United States 

Department of 

Agriculture 

Forest Service 

. Northeastern Forest 

Experiment Station 

Research Paper 

N E-501 

ion on Very S ony Fores 

During Phenomena 

in Webs er Coun y, Wes Virginia 

J. H. Patric 

W. E. Kidd, Jr. 
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Introduction 

Foresters point with pride to 

forest streams as sources of the 

cleanest (i.e., highest quality) surface water available. Their cleanness maximizes the usefulness of 

forest streams, prized water fit to 

meet most human needs. But all 

streams, even those originating on 

pristine forests, carry a little sediment between storms that lessens 

their cleanness. Streams can become turbid with larger amounts 

during storms, and heavily laden 

with sediment during infrequent 

large storms. Human activities in 

forests sometimes accentuate this 

problem, especially where logging 

roads are involved (Packer 1967). 

The problem of stream sedimenlation is widely perceived as a major 

environmental issue of our time.. 

The complexity of stream sedimentation is seldom recognized. 

Sediment is an input of geologic 

erosion, the continual but gradual 

wearing down of the land surface 

that---even under eons of forest 

cover- has shaped the existing 

landscape. Wood products harvest 

and associated activities often accelerate soil erosion on forest land, 

adding sediment to streams at rates 

in excess of geologic erosion. Caretessly managed logging roads can 

become sites of rapidly accelerated 

erosion, adding sediment at rates 

far exceeding those of geologic erosion. 

Additives to water perceived as 

detrimental to human uses, or as 

harmhi to natural systems, are regarded as pollutants. Sediment is 

generally accepted as the major pollutant sf foresl streams (EPA 1975). 

It is the combined product of geologic and man-caused or accelerated erosion. Sediment sburces and 

pathways to forest streams are 

shown in Figure I. 

Cause of 

Erosion 

Erosion Sites Mechanisms to Sites of 

(accelerated by Transport Sediment Deposit 

logging) Suspended Solids 

ged forest serving its designed 

function as a 

ristine stream 

Figure ?.-A model of soil erosion and stream sedimentation for the 

eastern forest. Arrow widths imply relative importance, broken arrows, 

the possibility of variable efficiency. 
The process of soil erosion differs from, though is related to, sediment deposition. Soils erode when 

particles are detached and removed 

from their place of origin by flowing 

water. Sediment deposition occurs 

when eroded soil particles fall out 

of flowing water at other than their 

original place-elsewhere on the 

forest floor, on stream banks, or in 

stream channels. From as little as 5 

percent to nearly 100 percent of the 

eroded soil may be delivered to a 

downstream point (Gottschalk 1964); 

the amount deposited is determined 

largely by the efficiency of the forest floor as a filter strip. But during 

rare phenomenal storms, huge 

amounts of sediment can be swept 

into streams, even from heavily forested land (Williams and Guy 1973). 

Some mechanism, often overland flow, is a prerequisite to erosion of the fore-st floor and to sedimentation of forest streams from 

that source. Indeed, it is the virtual 

absence of overland flow accoss the 

undisturbed forest floor (Hewlett 

and Hibbert 1967) that holds geologic erosion near characteristically 

low levels in the eastern forest. 

Nevertheless, overland flow across 

the forest floor does occur, 

especially during exceptionally 

heavy rains (Woodruff 1971). It is 

generally accepted that soil erosion 

at minimal rates holds sediment 

content lower than 0.1 ton per acre 

per year in streams draining the relatively undisturbed eastern forest 

(Patric 1976). 

Erosion can become frequent 

and voluminous when rain of even 

ordinary intensity falls on soil bared 

by logging roads, defined by Packer 

(1967) as the major source of sediment in forest streams. Tree cutting 

(NEFES 1975) and logging by recommended methods (Hewlett "1978; 

Kochenderfer and Wendel 1980; Patric 1980) increases sediment production only negligibly. It is erosion 

on carelessly built logging roads, 

when wood products are harvested 

without regard to effects on soil and 

water, that most often increases 

sediment to troublesome levels in 

streams draining forested land. 

