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| Signs
like the above will be posted, when possible,
one year in advance of a road closure and abandonment. |
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Road
Closures On Some WDFW Owned Forest Lands
Lonnie Landrie, WDFW Forest Road Coordinator
Based
on recommendations presented to the Legislature in the form
of the Forest and Fish Report of 1999 the Legislature directed
the Forest Practices Board to develop new rules for forested
lands designed to provide protection for aquatic resources
and ensure compliance with the Endangered Species Act and
the Clean Water Act.
New rules
in the Forest Practices Act approved in May 2001 specifically,
WAC 222-24-051, require all forest landowners with 500 or
more acres of forest land to develop a Road Maintenance and
Abandonment Plan (RMAP) for all their forested land by July
2006. The RMAP requires that all forest roads be identified,
their condition assessed, problems that are or pose a threat
to a public resource be identified and provide a schedule
of when the problems will be corrected.
WDFW owns
about 96,000 acres of forested land throughout the State that
have nearly 500 miles of forest road. WDFW has been complying
with the new rules and has submitted RMAP’s for five
Wildlife Areas that amount to 40% of the total forested land
Statewide. The remaining forested land continues to be assessed,
plans developed and submitted on an annual basis.
Some of
the road problems encountered thus far include culverts which
block fish passage, roads adjacent to streams that deliver
sediment to those streams, roads that are unstable or not
safe and roads that need improved ditch lines for better drainage.
Historically, many forest roads were constructed near streams
because this was the flattest terrain and made for easy timber
haul. These stream adjacent roads are sometimes the roads
with the greatest number of problems and negative impact to
the resource. In some such cases the best action to protect
the resource and responsible use of financial resources is
to close (abandon) the road to all motorized vehicle access.
Requirements to abandon a road include removal of all culverts,
provide sufficient cross drains (water bars), blocked to motorized
vehicle access and left in a suitable condition to control
erosion.
As all
large forest landowners including WDFW meet the requirements
of the new rules and correct resource problems, the public
using roads on these forested lands will encounter road improvements;
roads with little or no changes and in some cases previously
open roads that have been or will be closed and abandoned
to protect the resource. When possible, roads that have been
identified for closure and abandonment on WDFW lands will
be posted on site one year in advance.
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