{"id":2082,"date":"2019-02-08T12:32:52","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T19:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/treetopics\/?p=2082"},"modified":"2019-02-08T12:32:52","modified_gmt":"2019-02-08T19:32:52","slug":"watch-for-problems-on-woodland-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/treetopics\/2019\/02\/08\/watch-for-problems-on-woodland-roads\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch for problems on woodland roads"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brad Withrow-Robinson, Forestry & Natural Resources Extension\u00a0 agent for Benton, Linn and Polk Counties.<\/em><\/p>\n

In a previous pos<\/a>t , I wrote about the value of roads for a woodland owner, as well as the responsibly to maintain roads to protect their value as well as our water resources.\u00a0 Many family forest landowners have older, \u201clegacy\u201d roads.\u00a0 These older roads were likely not built to today\u2019s engineering standards, have lost some of their function over time, so are deserving of some attention and stewardship.<\/p>\n

So what does that involve?\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It likely begins with observation.\u00a0 Make it a habit to get out and inspect your road system regularly.\u00a0 Since water is a key element and force causing damage to roads, get out in the wet season.\u00a0 Bring paper, make notes and keep them as a reminder of what you saw and did.<\/p>\n

When on your walk, you should be looking for signs of drainage issues:\u00a0 Water standing on the road, trapped water running down the road forming ruts, and water pooling in the uphill road ditch all indicate drainage issues that may leader to bigger more damaging (more expensive) problems.<\/p>\n

Pay special attention to any stream crossings you may have.\u00a0 Here the drainage issues mentioned above can lead to environmental damage if water from the road system flows unfiltered directly into the stream.\u00a0 Roads are a critical source of sediment, which can be very damaging to fish and other things living in the stream.\u00a0 It is important to find and fix such situations.<\/p>\n

Be sure to get off the road at the stream crossing and take a look at the culvert below.\u00a0 After all, the crossing is not just a place for you to get over the stream easily, it is the place for the stream to get under the road.\u00a0 It must allow surges of water through and also fish and other stream residents to move back and forth as well.\u00a0\u00a0 Check on the condition of the culvert, if it is deteriorating, clogging or hanging above the stream on the downhill side, those are signs that the culvert may not be functioning well.\u00a0 Other common problems, such as being too small, may not be so obvious to look at, but can be determined with help.\u00a0 Happily, there are resources available.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Chapter 6 of Oregon\u2019s Forest Protection Laws: an illustrated manual<\/a> (third edition) published by OFRI and \u00a0Managing Woodland Roads: a field guide PNW 641<\/a> a Pacific Northwest Extension Publication, are well-explained and well-illustrated publications covering the roads basics.<\/p>\n

Getting out with experts and other landowners is a great way learn to recognize issues and get up to speed on roads.\u00a0 OSU Forestry and Natural Resources Extension is offering a series of workshop across the state on effective forest roads management, with several ahead in Linn County (March 16), Northeast Oregon (April), Clackamas County (October) and Lane County (November).\u00a0 This workshop will help you better understand roads, including when and how to work with agencies such as the Oregon Department of Forestry, or local watershed councils if you need assistance in identifying and fixing problems you have.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brad Withrow-Robinson, Forestry & Natural Resources Extension\u00a0 agent for Benton, Linn and Polk Counties. In a previous post , I wrote about the value of roads for a woodland owner, as well as the responsibly to maintain roads to protect their value as well as our water resources.\u00a0 Many family forest landowners have older, \u201clegacy\u201d… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1151,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[55516,3116,3117,340],"class_list":["post-2082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-financial-assistance","tag-forest-management","tag-roads","tag-water"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/treetopics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/treetopics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/treetopics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/treetopics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/treetopics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2082"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/treetopics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2088,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/treetopics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2082\/revisions\/2088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/treetopics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/treetopics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/treetopics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}