There are no published accounts of 

soil erosion on logging roads during 

exceptionally severe storms or of 

the sediment loading caused by 

them. So great are the amounts of 

eroded soil that measurement systems are overwhelmed. 

The objective of our study was 

to describe what happened to forest 

soil and water after exceptionally 

severe rain fell on typical forest land 

in central West Virginia. 

The Study Site 

Webster County is near the 

center of West Virginia; it is a 

mountainous, densely wooded area 

with a sparse population heavily dependent on the harvest of wood 

products for income. Most of the 

soils, derived from horizontally 

bedded sandstones and shales, 

tend to be shallow, coarse textured, 

and very stony, and thus relatively 

resistant to erosion. Colruvial soils 

are common on hillside benches 

and at the bases of slopes. Rainfall 

averages about 50 inches annually, 

with little seasonal variation. Winter 

rains tend to be gentle and prolonged, but summer rains, often 

convectional thunderstorms, tend to 

be brief and violent. The 3-hour, 

100-year rainfall for West Virginia is 

3.5 to 4.0 inches (Hershfield 1961). 

A severe flash flood occurred in 

northern Webster County during the 

night of July 15 and 16, 1979. On the 

evening of July 15, a line of thunderstorms along the central Appalachians extended from Wheeling, 

West Virginia, to Roanoke, Virginia. 

Around midnight, a number sf cells 

within this line produced heavy rain 

which extended into the morning of 

July 16 (personal communication, 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA), Elkins, West 

Virginia). The NOAA maintains a 

standard rain gauge near the post 

office at Hacker Valley, in Webster 

County. Its 24-hour (8 a.m. 7/15 to 8 

a.m. 7116) catch was 5.68 inches. 

The postmistress believed that most 

of the rain fell between midnight 

and 4 am. 

The NOAA gauge is located 

near the northern edge of flash 

flooding, where rainfall presumably 

was less heavy than at the storm 

center. About 2 miles south of the 

post office, a farmer noted a 

15-inch bucket more than half full 

(presumably 8 or more inches) after 

the storm. Me recalled that the rain 

was heaviest from midnight to 3 

a.m. Flash flooding was severe in 

this vicinity. About 4 miles south of 

the severely flooded area, a catch of 

4.19 inches was reported in a plastic 

wedge gage. A storekeeper at Diana 

did not know how much rain fell but 

recalled that the heaviest rain fell 

between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. We assume that 6 or more inches of rain 

fell within 3 hours on the most severely impacted area, a storm of return period greater than 1,000 years 

(Bernard 1932). 

Forested land subject to this 

phenomenal storm was examined 

during several subsequent weeks. 

The examining group always included a woodland conservationist 

(USDA Soil Conservation Service), a 

forester (Extension Service, West 

Virginia University), and a forest hydrologist (USDA Forest Service). 

Logging roads were mapped by use 

of aerial photographs and a plane 

table. Slopes were measured with 

an abney level, distances by pacing. 

Estimates of soil loss were based 

on cross sections at 50- to 150-foot 

intervals along eroded logging 

roads. Longitudinal concavities on 

the l~gging roads were interpreted 

as evidence of soil erosion, even 

though some surely resulted from 

machinery displacement and log 

skidding. Erosion was deemed insignificant where (1) machinery tracks 

were visible on recently used -logging roads, and (2) unused rogds 

were covered with litter after the 

storm. 

Results 

In generat, erosion was negiigible on unroaded parts of the littercovered forest floor, as observed after flash fiooding in other sections 

of West Virginia (Patric 4981). Evidences of overland flow were appar- 
ent on 10 to 50 percent of the forest 

floor and most extensive on shallowest soil. Overland flow removed 

or rearranged the litter but it never 

cut through the fibrous H and F layers beneath the litter to expose the 

underlying mineral soil. Deeply 

rutted, insloped, or entrenched logging roads often intercepted the 

overland flow, conducting it downslope to reaches of road which, if 

excessively long or steep, became 

the sites of severest erosion. 

