2008 Forest-wide Aquatic Restoration

Mt. Hood National Forest is proposing to undergo restoration work over all four of the districts in the coming years. They are currently accepting public comments on these projects, which include stream restoration, non-native weed removal, as well as extensive road decommissioning.

Bark has been advocating for the Forest Service to take a more visionary approach and put a planning process in place before beginning these efforts. Many of the proposed projects are stopgaps to major issues within the ecosystems. In particular, we would like to see the closure and obliteration of roads to be part of a larger, longterm plan for reducing the Mt. Hood road system by half as indicated in the 1999 Mt. Hood Access and Travel Management Plan. Our initial comments to the Forest Service are posted below and also have more information on our concerns for the process the Forest Service is taking to accomplish this important work.