Nonpoint Pollution from Forest Practices

Increased sedimentation and water temperature are historically the greatest problems associated with forest practices. These problems are mostly caused by improper road construction and maintenance, and by careless timber harvesting next to streams. Forest practices on most private and state lands are regulated by forest practice rules (PDF).

The rules preserve trees in streamside areas to shade the streams, which keeps them cool, and provide the woody debris that builds in-stream salmon habitat. They also require road construction and maintenance to help prevent stream silting, provide protection for wetlands, and set restrictions on pesticide use.

The forest practices rules are based on the 1999 Forests and Fish Report, which was developed by Washington State forest landowners and federal, state, local, and tribal governments. These participants agreed on a new set of aquatic resource protection commitments governing forest practices on state and private forest lands. Ecology is an active participant in the Forest Practices Adaptive Management Program for initiating changes when necessary to meet the goals of the Forests and Fish Report.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Ecology believe that, as a result of these commitments, waters covered by the report will meet water quality standards in the future. Recognizing the ability of these changes to protect water quality, EPA and Ecology assured the participants that the forest practices rules would be relied on to bring waters into compliance with the state water quality standards and the federal Clean Water Act.

The initial period for granting these Clean Water Act assurances ends on June 30, 2009. Ecology is conducting a formal review of the forest practices rules and supporting programs to determine if the Clean Water Act assurances should be renewed, modified, or discontinued.

Conducting the 2009 review of the Clean Water Act assurances given to the state's Forest Practices Program (PDF) describes the Clean Water Act assurances that EPA and Ecology identified in response to implementation of the Forests and Fish Report. The paper also outlines what information and actions are needed to continue these assurances beyond 2009.

For small forest landowners, the Small Forest Landowners Office in the Washington State Department of Natural Resources provides financial and technical assistance, and education.

Watershed Restoration Initiative (Forest Roads)

News

TV Washington coverage of April 04, 2008, Watershed Restoration & Forest Roads Symposium, Tacoma
www.tvw.org/media/mediaplayer.cfm?EvId=2008040052A

Congress Approves $39 Million for Vital Watershed Restoration on National Forest Lands

Feds must live up to commitment to maintain failing logging roads - Jay Manning's guest editorial in the Seattle Times

Road fill failure from plugged pipe. Photo courtesy of Jerry Shervey, Department of Ecology.

Road fill failure. Pipe sticking out of road embankment. Photo courtesy of Jerry Shervey, Department of Ecology.

Water flowed over the road and eroded embankment Photo courtesy of Jerry Shervey, Department of Ecology..

Looking downstream at pipe inlet plugged with logs. The plug caused water to overflow and damage road fill. Photo courtesy of Jerry Shervey, Department of Ecology.

Inlet of a 15-foot diameter metal culvert pipe. The inlet is slowly plugging from rocks moving down the stream channel. Metal flaps on the bottom half of the pipe are bent inwards. Photo courtesy of Jerry Shervey, Department of Ecology.

State government, treaty Indian tribes in western Washington, and 13 conservation groups have joined forces to seek adequate federal funding for the maintenance and decommissioning of abandoned and deteriorating national forest roads in Washington.

Thousands of miles of crumbling USDA Forest Service (USFS) roads in our state are degrading water quality, causing flooding and harming habitat for endangered salmon runs. Two-thirds of the problem roads drain into an already ailing Puget Sound.

In addition to the funding, the groups propose that the USFS:

Prioritize work to get the “biggest bang for the buck.”
Use more field-based information to inventory, assess and develop projects.
Provide adequate Forest Service staff to support project partnerships.
Dedicate adequate monitoring funds to measure success.
Strategically redeploy expert federal agency staff.

The 13 conservation groups include:

Olympic Forest Coalition	Wildlands CPR
Pacific Rivers Council	American Whitewater
The Wilderness Society	Cascade Chapter, Sierra Club
Alpine Lakes Protection Society	North Cascades Conservation Council
Pilchuck Audubon Society	The Mountaineers
Washington Wilderness Coalition	Wild Fish Conservancy
Gifford Pinchot Task Force

Presentation and Brochure

Presentation: USFS Failing Road Networks

Brochure (PDFs — 8 1/2 x 11 and 11 x 17)

For more information on the Watershed Restoration Initiative please contact:

Stephen Bernath

Water Quality Program

WA Department of Ecology

Phone: 360.407.6459

Email: sber461@ecy.wa.gov

Back to Land Use and Nonpoint Pollution

Last updated June 2008