tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5149418533455483604.post881681220816292410..comments2023-08-01T03:05:39.288-07:00Comments on NCCC: Suiattle field tripPhil Fennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06553929888011931156noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5149418533455483604.post-62644175983459007652012-04-21T18:09:44.583-07:002012-04-21T18:09:44.583-07:00monorail:
yes, you're right about the MP 13 r...monorail:<br /><br />yes, you're right about the MP 13 re-route. We paced off the closest distance from the re-route spur to the current river bank. It's a little over a hundred feet of flat forested bench. And as you say, the river is migrating north there; in fact if you look at old aerial photos you will note that the road has been relocated at least twice before at that meander bend because the river continued to encroach. So it's reasonable to suppose that the river will keep moving all the way to the base of the hillslope, taking out the re-route. It could all go next winter, or it could be twenty-five years hence. These movements are very episodic. Then they will want to put the road up on the hillside, which will be a lot messier. The only real certainty is the road will wash out again. This is a dynamic floodplain and keeping a road open there is guaranteed to be costly. <br /><br />Regarding the 6-foot trees, no I'm pretty sure they're mid-19th century fire regen. Somewhere between 140 and 170 years old. I have cored a few douglas-firs in the vicinity; the ages always come out about that. Two human lifetimes. On a good site you can grow a pretty nice tree in 150 years. One clue that the trees are not *really* old is their branch structure; crowns are still fairly small and regular, and they have not yet developed the big-irregular branches that one gets in really old trees.<br />If you have ever walked the huckleberry mtn trail, all the nice douglas-fir on the lower half of the route is of the same vintage.<br /><br />There are older trees in the Suiattle--there are some along the road past Downey creek, and there are also older areas on the S side of the river; but there is definitely a whole lot of this 150-175 y/o "young old growth" in the Suiattle basin.kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01913834202309096260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5149418533455483604.post-9740140151524105072012-04-21T16:16:03.834-07:002012-04-21T16:16:03.834-07:00I have a question about the rebuild at around MP 1...I have a question about the rebuild at around MP 13. The EA notes that at this point, the river channel is migrating northward at a very rapid rate (11 feet per year; the historic imagery in the EA presents a dramatic picture of this). It seems to me that the new roadway will soon be swallowed up by the river, perhaps within a decade. It also seems to me that it would be difficult or impossible to move the road any further away from the river, because the slope steepens considerably. Unfortunately, the EA does not address this in detail; it only notes that there is a moderate to high probability of future flood damage. It would be a real tragedy if they cut down all that forest and poured all this money into a rebuild, only to see it all permanently washed away (with no hope of rebuilding) a year or two later. Is anyone at NCCC familiar with this particular matter?<br /><br />One more question: the EA notes trees over 6 feet in diameter will be cut. Wouldn't such trees be older than 19th century second-growth?monorailnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5149418533455483604.post-702398486264407972012-04-20T08:11:50.030-07:002012-04-20T08:11:50.030-07:00I am an avid hiker and backpacker. Regarding the S...I am an avid hiker and backpacker. Regarding the Suiattle road EA, I support alternative C as opposed to rebuilding the road to its former end, or alternately, closing the road even further back, though I realize this is not going to happen. I am adamantly opposed to rebuilding the last 4 miles of the road, and would much prefer to see that stretch accessible only by non-motorized trail. -Hiker from Omak, WAAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com