Paved Road Helped Save Salmon River

Forest Service officials are crediting paved road along the South Fork of the Salmon River with keeping most of landslide out of the river.

Cascade District hydrologist Jennie Fischer said the slide in Sister Creek, a tributary of the South Fork, began just below the edge of melting snow at about 6,600 feet in the area burned three years ago by the Thunderbolt fire.

The combination of the fire, that killed all the trees along the creek, and the snowmelt created debris torrents in the creek channel and another nearby ravine.

Two dozen large trees with roots attached were swept down the channel, Fischer said. Mud shot 15 feet up the sides of other trees and huge boulders were moved out of the channel.

“If the road wasn’t paved, the landslide would have washed out the road,” she said.

A 48-inch culvert was blocked but held, she said.

“A new channel was created and some mud may have made it to the river, but most of the debris, including the big stuff, stayed behind the road,” Fischer said.

The road was closed only temporarily.