Participants in an Oregon mapping project want to
keep history from repeating itself.
When five
people were killed by landslides that hit their homes or cars in
1996, many observers blamed logging of steep slopes above the
houses and highways. They said the Oregon Department of Forestry
should have prevented the situation (HCN, 12/23/96). Defending
itself, the agency said it was powerless to monitor building or
logging activity on private lands.
Since then,
the state has taken steps to do what it did not do in 1996. The
most recent effort, part of a developing forest practices program,
is a two-year, $50,000 mapping project that will identify areas
where logging is likely to trigger landslides. Forestry Department
mappers, assisted by Oregon State University, are surveying soil
types, topography and runoff throughout the state. From this
information, the forestry department hopes to regulate homebuilding
and logging in high-risk zones.
Department
spokesman Scott Hayes says once the program pinpoints unstable
terrain looming above roads and residences, the state forester can
withhold approval for logging there, a decision that can be
appealed. Local authorities can also notify landowners if their
homesites are at risk. But the key to the program, Hayes says, is
getting counties to take a closer look at where people are building
houses.
* Emily
Miller
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Maps may save lives.
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