BLYN — Olympic National Forest officials Monday released a wish list of proposed projects costing $7.6 million to restore the Upper Dungeness River watershed.
A watershed plan facilitator, however, said it was doubtful that the U.S. Forest Service will be able to fund all the proposals, which range from fish passage improvements to road and trail upgrades.
The plan also calls for wet meadow restoration and creating tree snags in the woods that could support the likes of woodpeckers and flying squirrels.
“The Forest Service doesn’t have $6 million or $7 million,” said Mike Anderson, executive director with The Wilderness Conservancy, during a Monday workshop at the Jamestown S’Klallam Community Center.
Anderson said it comes down to needing more public participation and volunteers to get behind the projects that could be accomplish.
“I am optimistic and hopeful that this will go a long way,” said Dean Yoshina, Hood Canal District ranger overseeing the study for Olympic National Forest despite the funding shortfall.
Susan Piper, Olympic National Forest Dungeness Watershed Action Plan team leader, said the list does not include routine maintenance projects. Also not included is the cost of a National Environmental Policy Act study.
“We came up with the cost estimates based on similar past projects,” Piper said.
Scott Hagerty, Olympic National Park soils scientist, said there were 85 potential sites for road restoration in the Upper Dungeness reaches, adding there were 70 or 80 others with “moderate or high impact” status.
Many of those road projects are needed because of slides, erosion and sedimentation, he said.
54.8 miles of roads
Upgrades would be the largest portion proposed for 54.8 miles of Upper Dungeness roads at $2.45 million.
In addition, he said, proposed is 7.5 miles of road closures or “storage” for possible future use at $268,000, and 21 miles of road decommissioning at an estimated $798,000 cost.
Jim Bower, who owns Bower Logging and has in the past thinned national forest lands and decommissioned more than three miles of forest roads, was recognized for cleaning up the Slab Camp Pit area, which was trashed with abandoned and shot-up old car bodies.
Bower said much of the problem with Forest Service roads flooding and getting damaged was the result of not cleaning out debris from culverts, which backs up.
New proposals
Representatives of the off-road vehicle and horseback riding interests made proposals for new trails in the Upper Dungeness area.
Ross Krumpe, a Blue Mountain Road-area resident who represents off-road vehicle interests on the North Olympic Peninsula, called for a loop trail system in the vicinity of Forest Service roads 2878, 2870 and 2880.
Krumpe said it would be good to have a specific off-road vehicle site in the Upper Dungeness so ORV owners would not have to drive to Eastern Washington destinations
“We believe we have the legal right to use public lands,” Krumpe said.
Jeff Chapman, a North Olympic Peninsula representative of Back Country Horsemen of Washington who lives in Cape George, highlighted a potential trail plan for horse riders that would connect a network of existing forest roads between the Dungeness River and extending east to Salmon, Snow and Jimmycomelately creeks.
It would connect to a future Pacific Northwest Trail route that is proposed to run from Sleepy Hollow Creek on the west and Snow Creek on the east, crossing Mount Zion.
“The area has potential for recreation and it does have potential as a recreation destination,” Chapman said.
Marc McHenry, Olympic National Forest fisheries biologist, said a serious focus was to replace undersized culverts with larger ones to allow for improved fish passage to aid some of the threatened species.
“A majority of the crossings are in the Canyon Creek drainage area,” McHenry said.
Other plans include moving large wood debris to help reopen side channels at strategic locations along a two-mile stretch of the Gray Wolf River.
Kurt Aluzas, national forest wildlife biologist who oversees planning for trees, native plans and invasive plant species, said proposed is 500 or more acres of young-tree thinning and 300-plus acres of snag creation.
An additional 30 or more acres of invasive plant treatment was also proposed.
By allowing for commercial tree thinning, Olympic National Forest can generate revenue that can go toward NEPA studies for a site needing other improvements, Aluzas said.
Forestland could be thinned to 300 trees an acre and allow for better sunlight for better ground vegetation growth, he said.
Improvements could be bundled together to save money, he said, and generate hunting tourism.
“We can create good habitat for game and add to the hunting economy,” he said.
Loop trails
Susie Graham, a retired Olympic National Park employee specializing in recreation, said loop trails are becoming more popular for mountain biking and hiking.
She recommended that the Forest Service put together a management plan for shooting recreation in the Upper Dungeness.
“Right now it’s pretty much out of control,” Graham said.
A final public hearing on the action plan will be scheduled in late fall, Anderson said.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
