After torrential rains in northern Idaho triggered
widespread landslides in national forests last November, some Idaho
Fish and Game officials are urging the Forest Service not to repair
damaged roads. They want the roads either re-engineered or
obliterated.
“We want them to fix the problem, so
those roads aren’t just time bombs waiting to go off again,” Idaho
Fish and Game official Steve Agte told the Moscow-Pullman Daily
News. Forest Service officials, however, have requested millions of
dollars from the Federal Highway Administration to repair the
logging roads, even though the roads themselves, along with
clearcuts, appear to have contributed to the severity of the
landslides (HCN, 1/22/96). In contrast, Idaho Fish and Game
staffers suggest re-contouring the landscape around the roads and
restoring native vegetation to protect watersheds and wildlife
habitat.
* Jenny
Emery
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline A call to uproot roads.
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