At least a dozen small debris 

avalanches were found on the fraction of the flash-flooded area examined. All were on slopes steeper 

than 50 percent, originating as ovalshaped slip-outs about 2 feet deep 

and perhaps 20 to 30 feet across. 

Two were in pasture, one in a white 

pine plantation, and the balance in 

hardwood forest. Debris slid as a 

block from most of the slip-outs, 

moving downslope from a few to 

many feet (Fig. 2). Debris from 

others must have moved downslope 

as a viscous mass to the nearest 

waterway, leaving little evidence of 

passage over the forest floor except 

a coating of mud and a speckling of 

small, flat stones. The debris avalanches are regarded as a form of 

geologic erosion because their occurrence seemed unrelated to tree 

cutting, logging roads, or other human activity. 

Logging Roads on the Cecil Gogar 

Property 

The Cecil Cogar property, near 

Hacker Valley, had been logged to a 

12-inch diameter limit in 1966. Logging and road layout were supervised by foresters with the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources. Crawler tractors had 

yarded logs to contour roads, then 

skidded along them to the main 

Figure 2.-This small debris avalanche originated where the man is 

standing, then came to rest as a block about 150 feet downslope. 
haulroad, and down it to the landing 

near Replete Road (Fig. 3). The Hot- bl 

ly River flows immediately east of 

Replete Road, There had been no attempt to control postlogging erosion on the less sleep spur (contour) roads. On the steep and heavily used main haulroad, soil erosion 

before the storm of July 15 and 16 

had been controlled by a series of 

log water bars installed soon after 

logging was finished. 

Soils are of the Dekalb series; 

they are well drained, coarse textured, very stony, steep (30 to 70 

percent), and shallow (30 inches) to 

bedrock. Most of the main haulroad 

paralleled an ephemeral stream on 

imperfectly drained and very stony 

colluvium-Ernest soil where a fragipan is present, Buchanan where it 

is absent. The hardwood forest is 

2-storied, with a nearly complete Main haulroad 

canopy of 8- to 24-inch oak and ------ Spur road 

maple overtopping a dense understory dating from the 1966 logging. 

Small, 

abundant 

flat 

on 

plates 

the forest 

of sandstone 

floor and 

are 

the 

- 

600 feet 

litter is from to inches deep- Figure 3.-Logging roads on the Cogar property. 

Only 114 acres of this property 

were logged; the remaining 18 acres 

were in fields. There were 19,345 1977). The main haulroad (Fig. 3) 

feet (3.68 miles) of bulldozed log- was 2,840 feet (0.54 mile) long. Over 

ging roads, with each mile of road 80 percent (16,155 feet or 3.06 miles) 

serving 31 acres of loggedover land. of the road network was fully covThe road density was comparable to ered with litter and revegetating to 

that for logging reported elsewhere trees. Grades of all logging roads on 

in West Virginia (Kochenderfer this property were classified as: 

0-9 percent 40- 19 percent 20-29 percent 38 percent or more 

13,180 feet '1,700 feel 2,510 feel 2,845 feet 

or 68 percent or 9 percent or 13 percent or I0 percent 
Figure 4.-This logging road, on an 8 percent grade, showed no sign sf 

erosion after the storm of July 15 and 16. 

There was no evidence sf ae- the road tread resulted from ero- ways were covered completely with 

celerated soil erosion except on the sisn, roads sloping 10 la 29 percent litter (Fig. 4); steeply sloping (>30 

tread (traveled) portion of the s"eep- eroded up Is 6 inches, and roads percent) roads had little or no litter 

est logging roads. Tread width sel- sloping over 30 percent tlsually cover. The cover ranged from comdam exceeded 8 feet. Assuming eroded deeper than 6 inches. Gently plete to absent between these exthat all longitudinal depressions in sloping (8 to 9 percent) roads al- tremes sf slope. 
Replete Road Length (feet) 

Road 

Figure 5.-A profile of the main haulroad on the Cogar property. 

The steepest reach of the main 

haulroad was the only site of severely accelerated soil erosion. A 

profile (Fig. 5) and 12 cross sections 

along its worst eroded reach (Fig. 6) 

provided an estimate of soil loss. 

