Citizen Science Program on Decommissioned Roads
Wildlands CPR of Missoula, Montana and Friends of the Clearwater (FOC) are recruiting volunteers to record changes in wildlife use and habitat along decommissioned roads in the Clearwater National Forest. In its third year, this project involves the public in monitoring these areas to produce more data on the environmental effects of open and closed forest roads. Our national forest roads contribute to increased sediment in streams and rivers that inhibits the formation of oxygenated water, depriving incubated fish eggs and larvae of oxygen and eventually leading to their mortality. Forest and range roads and their associated factors also impact other animals. Studies conclude that roads negatively affected over 70 percent of reviewed species by increasing habitat loss and fragmentation and illegal killing. Other research suggests that removing roads benefits watershed restoration on national forest lands by enhancing water infiltration on soil surfaces and reducing surface erosion.
The Clearwater National Forest has decommissioned over 600 miles of public roads since 1995 but lacks the budget funding necessary to monitor these closed roads. Thus, it is essential that citizens monitor the changes in soil, water, vegetation, and wildlife of these places to obtain further information about and promote achievement of wildland restoration. This collaborative program utilizes cameras, track plates, and vegetation surveys to record the effects of decommissioned roads on public lands. Track plates and cameras are stationed on both open forest roads and one mile up nearby decommissioned roads to accurately measure differences between the two areas. Composed of covered, metal plates sprayed with black soot around contact paper baited with cat food, track plates capture the black footprints of smaller animals, while motion-sensitive cameras photograph larger wildlife. Vegetation surveys toward the end of the growing season document changes in plant communities along decommissioned roads.
In the field, project volunteers help set up and check cameras, identify animal tracks on and reset track plates, and participate in vegetation surveys. If you would like to learn more about and get involved in this program, please contact Sarah Aguilar, the AmeriCorps member at the FOC office. We will visit the monitoring sites every Thursday but can also accommodate the schedules of volunteers. Call Sarah at 208-882-9755 or e-mail her at sarah@friendsoftheclearwater.org.
Clearwater Wildlands Book
Many of the 15 roadless areas in the Clearwater National Forest are threatened by road building, logging, and mining proposed by the Roadless Area Conservation Environmental Impact Statement expected from the Forest Service this fall. Because Idahoans and all Americans play a vital role in keeping these places wild, we would like to learn about and share your experiences of Clearwater wildlands. Dr. Fred Rabe, an aquatic ecologist, retired University of Idaho professor, Wild Clearwater Country explorer, and long-time FOC supporter, is compiling several booklets describing the myriad attributes of each of these unspoiled tracts. To involve FOC members in this roadless area project, he is collecting people's stories and pictures about their wildland experiences on Clearwater mountaintops, trails, and waters and including the best ones with credits in his publications. Dr. Rabe is seeking not only the kind of natural history information that he typically writes but also specific, personal comments about roadless areas that you have visited. These could entail descriptions of a certain landscape, forest, stream, or lake that you enjoyed or the qualities that make a particular roadless area special. Other possible references to wildland features and events that impressed you could invoke fish tales, wildlife sightings, geological novelties, and landscape beauty. Dr. Rabe is also requesting photographs, preferably as TIFF scans with accompanying explanations, of roadless sites and folks kayaking, hiking, camping, or recreating in these places. Please contact Fred with your ideas and input at fredr@uidaho.edu.
