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The Sisters Ranger District is proposing to close roughly 41 miles of road in
the Metolius Basin north of Highway 20 in order to improve wildlife habitats
and repair flood damage.
Roads closure is proposed seasonally in the Two Springs area between Suttle
Lake and the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness area to provide security for elk
calving.
The Forest Service also seeks to close one quarter mile of Green Ridge Road in
an effort to maintain the "Wildlife Primitive Area."
The area around Trout Creek Butte and Black Crater is summer range for deer and elk. The agency believes that closing roads -- primarily spur roads -- will reduce overall density to provide better deer and elk habitat. At the same time this would improve hunting.
According to Sisters Ranger District Wildlife Biologist Jeff Grenier, "Closing
roads simply increases the acreage available for wildlife habitat. It also
improves the effectiveness of habitat located near a road by eliminating
stresses to wildlife caused by vehicle traffic and human intrusion."
Grenier noted, "It is more useful to wildlife to have large, continuous blocks
of habitat so wildlife is not scattered into isolated pockets."
Mike Riehle, Sisters District Fish Biologist, said that the flood repair
project "Is part of a package of roads eroded during the February floods this
past year."
Although the most serious flood damage has already been repaired (by means such
as the establishment of culverts in the Camp Sherman area) using emergency
funds, the present project focuses on non-maintained dirt roads where water
collects and forms gullies which drain harmful sediment into streams which are
bull trout habitat.
"The bulk of the project is secondary roads which have this gully problem, and
we are proposing to fix them using `rolling dips'," Riehle said.
"The dips capture the water which flows off the road. If you use dips
frequently enough you don't build up a lot of water." According to Riehle, the
water merely dissipates.
"Part of the problem with some of these roads is that they are in the wrong
place. They interact with unnamed intermittent streams that flow into bull
trout spawning habitat like Canyon, Jack, Abbot, Candle and Brush Creeks,"
Riehle said.
Grenier anticipates some objections to the road closures from some hunters,
physically impaired people -- and possibly environmentalists.
"Some hunters like us to close roads to improve wildlife population densities
which improves their hunting experience," he said.
But he added that hunters who hunt from their vehicles may not be pleased by
the closures.
Handicapped, elderly and otherwise physically impaired people may also be
concerned that their access to the forest will be further restricted.
Environmental groups may feel that more roads should be closed.
In choosing which roads to close, Grenier said the Forest Service tries to be
sympathetic to these concerns.
"We look for parallel roads less than one quarter mile apart which go to the
same place; they seem redundant," he said. "We also target short spur roads."
According to the Forest Service's proposal, most of the targeted roads are well
under a mile long.
The Deschutes National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan set a target
maximum of two-and-a-half miles of road per square mile. Currently, there is an
average of about four miles of road per square mile. Road density is
particularly high in logging areas.
In addition to the agency's two main goals of flood restoration and habitat
improvement, road closures serve other purposes. Sometimes the Forest Service
closes roads that are no longer needed for recreational or administrative
reasons, or roads that created or used as part of a timber sale which did not
generate enough money to provide for closing the road.
Closing roads reduces the Forest Service's maintenance costs. Having fewer
roads reduces the risk of soil erosion and "draining of the forest" by
depriving another area of its natural water source when roads change natural
water flows.
The Sisters Ranger District is seeking public comment through January 17, and
hopes to make a final decision by March 26.
