Washington: Skokomish logging filled rivers with so much gravel that water has lost its way
Residents of the Skokomish Valley who didn’t work on farms through the
years often ended up in the timber industry — building roads, falling
trees, hauling logs or milling lumber. Some say their work in the
woods liberated the gravel that has come back to haunt them, as the
gravel-clogged Skokomish River frequently delivers floodwaters to
their doorsteps.
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Gerald Twidwell, who worked for Simpson Timber Company from 1961 to 1985, owns one of the few remaining houses on frequently-flooded Bourgault Road. Twidwell has raised the foundation of his house three times — up to 8 feet high — to keep it above the floodwaters. During the terrible storm of December 2007, water came within two feet of getting into his house, but it stood strong and tall. Twidwell and his wife, Ileene, say the Skokomish Valley is their home and they are doing everything they can to stay there. When he worked for Simpson, Twidwell built roads in the mountains above the Skokomish, roads now being decommissioned in a costly effort to reduce the source of sediment washing down the mountains and into the river.
“People don’t realize how much it cost to build those roads up there,” Twidwell said, arguing that they should be maintained for fire protection.
“They led us to believe there was going to be a maintenance crew.”
Twidwell said the focus should be on removing gravel from the river.
The gravel, which can be used to build new roads, has economic value,
he said. Instead, during the 1980s, the roads were abandoned when
logging was shut down in the Skokomish watershed.
Hundreds of miles of twisting roads in steep mountainous areas became a poster child for excessive road building and forest abuse.
Get full text; support writer, producer of the words:
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/feb/16/forest-roads-contribute-gravel-to-clogged-river/