Data from these figures overestimated erosion, presuming that all 

soil loss occurred during the storm 

of July 15; some soil, of course, had 

been Isst since 1966. 

1. Approximately 11,008 cubic 

feet (487 cubic yards) of soil and 

rock eroded from the main haulroad. 

2. At 2,800 pounds per cubic 

yard of very stony soil (personal 

communication, Fairfax Sand and 

Crushed Stone Company), the loss 

was 570 tons. 

3. Average erosion loss per 

foot of main haulroad was 0.2 ton of 

soil and rock. 

4. The maximum loss was 0.6 

cubic yard (0.8 ton) per haulroad. 

5. Average erosion rate was 5.0 

tons per acre when soil loss from 

the main haulroad was distributed 

across all of the loggedover land. 

On-site observation established 

some reasons for erosion of this severity: 

@The main haulroad included a segment more than "12 mite long, 

ranging in grade from 28 to 43 percent. 

@Most of the main haulroad was entrenched before the storm; hence, 

overland as well as subsurface 

flows were intercepted by the 

road, contained within it, and unable to escape from it. 

@Relatively deep colluvium underlying the main haulroad probably 

eroded more easily than the 

Dekalb soil underlying most of the 

spur roads. 

@The wooden water bars, adequate 

to divert overland flow from the 

main haulroad during rains of 

commonly experienced intensity, 

were ove~opped and swept away 

by the far greater and swifter 

fIows resulting from the storm of 

July 15 and 16. 

Stormflow broke out from the 

main haulroad where its slope moderated from 43 to 35 percent (Fig. 5). 

The stsrmfIow had slowed and 

deepened here, dropping its heavier 

debris. In effect, overland flow was 

dammed within the entrenched 

road, causing storm waters to break 
Figure 6.-Cross sections along severely 

eroded reaches of the main haulroad, 

Cogar property. 

Road Tread Width (feet) 
out at that point, about 1,200 feet 

upslope from Holly River. Tons of 

rock were dumped along the 60 percent slope immediately betow the 

breakout point (fZig. 7) though the 

stormflow also swept away some litter, soil, and small stones from that 

slope. The net effect, in terms of 

eroded material actually reaching 

the Holly River, can only be 

guessed. But even an so steep a 

slope, a considerable volume of soil 

and rock was deposited before it 

reached the river. This is, of course, 

the function of a filter strip, but the 

volume of stormflow vastly exceeded any absorptive capacity of 

the forest floor, largely nullifying 

much of its filter-strip function. We 

estimate that about one-third of the 

eroded material was deposited between the breakout point and the 

stream, and that the remainder (380 

tons) was swept into the Holly 

River. 

Logging Roads on the Marion Bruffy 

Property 

Timber on this 60-acre property 

near Diana was marked for selection 

hawest by a forester with the West 

Virginia Department of Natural Resources and logged during the 

spring of 1979. The road system 

(Fig. 8) was designed for wheeledskidder logging, though several 

'%hortcutsW were installed as the 

logger felt the need for them. After 

harvest, a few water bars were installed to control soil erosion, 

mostly on the shortcuts. Many spur 

roads were left choked with logging 

debris, another effective measure to 

control erosion. At Mr. Bruffyb request, no erosion control was attempted on the main haulroad or on 

that spur road closest to Holly 

River; both were left unobstructed 

to facilitate the collection of firewood. The landing, within the highwater channel of Holly River, was 

unvegetated sand and rounded river 

rock. 

Forest soils are of the Gilpin 

series; well drained, very stony, and 

steep (30 to 70 percent) but finer 

Figure 7.---Pons sf rock and soil were trapped below the breakout point. 

Overland flaw also swept large amounts of titter and soil from inundated 

parts sf this slope. 

textured, more friable, and deeper 

(more than 30 inches to bedrock) 

than Dekalb soils, A fine stand of 

hardwoods had covered the predominantly north-facing slopes, where 

litter was 1/2 to 2 inches deep. Timber cutting ranged From single-tree 

to large group selection, with harvest completed early in July 1979. 

