Forest Roads And Their Effect On Water Quality Roads are often necessary to perform certain tasks in the forests. When roadsare made, they often pose the problem of erosion, and damage to nearbywater sources. The two articles I read on this topic were both from theAugust 1999 issue of the Journal of Forestry. Both discuss the differenttechniques and methods for trying to limit the amount of silt that contaminatesroads due to disturbance.The first article, What We Know- and dont know- about Water Quality atStream Crossings, discusses the different methods used to cross streams, andwhich method causes the most long term, and short term damage to watersupplies. Forest road crossings have become a concern, because they areplaces where disturbance, and water run off cause silt to get into streams andwater sources. The three main methods discussed in detail in this article forcrossing a stream are: fording, using culverts, and either a temporary orpermanent bridge.The most impactive method, according to this article was the practice of riverfording. This method causes inordinate amounts of downstream silt becauseevery time a vehicle fords a crossing, some contaminates are added to thewater, in addition to the silt on the stream bottom that is disturbed andwashed downstream. In terms of impact, putting culverts in a stream causes about the same initialimpact, as creating a ford, but subsequent impact is less, because cars are nolonger forced to drive through the water. Culverts can cause problems too,because of the potential for them to plug up, causing washout, and siltdeposits.The third, and most preferable method, according to this article, is theconstruction of bridges (either permanent, or temporary). By doing this, virtually all contaminants remain free of stream water, becausethe actual stream does not have to be disturbed.The second article summarized, Forest Roads: Where Soil and Water DontMix shared similar opinions on mo...
