Roads

Poorly maintained roads are a problem nationwide. Right now the National Forest Service has a backlog of road maintenance to the tune of 54 billion dollars. In 2004 Montana's national forest road maintenance backlog was 500 million. It is probably higher today.

Keith Hammer has written an informative series on roads, road maintenance and road issues on his forest. See his series Roads to Ruin.

Bitterroot National Forest Road Issues:  The problem of deferred road maintenance has become routine on the Bitterroot National Forest. In the case of Willow Creek road, sediment chronically erodes into “water quality limited” Willow Creek, a bull trout bearing stream. The chronic problem became acute after record breaking rains on June 13, 2017. The Willow Creek road would be the primary loghaul route for the huge proposed Gold Butterfly timber sale. While the BNF loses millions of taxpayer dollars logging public forest, they don’t have the budget for timely road maintenance. And their own statements seem to indicate they don’t recognize the full extent of the problem. The Gold Butterfly timber sale project would build 8 more miles of road in this area where they can’t maintain what is already there. Deferred logging can result in old growth forest; deferred road maintenance can result in dead fish.

Below debris flow, FR#969 – Willow Creek Road, primary haul road for proposed Gold Butterfly timber sale.

 

Debris flow going off road into Willow Creek, already listed as impaired by MT DEQ due to road sediment.

Debris flow burying Willow Creek Road and flowing into Willow Creek.

Origin of debris flow, Willow Creek Road, switch back north of Willow Creek. No erosion on nearby un-roaded slopes.

 

The Bitterroot National Forest Gold-Butterfly public presentation overview document states, "most of the project area contains a well-developed road system; primary Forest Service (FS) roads are in good condition."

As can be seen in these photos, Willow Creek Road, and possibly other roads need not just maintenance, but reconstruction to meet BMP (Best Management Practices) requirements.

Forest Service road maintenance backlog in Montana was almost $500 million in 2004. The forest Service has a 10 billion backlog.

For more information  LINK

Forest Service Flunks Fiscal Responsibility