Washtington Skokomish Watershed: Exemplar of the Legacy Roads and Trails Initiative
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The Road-RIPorter, Autumn Equinox 2010 3 — continued on next page — Washington’s Skokomish Watershed: Exemplar of the Le gacy Roads and T rails I nitiative By Mike Anderson, The Wilderness Society N estled into the southeast corner o the Olympic Pen- insula in western Washington, the Skokomish River is at the oreron t o the U.S. Forest Service’s growing eorts to restore damaged watersheds and reduce the envi- ronmental impacts o its road system. The Skokomish is both a ascinating case study o successul collaborative watershed restoration projec t and a politically crucial testing ground or large-scale road decommissioning in the national orests. From a political standpoint, the Skokomish watershed is highly signifcant because o its keen interest to Congressman Norm Dicks, whose district encompasses the Skokomish and the rest o the Olympic Peninsula . As chairman o the appro- priations subcommittee that controls the Forest Service bud- get, Congressman Dicks has spoken out or restoring national orest watersheds like the Skok omish. Most importantly , with the Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative (WWRI) support, Dicks has created and championed the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative, which has brought $180 mil- lion to national orests across the country since its inception, including $90 million in fscal year 2010. The Skokomish River is ecologicall y and economically important since it is the major source o resh water or Hood Canal – an arm o Puget Sound that is rich in seaood and aquatic diversity but requently troubled by low dissolved oxygen levels. It is also the home o se veral threatene d spe- cies o Pacifc salmon – Chinook, coho, and summer chum – as well as the threatened bull trout. The Skokomish is also notorious in Washington state because it is the most requently ooded river in the state, due in part to the watershed’s unique history o logging, road building, and hydropower development during the 20th century. A T roubled History of Excessive Logging and Flooding Beginning in the 1950s, the Forest Service deliberately overcut the national orest lands in the South Fork Skokomish, consistent with the management plan or the congressionally authorized Shelton Cooperative Sustained Yield Unit. The purpose o the Shelton Unit was to maintain a steady supply o timber to local mills by accelerating the harvest o national orest lands while the timber regrew on the cut-over private lands owned by Simpson Timber Company (now called Green Diamond Resources). The overcutting ceased in the 1980s, but not beore sixty percent o the South Fork Skokomish watershed had been clear-cut and hundreds o miles o logging roads had been built within the watershed, oten on steep and unstable slopes. The watershed quick ly began to unravel, as a mul- titude o road ailures and landslides sent vast amounts o gravel and sedimen t into the river’ s tributaries. Much o this material was swept downriver and deposited in the lower river valley, where (because o hydropower development by the City o Tacoma that diverted most o the water out o the river’s North Fork) water ows were insufcient to ush the gravel out o the river and into Hood Canal. Reviewing the project design in the feld. Photo by Mike Anderson.
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Washington’s Skokomish Watershed: Exemplar of the Legacy Roads and Trails Initiative By Mike Anderson, The Wilderness Society
Nestled into the southeast corner o the Olympic Pen-insula in western Washington, the Skokomish Riveris at the oreront o the U.S. Forest Service’s growing
eorts to restore damaged watersheds and reduce the envi-ronmental impacts o its road system. The Skokomish is botha ascinating case study o successul collaborative watershedrestoration project and a politically crucial testing ground orlarge-scale road decommissioning in the national orests.
From a political standpoint, the Skokomish watershed ishighly signifcant because o its keen interest to Congressman
Norm Dicks, whose district encompasses the Skokomish andthe rest o the Olympic Peninsula. As chairman o the appro-priations subcommittee that controls the Forest Service bud-get, Congressman Dicks has spoken out or restoring nationalorest watersheds like the Skokomish. Most importantly,with the Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative (WWRI)support, Dicks has created and championed the Legacy Roadsand Trails Remediation Initiative, which has brought $180 mil-lion to national orests across the country since its inception,including $90 million in fscal year 2010.