After the storm of July 15 and 16, 

evidences of overland flow were sbsewed on perhaps 20 percent of the 

forest floor. The ephemera/ hillside 

channels had not scoured severely 

and only one debris avalanche was 

found on this properly. 

Totar length of logging roads 

was 11,885 feet or 2.25 miles. nus, 

I mile of road served 26.7 acres, a 

lesser density of wheeled-skidder 

roads than reported by Kcachenderfer (4977) sat other sites in West Virginia. The main haufrsad was 4,475 

feet (0.85 mile), the total length of 

spur roads was 7,148 feel (I -46 

miles). Grades of the fogging roads 

were classified as: 

8-9 percent IQ- 19 percent 20-29 percent 30 percent or more 

4,205 feed 3,070 feet 3,105 feel 1,505 feel 

or 35 percent or 26 percent or 26 percent or "1 percent 
Main haulroad 

------ Spur road 

Figure @.-Logging roads on the Bruffy property. 

Figure 9.-This road suffered 

no erosion even though it was 

and on a 15 percent grade. 

litt 

ins1 

le or 

oped 
There was neither living vegetation nor litter to protect these logging roads from erosion during the 

storm of July 15 and 16. Typically, 

the wheeled skidders had left most 

of the roads insloped (Fig. 9), providing much opportunity to channel 

overland flow along the unprotected 

road surfaces, and infrequent opportunities for water to spill over in 

small quantities to the litter-covered 

forest floor downslope from roads. 

None of these roads had been gullied deeply (Fig. 10) and most of 

them had well-defined erosion pavements. Part of this natural protection from erosion probably had developed during the persistent rain 

that fell throughout the logging 

period. Cross sections were made at 

50 to 100-foot intervals along those 

roads (5,379 feet or 1.02 miles) 

where tracks of logging machinery 

had been obiiterated by erosion. 

The follclwing estimates too, probably inflate erosion so computed because some longitudinal depressions on road surfaces resulted 

from logging, not erosion. 

1. About 8,240 cubic feet (305 

cubic yards) of soil and small 

stones were lost from the cross-sectioned roads. 

2. At 2,200 pounds per cubic 

yard of relatively stone-free soil (personal communication, Fairfax Sand 

and Crushed Stone Company), this 

loss totalled 336 tons. 

3. Average soil loss was 0.1 ton 

per foot of eroded logging road. 

4. The maximum loss was 0.5 

cubic yard (0.6 ton) per foot of main 

haul road. 

5. Average erosion rate was 5.1 

tons per acre when soil loss from 

the cross-sectioned roads was distributed across all of the loggedover 

land. 

Mow much of this eroded soil 

actually reached the Holly River? 

Vtlherever overland flow had spilled 

across the shoulder of a logging 

road, we traced its course downslope, pacing to a point where sediment could not be discerned on the 

forest floor, Presumably, overland 

flow had infiltrated when it reached 

that point. By far the majority of 

sediment had been deposited within 

200 feet of the logging road from 

which it originated (Fig. 11). The 

freshness of the evidence gave us 

considerable confidence in the validity of the following estimates: 

Figure 10.-The most severely eroded segment of the main haulroad, 

Bruffy property. 
*Thirty-nine tons of soil eroded 

from the most southerly segment 

(650 feet; grade: 9 to 20 percent) 

of the spur road parallel to Holly 

River. We believe that only sandsize and smaller particles (about 

two-thirds of the eroded soil volume or 26 tons) reached the river. 

*One hundred sixteen tons of soil 

eroded from that portion of the 

main haulroad (650 feet; grade: 21 

to 27 percent) extending upslope 

from the landing. Here, too, the 

evidence suggests that only sandsize or smaller particles (about 

two-thirds or 78 tons) contributed 

to sediment loading in Holly River 

*Far smaller proportions of eroded 

soil reached Holly River from 

other (not cross sectioned) segments of logging roads (Fig. 11). 

