Congress Approves $39 Million for Vital Watershed Restoration on National Forest Lands: Funds to target crumbling forest roads that harm clean water and salmon habitat

Seattle, WA (December 20, 2007) - Yesterday, Congress passed an appropriations bill which included $39.4 million for urgently needed watershed restoration on national forest lands. Once President Bush signs this bill, the money will go to areas where decaying U.S. Forest Service roads contribute to water quality problems, especially to areas that support threatened or endangered species, like salmon and steelhead, and provide clean drinking water for communities.

Thousands of miles of crumbling national forest roads in Washington state are degrading water quality, causing flooding and harming salmon habitat. "It's great to see this long-overdue attention to our forest road infrastructure," said Chris Frissell, Director of Science and Conservation for Pacific Rivers Council. "Removal of unneeded roads and stormproofing of the rest are critical to protect watersheds from intensified storms and fires expected under future climate conditions. Doing nothing is simply not an option if we care about clean rivers and fish."

The passage of this legislation is the result of cooperative work among conservation groups, state leaders, individuals and congressional representatives. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) led the effort in Congress. "Congressman Dicks understands how damaging forest roads can be to clean water and fish and wildlife, and his leadership on this issue is critical to the restoration of our forest watersheds," said Sue Gunn, Washington state representative for Wildlands CPR. "This funding is an important first step toward addressing our longer-term needs and our coalition will continue to work to secure sustained watershed restoration funding."

"This funding represents a critical first step in the development of common-sense solutions that include both retiring unnecessary roads and focusing scarce resources on proper maintenance of roads that best serve the public," said Thomas O'Keefe, Pacific Northwest stewardship director for American Whitewater.

The Forest Service estimates that if roadwork begins today, it will take $300 million during the next 10 years to solve the problem. Stephen Bernath of the Washington Department of Ecology said, "The legacy road funding will be a major step forward for the partners working on this issue. We look forward to continuing to work on long-term funding of this effort along with Congress, to assist in Puget Sound restoration, salmon recovery and the improvement of water quality for the health of our rivers."

Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative (WWRI) is a coalition effort of non-profit, conservation organizations, state agencies and tribes of the Puget Sound region dedicated to reestablishing and maintaining healthy aquatic and forest ecosystems in Washington's national forests through maintenance, repair and reclamation of forest roads and fish culverts. The coalition works for funding to address the issue of old and decaying logging roads on National Forest Service land.

For more information, please visit:
http://www.wawatersheds.blogspot.com
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/nonpoint/forest_practices.html