The Skokomish River is ecologically and economicallyimportant since it is the major source o resh water or HoodCanal – an arm o Puget Sound that is rich in seaood and
aquatic diversity but requently troubled by low dissolvedoxygen levels. It is also the home o several threatened spe-cies o Pacifc salmon – Chinook, coho, and summer chum –as well as the threatened bull trout.
The Skokomish is also notorious in Washington statebecause it is the most requently ooded river in the state,due in part to the watershed’s unique history o logging,road building, and hydropower development during the 20thcentury.
A Troubled History of
Excessive Logging and Flooding Beginning in the 1950s, the Forest Service deliberately
overcut the national orest lands in the South Fork Skokomish,consistent with the management plan or the congressionallyauthorized Shelton Cooperative Sustained Yield Unit. Thepurpose o the Shelton Unit was to maintain a steady supplyo timber to local mills by accelerating the harvest o nationalorest lands while the timber regrew on the cut-over privatelands owned by Simpson Timber Company (now called GreenDiamond Resources).
The overcutting ceased in the 1980s, but not beoresixty percent o the South Fork Skokomish watershed hadbeen clear-cut and hundreds o miles o logging roads hadbeen built within the watershed, oten on steep and unstable
slopes. The watershed quickly began to unravel, as a mul-titude o road ailures and landslides sent vast amounts ogravel and sediment into the river’s tributaries. Much o thismaterial was swept downriver and deposited in the lowerriver valley, where (because o hydropower development bythe City o Tacoma that diverted most o the water out o theriver’s North Fork) water ows were insufcient to ush thegravel out o the river and into Hood Canal.
Reviewing the project design in the feld. Photo by Mike Anderson.
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As the lower river flled with excess gravel rom theupper watershed, the river inevitably began to overowits banks more oten and more severely. The ooding hasravaged the homes and livelihoods o the valley residents, in-cluding armers and the Skokomish Tribe, whose reservationlies at the mouth o the river along Hood Canal. The oodinghas also damaged community relations, as accusations anddenials o responsibility have created serious conicts amongangry local residents and Tribal members, the Forest Service,Green Diamond Resources, and the City o Tacoma.
Collaborative Restoration: the Skokomish
Watershed Action Team and CongressmanDicks
In 2005, a new chapter o the Skokomish River storyopened modestly with an eort by the Forest Service anda conservation group, Conservation Northwest, to reachconsensus on a proposed “stewardship” thinning project inthe South Fork Skokomish watershed called the “Flat TimberSale.” Participants included representatives o conserva-tion groups such as the Olympic Forest Coalition and TheWilderness Society, along with representatives o the timberindustry, the Skokomish Tribe, the ofce o CongressmanNorm Dicks, and others. Ater a ew feld trips and meetings,the group agreed to support a modifed thinning project, romwhich timber sale receipts would be used to und high-prior-ity road decommissioning and other restoration work in the
watershed.
Encouraged by the successul agreement and construc-tive dialogue about Flat Stewardship, The Wilderness Societyand others began to discuss the possibility o continuingand expanding the collaboration to address restoration othe entire Skokomish watershed. Ater an all-day acilitateddiscussion, the group agreed in early 2006 to orm an inormalcollaborative group – the Skokomish Watershed Action Team(SWAT).
Congressman Dicks met with representatives o the SWATlater that year to discuss the group’s goals and strategy torestore the watershed. At the end o that meeting, Congress-
man Dicks asked the group to “give me a three-year plan.”The SWAT responded to his request a ew months later byproducing a three-year action plan that ocused on two objec-tives – implementation o high-priority Forest Service roaddecommissioning in the upper watershed and completion oa comprehensive study o ooding in the lower watershed bythe U.S. Army Corps o Engineers.
In April 2007, shortly ater Congressman Dicks becamechairman o the House Interior Appropriations Subcommit-tee, the Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative ormallyrequested an appropriation or the Forest Service to addressthe problems caused by roads in national orests in Wash-ington state including places like the Skokomish watershed.
