The Medicine Bow National Forest, located in southeastern Wyoming, has an extensive history of logging and road building. In 1989 and 1990, I examined the influence of clearcut logging and road construction on stream habitat and trout abundance in forested streams. This is the first study examining the cumulitave effects of logging and road construction on stream habitat and trout abundance in the Central Rocky Mountains. The major influences on stream habitat and trout abundance in logged drainages on the Medicine Bow National Forest were stream size and culvert density in the drainage. Culverts were a measure of the number of times roads cross watercourses.
Road crossings act as delivery points for sediments into channels.
The subsequent deposition can degrade trout habitat. Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife. All rights reserved. Web page comments may be directed to the webmaster .