[More Cowbell]

This is an interesting technique for hiding clearcuts. I'm not trying to start a flame thread but I do find this very intriguing and wonder if I have ever driven through something like this and not known.

[BeyondLost]

If you have ever driven I-90 to Montana you certainly have. The comments on this link pretty much cover all the total range of viewpoints regarding this policy.

[wamtngal]

The stands of trees that intersect the road horizontally might be a buffer for a creek. Timber companies are required, I believe, to buffer streambeds - I can't remember the exact distance though. I think it's something like 75'?...I imagine treeswarper would know. Seems like I've noticed this on 101, heading to the coast.

[Malachai Constant]

That has been standard operating procedure for decades, a prominent example has been 410 on the way to Crystal. Try flying ovr the mountains ome time you see a lot of this. What is worse is the unshielded trees next to the road all go over in the next big storm

[More Cowbell]

I was thinking 410 was like that.

[whitebark]

You've probably driven by similar tree screens all the time; they have been used for years. The photo link you provided has an interesting discussion of why loggers leave those tacky screens. It's not always about hiding the clearcut from prying eyes. Don't like those screens myself--they hide the view and block the light. In the picture, it looks they they've created a tree fall hazard on the road and made it hard to see oncoming traffic. Pretty lame. There are ways to make clearcuts look better and more natural. I like the "shelter belt" method, where the clear cuts are relatively narrow and randomly shaped.

[treeswarper]

My computer won't show it. Folks want scenic highways so buffers are left. The loggers leave the screens because the companies tell them to. I maintain that people ought to see where their wood and paper products start from. Streams are buffered, roads are buffered, buffers are buffered and so on. Just be aware that an aerial photo taken in the winter was circulated as an example of "deforestation". I had been in that unit the previous summer and the trees were 4 to 5 feet high and ready to be thinned. The snow was covering them so it was pronounced deforested. Ya really need to get out on the ground to see what is there. A steeper than cowface (are cowfaces really steep?) unit that I survived the logging of and actually felt bad about is now covered in 20 foot tall trees. I didn't think anything would grow on it after we were done. Some private ground around here was not buffered. It opened up some views of rock walls and the valley that couldn't be seen before and the elk are browsing on something (they just finished planting trees there so hope it isn't the trees) in the clearcuts and not out along the highway. Another point, although maybe one species is replanted, there's always natural seeding in of Hemlock, Alder, or other species that comes up alongside the planted trees. We are seeing declining acreages of huckleberries due to no clearcutting in the higher elevations. It is tempting to take a saw to some of my former patches!! When I drove I-90 through Montana, the woods were on fire. I took off from Missoula at 3AM to avoid getting stuck in a road shutdown. Flames all over the hillsides.

[More Cowbell]

Here's the link to the photographer's site: http://www.georgesteinmetz.com/index.php?section=9&page=view_photos Scroll down the photo bar on the right to find the pic.

[seawallrunner]

Highway 3 in BC (Crows Nest) which hugs the Canada-US border - I saw this phenom between Hope and Osoyoos/Oroville. There are a few swatches such as this between Manning Park and Princeton. Highway 4 in BC (Vancouver Island) between Parksville and Port Alberni as you make your way towards Tofino. Look through the trees as you drive past. See daylight peering back at you? Chances are you are looking at a clearcut 'buffer'

[GeoHiker]

The buffer zones along roads are the most misguided example of stupidity in action. You can't log off large ac and leave a narrow strip and expect the trees to survive. The first big wind storm will knock down the upprotected trees like dominos. The area where I live near Monroe is riddled with logged off DNR and private land where these buffer strips were done. Of course every wind storm there are a number of trees that come down. When the private logging company logged off the 60 acs down my road they left a buffer strip out on the main road. I knew the logging foreman, so when I saw they were packing up and getting ready to leave I asked him what the heck they were doing leaving the trees. He told me they were required by the county to leave those trees. There was a wind storm forcast in 2 days and guess what! At least 20 100 ft. plus trees came down. At least it's kept my woodpile stocked and added some nice logs to my log house. My 60 ft. ridgepole is a section of a 130ft doug fir that came down in one of these storms, so it's not all bad!.....

[gone]

Saw some similar buffering on I-5 south of Tumwater on a trip to Portland. It was the first time I'd noticed and I began to wonder how often it's done, and whether it is a good idea in light of the obvious blow-down hazard. Also noticed this weekend along 101 between Artic and Raymond that they don't bother with highway buffers there at all - the tree sausage is made right there in front of God and everyone.

[509]

The public agencies tend to plan their timber sales such that they are not noticeable by the general public along major travel routes. The Forest Service has had research publications and guidelines for achieving this goal. You can do a search of the Forest Service sites for Visual Resource Management if your interested. Private firms generally do not bother with reducing the visual effects of timber harvest activities. In some states, like California there are some restrictions to protect visuals on private timber sales. Of course, the companies know what their doing. Here in eastern Washington Plum Creek clear cut their lands that they were going to keep in timber production. They looked rather ugly. They also had timber sales that we called "subdivision sales". They looked really good visually until the mega-mansions showed up!!! On public lands protecting the visual landscape goes far beyond timber sales. Roads, powerlines, cell phone towers, signs, building standards are all reviewed and changed to protect the visual environment. I just wish somehow we could get rid of those damn windmills, powerlines and cell towers thrashing the shrub-sage landscape. I suppose that in some ways that is "lying" about activities on public lands. But do we really want our public lands to look at ugly as our cities?? The upscale communities all have codes to protect their visual environment. It is not only good business, but makes for a much more pleasant environment for living. Should not the poor and middle-classes in this country have the same quality living environment that is available on Mercer Island, Sun Valley, SunCadia(sp?) and other outposts of the rich?? As a society we need more emphasis on visual quality not less.

[Bryan K]

This practice is also used in northern Minnesota where logging is also common.

[tinman]

I know exactly where that is at and it has nothing to do with "hiding" a clearcut. The strips right along the road are part of the road right-of-way and are, in fact, owned by a different landowner than the clearcut. In other words, one landowner owns the road and the green strip along it and another owns the clearcut. The perpendicular leave areas are Riparian Management Zones along creeks. Some companies up on the Peninsula tried the leave strip idea but most of them blew down in the windstorms so there are not so many anymore. There are a myriad of State and County laws that require leaving trees in places they probably shouldn't. A lot of counties have requirements for leave areas along property lines as mentioned above. Trees must be left along fish streams right up to the roads. Might work in theory but pose a major hazard in wind prone areas. Too many laws written as a 1-size-fits-all requirements that just don't work everywhere.

[Stefan]

sometimes I notice the same thing in the woods. but it only appears where there are "steep" hills along the road and I suspect it is for road stabilization. Most of the time, they do log right up to the road.