Logging's effect on Southwest Washington floods debated
OLYMPIA — A state Senate committee heard sharply divergent views Thursday about the role that logging may have played in exacerbating the early-December floods in Southwest Washington.
During the storm, dozens of slides ripped down heavily logged mountain slopes, carrying wood, rock and mud into the rain-swollen tributaries of the Chehalis River and downstream communities. The practices of forest-products powerhouse Weyerhaeuser drew particular scrutiny after The Seattle Times published a photograph of numerous slides on a clear-cut hillside in Lewis County.
Weyerhaeuser officials told the Senate Natural Resources, Ocean & Recreation Committee that they will be reviewing their forestry practices in the storm's aftermath.
But they said the slides occurred on both clear-cut and forested acreage, and were largely the result of an extreme storm.
"Overall, forestry and public resources fared pretty well," said Kevin Godbout, Weyerhaeuser's timberlands external and regulatory affairs director. "But if you were personally impacted, that might not be true."
Others testified that state regulators have frequently allowed logging of unstable slopes, despite evidence that the cutting can increase the frequency and size of slides.
"I think we may fairly ask whether the recent landsliding and flood damage are what one might expect from existing policy," said David Montgomery, a University of Washington geomorphology professor who studies landslides. "Unfortunately, I see few surprises here."
Environmental groups want new legislation to toughen state laws so that more unstable slopes would be spared from clear-cutting.
Current laws don't do enough to assess the cumulative effects of clear-cut logging in a single watershed and exempt too many unstable slopes from reviews by independent geologists, said Karl Forsgaard, who testified on behalf of seven environmental groups.
State Department of Natural Resources officials said they will be studying the storm's aftermath and assessing the effectiveness of state forestry rules.
"I want to understand what's going on and how we can do a better job. We can't just ignore it," said Sen. Ken Jacobsen, a Seattle Democrat who chairs the committee.
Continue reading this article from the Seattle Times:
Weyerhaeuser, environmentalists argue logging's effect on floods
