Boulder Creek on the Okanogan National Forest

Case study of a weed management action gone wrong

This web page follows a series of letters to various government agencies as a case study of a noxious weed management action--Boulder Creek on the Okanogan National Forest--and what went wrong with plans. Preferred and recommended actions available to managers were ignored, in preference for more harmful actions, which impacted treated areas beyond acceptable limits.


[CASE STUDY: Damage survey on Boulder Creek of Sept 23, 1999.]

BOULDER CREEK MONITORING SURVEY to assess herbicide impacts - George Wooten, 9/23/99

KEY: Mileposts begin at the Okanogan NF sign on the Chewuch Road, just before crossing Boulder Creek. Numbers refer to roll of photo numbers. All plants described are natives except planted sheep fescue, spotted knapweed and diffuse knapweed. Used here, erosion refers to soil movement; sedimentation refers to movement of soils into the streams, wetlands and other aquatic areas.

0.0 ONF sign on E. Chewuch Road.

0.1 (#1-7) Boulder Bridge - killed bitterbrush inside bank; spotted knapweed, not diffuse knapweed; 90% kill.

0.2 (#1-18,19) Begin Boulder road grade - strip of dead bitterbrush and ponderosa pine.

0.3 (#1-20) Ditto; green, live bitterbrush in background of photo.

0.7 (#1-21) Looking into gorge - bitterbrush 30% cover killed>50%. Summary: 10/20 bitterbrush killed and 0/3 knapweed within the bank are killed. The buffers on this bank are too wide to be glyphosate; Tordon?

1.4 (#1-22, 23) Herbicide-burned ponderosa, Douglas fir along road within 50' of bank with dead dogbane and 1 dead knapweed plant. Culvert shows delivery of contaminants to other side of road. Second photo shows close-up of vegetation removal (bitterbrush and dogbane), denuding soil.

1.6 (#1-24, 25) Ponderosa, bitterbrush, buckbrush brown and killed, causing increased sedimentation and susceptibility to weed infestation.

1.8 (#1-26) Riparian vegetation (Nootka rose, Pacific willow, red-osier dogwood, mountain alder) leaves brown and killed in riparian channel. Sedimentation extreme. Knapweed not all killed. Amount of native vegetation killed is approximately 100 times that of the percent knapweed killed.

1.9 Calcareous seep coming in possible TES plant site.

2.1 (#1-27,28) Road bank eroding into river. 10% cover of existing vegetation (diffuse knapweed, fireweed) all killed or heavily damaged leaving no vegetation to stabilize bank. Douglas fir on left, willow on right killed in a 50' strip; knapweed less than 10 plants. Roadside grasses are non-native sheep fescue at approximately 50% cover.

2.4 (#1-29) Ponderosa pine is browned inside a sandy floodplain.

2.5 (#1-30) Overgrazed road pullout and unmarked road are left untreated leaving knapweed to reinfest. No controls on cattle.

3.0 (#1-31) Eroding knapweed infestation left alone on bank side while bitterbrush is killed on the uphill side.

3.2 (#1-32) Sprayed knapweed left fully viable.

3.5 (#1-33) Killed alder is 15' from road leaving banks denuded and eroding.

3.8 (#1-34) Damaged ponderosa, willow in stream channel 10' below road; knapweed proliferates and 2 plants of sheep fescue are grazed; sedimentation increased.

4.0 (#2-1) Cattle browsing in riparian landing.

4.3 (#2-2) Damaged road corridor both sides - impacted vegetation is mostly native; spotted knapweed is viable beyond prism; esthetically unattractive.

4.6 (#2-3,4,5,6) Damaged riparian vegetation (alder, maple, rose, dogwood) both sides of road, while spotted knapweed is unaffected and is seeding out. Sheep fescue is ineffective at stopping erosion. Pool vegetation is directly affected (treatment directly into water).

4.7 (#2-7) Fireweed killed, knapweed seeding increased; sedimentation increased.

4.8 (#2-8) Killed alder along road in riparian areas.

5.0 (#2-9, 10) Roadside vegetation (buckbrush, Scouler willow) killed; knapweed flowering and goint to seed; sedimentation increased.

5.1 (#2-11) Cottonwood and fireweed killed; potential halted for large woody debris contribution; sedimentation increased.

5.2 (#2-12, 13) Ponderosa damaged, spotted and diffuse knapweed flourishing; sheep fescue overgrazed, erosion increasing. Photo #13 is close-up of cattle use of road prism.

5.3 (#2-14) Typical cattle trail through killed dogbane and browned ponderosa to access sheep fescue while increasing erosion.

5.4 (#2-15) Killed bearberry and Douglas fir where no knapweed previously occurred.

5.5 (#2-16) Untreated landing with killed native plants along road.

5.6 (#2-17, 18, 19) Killed 30' tall Douglas fir along road and 70% killed buckbrush along roadside ditch. Number of dead knapweed seen in 100' stretch equals one plant. A half-killed Douglas fir and about ten killed alder are along the road in a riparian area. Black-cap raspberry is killed; sedimentation is increasing; 10' tall Douglas fir seedlings are killed or half-killed above the road.

5.7 (#2-21) Sedimentation is increased as a direct result of loss of structural stability in the soil above the riparian area.

CONCLUSIONS (*'d items result in direct loss of habitat and taking of T & E fish.):

*1. Native upland, riparian and wetland vegetation killed along road and within riparian areas; loss of shading and habitat degradation results.

2. Erosion from vegetation removal generally increased throughout the area, degrading wildlife habitat.

*3. Sedimentation into the stream is increased wherever roads are adjacent to riparian areas, due to vevetation removal, thus resulting in decreased wildlife and fish habitat and degradation of fish spawning gravels through embedding of stream gravels.

4. Mitigation of sedimentation through roadside planting did not occur, leaving roadsides in worse condition than before treatment.

5. Existing sheep fescue planted along road is attracting cattle preferentially into the road prism due to higher protein content of fescue, and resistance to herbicide treatment. Erosion and sedimentation are increased due to cattle trampling; no mitigation of cattle movement is occurring.

*6. Potential for large woody debris input into riparian areas is decreased, reversing the potential for long-term recovery of the riparian ecosystem by 20 to 30 years in some cases.

7. Targeted noxious weeds infestations were not targeted for site-specific removal, leading to existing infestations seeding and increasing chances for spread of seed from infested roadsides.

8. Targeted noxious weeds preferentially survived, preferentially leaving resistant patches of noxious weeds to reinfest the roadside.

9. Noxious weeds occurring along the road were incorrectly identified as diffuse knapweed, when spotted knapweed was prevalent. Spotted knapweed is longer-lived, and has a more extensive root system, therefore treatments were ineffective.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

1. No notification of sensitive individuals was given during treatment as required by state law (confirmed by George Wooten, registered sensitive individual)

2. No signage of treated areas was provided as specified in the EA.

3. Label requirements for herbicide formulation were not followed.

4. The Biological Evaluation was not reviewed publicly, nor was it prepared with proper authority to judge chemical effects; the BE was too brief to yield reasonable assessment of impacts; the BE was incorrect in its assumption of impacts; the BE was incorrect in its finding of "no effect".