July 17, 2000
Greetings from Seely Creek. Our sediment assessment field survey team, Tim Metz, Georje Holper, Mike Vollmer, and Shannon Taliaferro, has been busy for the last two months hiking around our beautiful watershed, inspecting culverts, and documenting land slides and other road-related sediment problems. By the time we are finished we will have surveyed more than 30 miles of active and inactive road in a watershed of less than 4000 acres.
We will now begin analyzing the road-related data. Hiking the entire watershed and looking at the cumulative impacts really gives one a different perspective. The phrase ?cumulative impact? has taken on a tangible meaning now. The abuse our watersheds have sustained due to human ignorance and neglect is incredible. We documented one blown-out haul road that created a gully with a 30-ft.-high wall in one section. Yet the spirit of the creek is still giving her all to raise her salmon babies, feed her bears, and provide us with drinking water.
We have thoroughly enjoyed visiting and getting to know the SCW landowner base. It is impressive how intimately folks know their land and how much they care and want the creek to thrive.
It is that landowner sense of place and support that is the deciding factor in the recovery of our watersheds. So far, so good!
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Seely Creek Watersheds Association (SCWA)
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TOC for Forest & River News, Summer 2000