The next month -- much to our surprise and great delight-- the subcommittee bill, or “Chairman’s Mark,” or fscal year2008 included $65 million or the Forest Service to establishand und a new Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initia-tive (LRT).
Crews work to remove one o the Skokomish’s roads. Photo by Mike Anderson.
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...sixty percent of the watershed had been
clear-cut and hundreds of miles of logging
roads had been built, often on steep and
unstable slopes.
In the 1990s the Forest Service began to address the
problems caused by the mismanagement o the South ForkSkokomish watershed. With the adoption o the NorthwestForest Plan in 1994, the Olympic National Forest shitedquickly rom producing timber to restoring damaged orestsand watersheds.
The Forest Service decommissioned more than 100 mileso high-risk roads in the South Fork watershed during the1990s. The Olympic National Forest adopted an Access andTravel Management Plan that called or reducing the size oits orest-wide road system by one-third. However, undingor watershed restoration and road decommissioning driedup early in the next decade, stalling most o the restorationeorts and leaving many high-risk roads in place.
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Cong. Dicks posing with
the Skokomish Watershed
Action Team during Legacy
and Trails feld tour,
summer o 2008. Photo by Mike Anderson.
Rather than earmarking unds or Washington, theSkokomish or other specifc areas, the bill specifed that themoney was to be used anywhere in the National Forest Sys-tem or “urgently needed road decommissioning…especiallyin areas where Forest Service roads may be contributing towater quality problems in streams and water bodies whichsupport threatened, endangered or sensitive species....” Con-gress ended up appropriating $40 million or LRT in 2008 and,with leadership by Congressman Dicks, has increased thatamount to $50 million in FY 2009 and $90 million in FY 2010.
Watershed Restoration in Action
The SWAT has worked closely with the Forest Serviceto identiy and request LRT unding or road projects in theSkokomish watershed that closely ft the statutory criteria.The SWAT’s 3-Year Action Plan has provided a solid basis orLRT proposals that are consistent with Forest Service priori-ties and widely-supported in the local community.
Earlier this year, two dozen organizations and localresidents involved in the SWAT sent a letter to the RegionalForester endorsing the Olympic National Forest’s LRT propos-als in the Skokomish. The Region subsequently allocated $2.6million or LRT work in the Skokomish, including $2.0 millionor road decommissioning and another $600,000 or stormdamage prevention. This may be the largest amount o LRTunding in the nation or a single watershed.
While ocusing mostly on cutting o sediment comingrom roads in the upper watershed, the SWAT has also col-
laborated on several other watershed restoration projects.Green Diamond Resources last year restored access to amile o salmon spawning habitat by replacing an impassableculvert with a bridge. This year the Forest Service and theSkokomish Tribe are restoring large woody structures to abarren stretch o the South Fork Skokomish River, using ahelicopter to air-lit 2,000 trees – root wads and all – rom theupland orest to the river channel.
In addition, the Tribe is restoring 200 acres o estuaryhabitat at the mouth o the river by removing two miles o olddikes. All told, $6 million is being invested in restoration othe Skokomish watershed this year, creating dozens o jobsand boosting the economy as well as improving environmen-tal quality.
The collaborative eorts and successes o the SWAT havenot gone unnoticed. The Skokomish watershed was one othree restoration case studies eatured in the U.S. exhibit atthe World Forestry Congress in Buenos Aires last all. TheOlympic National Forest’s hard-working hydrologist, RobinStoddard, received an Environmental Hero award rom theHood Canal Coordinating Council. And the Skokomish Grange– representing the long-suering but determined armers wholive in the valley – gave the SWAT a certifcate o appreciationor community service.
Restoration o the Skokomish is ar rom complete, butthe Forest Service -- with help rom the SWAT, CongressmanDicks, and the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative-- is making great headway in healing the headwaters o thisimportant watershed.
