No Way Logging Roads Caused Forest Erosion, Researcher Says

A researcher says it’s “baloney” to claim that roads built for timber sales caused or contributed to heavy erosion damage in the Boise National Forest.

“There’s no way you can attribute any of the damage to roads,” said Walt Megahan, research hydrologist for a national environmental council.

The North Fork of the Boise River was damaged and its channel moved by a heavy rainstorm.

A Boise National Forest news release on Tuesday said some environmental groups suggested that roads in the area made the damage worse.

It was caused by severe fire damage from 1994 wildfires, researchers concluded.

“The numerous blow-outs on the North Fork of the Boise River were the result of heavy rains on areas that were burned at moderate to high intensity … it did not appear that the road network played a part in triggering this geologic event,” said Justin Hays, earth scientist for Idaho Rivers United.

The federal Bureau of Reclamation, state Division of Environmental Quality, and Fish and Game Department agents toured areas damaged by last year’s fires and then by erosion this year. They concluded that water repellent soils caused by severe fire damage caused strong water flows.

Tracy Trent, regional supervisor for Fish and Game, said, “There didn’t appear to be any correlation between roads and blow-outs. In some cases, what I saw was where roads stopped the flow and acted like waterbars to hold the sediment.”

Forest Service photography showed that there was no erosion damage in watersheds that were not damaged in last year’s fires.