WASHINGTON – The Bush administration estimates that repairing deteriorating logging roads in national parks in Washington state could cost as much as $760 million.
The roads need to be upgraded to comply with federal clean water standards so they no longer threaten endangered salmon habitat.
The estimate, described as very preliminary, was included in a letter to the state’s congressional delegation. In the letter, Mark Rey, the Agriculture Department undersecretary who oversees the Forest Service, suggested some of the roads could be reclassified so that they didn’t have to meet such stringent maintenance standards, and others could be turned over to the counties.
The letter is fueling lawmakers’ concerns that the administration has failed to confront the logging roads problem, refused to seek adequate funding and will simply turn what could be a ticking budgetary time bomb over to the next president’s administration.
“I don’t see eye to eye with Mark Rey when it comes to management of the forests,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. “We don’t trust him.”
Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, agreed. Washington state eventually may have to sue the Forest Service to force its compliance with the federal Clean Water Act, he said.
“I have been concerned about this for years,” said Dicks, who as chairman of the House interior appropriations subcommittee has jurisdiction over the Forest Service. “We need an administration more sympathetic to Forest Service programs besides just fires.”
Rey defended the administration’s efforts and insisted in a telephone interview that the Forest Service is not trying to shirk its responsibilities.
“It’s a problem we are taking seriously,” he said. “It’s a top priority.”
The Forest Service manages 380,000 miles of roads nationally, including 22,000 miles in Washington state. The roads were built during the heyday of logging in the national forests and were paid for and maintained with proceeds from timber sales. As logging sales have dropped sharply in the state and elsewhere, so has funding to maintain the roads.
$6 BILLION NEEDED IN U.S.
In his letter to the state’s lawmakers, Rey, a former timber industry lobbyist, said there is a $4.1 billion backlog of deferred maintenance on the roads nationwide. The cost to remove barriers to fish passage at 25,500 stream crossings would cost an additional $1.9 billion, he wrote.
Catching up on the maintenance backlog on Forest Service roads in Washington state would cost between $71 million and $521 million, depending on how many miles require gravel replacement. Closing 3,600 miles of roads in Washington state would cost an additional $131 million, and replacing nearly 1,000 culverts would cost $108 million, Rey’s letter estimated.
Meanwhile, Cantwell said the administration’s proposed budget called for a 31 percent cut in funding for Forest Service road maintenance. About $3 million a year is spent on logging road maintenance in the state at the same time the backlog is growing $8 million a year, she said.
“We need to get this under control,” Cantwell said.
The Forest Service has an agreement with Washington state requiring it to comply with clean water standards. Many of the salmon runs are protected under the Endangered Species Act.
“The Forest Service needs to live up to its end of the bargain with Washington state,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. “Even in tough budget times, Washington residents deserve to know the Forest Service is making the right investment and commitment to our state’s needs.”
A federal court in Seattle ruled in August that Washington state had violated its responsibilities to Indian tribes by failing to maintain its road system in a way that would protect salmon runs. That ruling could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars.
Dicks included $65 million in the House interior appropriations bill for work nationally on Forest Service roads and culverts that are causing problems for salmon and other aquatic species. But the Senate bill doesn’t include such funding. President Bush had threatened to veto the bill if it contains the House funding levels.
“It’s not adequate,” Dicks said. “We couldn’t do enough earmarks to take care of the problem. It has to be addressed in the president’s budget. But they are putting every nickel into the Iraq war, homeland security and tax cuts.”
Rey, in his letter, acknowledged the Forest Service faces budgetary constraints when it comes to road maintenance.
“At current levels of timber sales and recreation traffic, this funding structure makes it difficult to find the capital to invest in needed best management practices, water quality and fish passage improvements on the road system,” Rey wrote.
But Rey did not offer a financial plan for solving the problem other than making it a “priority” when seeking congressional funding. In his later interview, Rey said contractors who are working to clear brush and remove dead trees from the national forests need to start paying for road maintenance.
ROADS COULD BE RECLASSIFIED
Rey suggested some of the roads may be reclassified so they could be used only by high-clearance vehicles, a move critics said would mean the roads received less maintenance. But Rey said the Forest System road system has to be downsized.
As for turning roads over to the counties, the letter said the Forest Service would do its “best to encourage” local jurisdictions to accept responsibility so the federal government could reduce its maintenance costs. Rey said some of the roads were already part of local transportation systems.
“I’m not sure why we put that in the letter,” he said in the interview, adding the Forest Service couldn’t force the counties to accept a road. “It’s a lot less ominous proposition than we made it sound.”
Many of the logging roads are at the upper ends of watersheds. Rey said the Forest Service is already working with landowners downstream on joint projects.
“It doesn’t do us any good to fix culverts on our lands if similar work isn’t being done lower in the watershed,” he said.
Dicks said that whatever is done is sure to be expensive.
“We have underfunded this for years and it will take a long time to solve,” Dicks said. “But we need to get started.”
Les Blumenthal: 202-383-0008
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