Most of these were distant 

enough from the river to allow effective functioning of the forest 

floor as a filter strip. 

*The entire channel of Holly River, 

including the log landing, was 

covered by several feet of fastmoving flood water. The landing 

was obliterated by erosion and 

deposition. We believe that sediment loading contributed by the 

landing was little more or less 

than that along the entire channel 

of Holly River. 

Discussion 

Were the preceding observations typical of erosion on loggedover land elsewhere in the flashflooded area? We believe they were. 

No vegetated or litter-covered road 

eroded perceptibly on other loggedland. Erosion was negligible 

wherever postlogging measures had 

been applied to control it. For example, one recently used logging road 

extended several hundred feet 

straight up a 38 percent slope; four 

small water bars prevented severe 

erosion on the shorter road segments between them. A 52 percent 

skid trail, protected only by its short 

length (190 feet), had eroded only 

negligibly. On the other hand, most 

of the long, steep, and entrenched 

roads were deeply eroded, some of 

them to bedrock. Thus, more than 

bareness and steepness seem a prerequisite for severe erosion when 

logging roads are built on very 

stony soils; they must also extend 

for long distances up steep slopes 

with no breaks in grade. On the baSegment of eroded 

logging road 

Figure 11.-Origin, movement3 and deposition of sediment from logging 

roads on the Bruffy property. 
sis of these and similar ancillary observations, our results do seem typical of loggedover land throughout 

the f lash-f looded area. 

Our results may not pertain to 

less stony soils. Erosion is a selective process, removing loose and 

finer textured materials first, leaving 

in place a residual surface of relatively immovable stones, gravel, and 

organic detritus. This is erosion 

pavement, a highly effective means 

of minimizing erosion on stony soils 

in agriculture (Grant and Struchtemeyer 1959; Epstein et al. 1966) as 

well as in forestry. Roads on finer 

textured, less stony soils contain 

less materials to form erosion pavement, so they erode more severely. 

Data on the more erosive soils are 

needed for a broader perspective on 

the sediment production from logging roads and on methods to prevent it. 

Erosion pavements formed during rain of very high intensity will 

protect road surfaces from substantial soil loss during subsequent 

rains of lesser intensity. After the 

finer materials are removed, the remaining materials are too large to 

dislodge and move during ordinary 

rains. Thus, we foresee little or no 

further erosion on logging roads 

subject to the storm of July 15 and 

16. The underlying soil particles are 

shielded beneath relatively immovable fragments of stone and organic 

detritus, so there will be little opportunity for detachment and transport. 

For this reason alone, excluding 

traffic is an important erosion control measure on unused logging 

roads. Just one trip by the spinning, 

churning wheels of a vehicle disrupts the erosion pavement and restarts the erosion process. 

Our study and others show that 

simple and conventional practices 

provide adequate erosion control for 

most logging roads. Much erosion 

can be prevented merely by avoiding long, steep grades when building roads, and by installing a few 

water bars when closing them. 

Other recommended measures (e.g. 

gravel, ditching, culverts) are as pertinent to keeping logging roads passable in all weather as to controlling 

erosion on them, though this duat 

purpose takes nothing from their 

potential to reduce soil loss. 

Well-designed filter strips can 

hold onslope much of the soil 

eroded from logging roads, and the 

strips need not be prohibitively 

wide. Figure 11 suggests that a 200- 

foot-wide strip-supplemented with 

judicious water barring-would have 

retained onslope nearly all soil 

eroded from logging roads during 

the storm of July 15 and 16. A strip 

about one-third as wide as judged 

adequate for less violent storms in 

the mountains of Europe (Kazankin 

1976) and of Southeastern United 

States (Hewlett et al. 1979). Even the 

often cited formula by Trimble and 

Sartz (1957) seems unnecessarily 

complex for spacing water bars 

when mere prohibition of road building and use of logging machinery 

within 100 feet of a stream will keep 

most sediment out of streams during ordinary rains (Patric 1980). 

There are places, of course, where 

roads and logs must cross streams, 

but here, culverts and bridges are 

needed and another set of rules applies. 

