Decommissioning old roads

Roads of all sizes can have negative impacts on wildlife, fragmenting habitat and cutting wildlife off from needed resources. Roads also can negatively impact the health of our watersheds by impacting water storage and flow, contributing high sediment into rivers, and providing access points into key riparian habitats.  On our highways, we are working with the Washington Department of Transportation to retrofit these high use roads for safer passage for fish and wildlife.  For smaller lower-use roads on our public lands if a road is no longer in use or is unnecessary to current management, removing it can be a first step in repairing ecological damage and reconnecting fragmented habitat.

Conservation Northwest and allies have been active in decommissioning these out-of-use roads and working to restore lost habitat. 

In 2008 Conservation Northwest coordinated with the Wenatchee-Okanogan National Forest to address priority restoration efforts, including replanting abandoned roadways. The partnership leverages private dollars and volunteer work with public funding. Thanks also to private funders, we are working each year in the east Cascades to successfully complete a number of projects:

• Completed:  Just west of Leavenworth with support from The Mountaineers Foundation, we provided funding to Forest Service road crews to decommission and restore a mile of road along the Wild and Scenic Wenatchee River and a mile in the Deadhorse Canyond Late Successional Reserve to increase security habitat for ungulates and other sensitive species.
  

• In Progress:  Long-term work to reduce road density and improve watershed function in the Upper Yakima Watershed including decommissioning and restoration of 3 road segments totaling 2.2 miles in the Upper Kachess River area in 2009, road to non-motorized trail conversion of nearly 1 mile of spur roads near Twin Lakes in the Roaring Ridge area in 2010, and decommissioning and restoration of approximately 2 miles of old Plum Creek logging roads in the Snoqualmie Pass Adapative Management Area.  Thank you to The Mountaineers Foundation, Puget Sound Energy, New Belgium Brewery, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest Resource Advisory Council, and the Cle Elum Ranger District for making this work possible.  11 miles of old Plum Creek roads in the Snoqualmie Pass AMA are still in need of restoration as funds become available.
  
• In Progress:  In 2011 we have launched a partnership with the Methow Ranger District to decommission and restore just over 8 miles of roads in the Chewuch watershed to reduce sedimentation into the river, address numerous stream crossings, and improve the watershed health.  The Mountaineers Foundation has already contributed $3000 towards this effort and we are currently working to identify additional funds to leverage those dollars and begin field work.

to ensure appropriate public funding is provided to restoring our watersheds.