surveyed road miles in five Oregon georegions, a total of 31% of the road length miles were rated certain (25%) or possible (6%) for sediment delivery to streams. Although a road risk reduction program is being implemented on state lands that intends to reduce unfiltered road discharges and risks at road crossings, this work has not been fully evaluated. The extent to which road risks are being (or will be) reduced to the greatest extent feasible on private lands under existing voluntary programs is even less clear. Actual extent of sediment delivery over time is higher than these estimates, because culvert failures during storms commonly multiply the length of road surface that diverts runoff and sediment into live streams (Avolio 2003, Furniss et al. 1997, Weaver et al. 1995).

Poorly executed road decommissioning effort on the Tillamook State Forest. The operator failed to properly excavate road fill from this stream crossing of a coho-bearing tributary to the Devils Lake Fork Wilson River, resulting in continuing streamside erosion and sediment runoff. Ill-managed watershed management practices threaten the survival and recovery of ESA-listed coho salmon and other native fish and wildlife species. Photo by C. Frissell, PRC

Citation without Link:
ODF monitoring report. Oregon Department of Forestry. 1996. Road Sediment Monitoring Project Report: Survey of Road Drainage in Report for the Department of Environmental Quality.

Read an article in the Oregonian discussing the roads and sediment problem in Oregon

PRC will be pursuing efforts to reduce the impacts of roads on the Elliott State Forest through the proposed HCP.  Click here to learn more about the HCP.