Perhaps no measure to decrease sediment has been more 

widely promulgated or more generally ignored than avoidance of 

stream channels during logging. 

The need to avoid them, clearly 

demonstrated by Reinhart et al. 

(1963), is still recommended (Lynch 

et al. 1979) and stilt ignored----with 

predictable consequences (Hewlett 

1978). Despite widespread knowledge of the consequences, stream 

channels continue to tempt many 

forest users as the easiest and most 

direct access to forest land. 

Soil loss From the forest floor is 

trivial during ordinargr rain. But 

major soil loss by debris avalanching can become common, even on 

undisturbed forest land, when rain 

exceeds 5 inches per day (Eschner 

and Palric 1982). The erosional significance of debris avalanches was 

disregarded in Phis study but their 

presence was noted with interest as 

sn-the-ground evidence of phenomenal rain at points distant from 

gages or other means to accurately 

quantify amounts of rainfall. 

We submit that erosion on the 

order of 5 to 10 tons per acre from 

very stony forested land should be 

interpreted as a ""ceiling," an upper 

limit of loss likely to be exceeded 

only during exceptional combinations of storm violence and soil exposure. Barring these or similar 

erosion-conducive conditions, some 

healthy skepticism seems warranted 

when proposed annual losses from 

stony forest soils substantially exceed 5 tons per acre. This "ceiling'" 

presumes erosion on loggedover 

forest land to result from two indistinguishable sources: (a) some of 

geologic or natural origin, and (b) 

some of accelerated or man-caused 

origin. Because both forms of erosion occur concurrently, there is no 

way tca distinguish sediment resulting from either form. 

Conclusion 

Soil erosion and stream sedimenution somewhat in excess of 

geologic rates can accompany the 

hawest of wood products on the 

very stony mountain soils of West 

Virginia-even during phenomenal 

storms-when temporary access 

routes are managed by these guidelines: (If keep machinery out of 

stream channels, (2) avoid long, 

sleep, unbroken grades on roads, (3) 

provide an adequate filter strip 

downslope from each road. 

Ackneawledgement 

We thank Cecil Gogar and 

Marion Bruffy for their helpfulness 

and for unreslrickd access to their 

land during this study. 

Headqua-rs of the Northastern Forest Experiment Station are in 

Broomall, Pa. Field laboratories are maintained at: 

Amherst, M-huscetts, in cooperation with the University of 

Massachusetts. 

Berea, Kentucky, in cooperation with Berea College. 

Burlington, Vermont, in cooperation with the University of 

Vermont. 

0 Delaware, Ohio. * Durhm, New Hmpcslhine, in cooperation with the University of 

New Hampshire. 

Hamden, Gonnwticut, in cooperation with Yale University. 

Morgantown, West Virginia, in cooperation with West Virginia 

University, Morgantowrm. 

@ Orsmo, Maine, in cooperation with the University of Maine, 

Omno. 

0 Parsons, West Virginia. 

a hhcetsin, Wed Virgnia. 

@ Syrscw, New York, in cooperation with the State University of 

New York College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry at 

Syracuse University, Syracuse. 

0 University Park, Pennsylvania, in cooperation with the 

Pennsylvania State University. "* 

@ Warren, Pemnsylvania. 

Patric, J. H.; Kidd, Jr., W. E. Erosion on very stony forest soil 

during phenomenal rain in Webster County, West Virginia. 

Broomall, PA: Northeast. For. Exp. Stn.; 1982; USDA For. 

Serv. Res. Pap. NE-501. 13 p. 

On July 15 and 16, 1979, at least 6 inches of rain fell in central 

West Virginia during 3 hours, a storm of return period longer 

than 1,000 years. More than 6 miles of logging roads were examined for evidence of soil erosion and sediment delivery to 

ODC 11 6:28(754) 

Keywords: Appalachian mountains; debris; avalanches; filter 

strips; flash flooding; hardwood forests; logging roads; soil 

U .S . GOVEQIMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1982- 505-0 12 : 1 1