Oregon Clearcuts Endanger Salmon Even More Than You Think
The impacts of industrial forestry, especially clearcuts, on salmon are well known. Clearcutting the upper reaches of watersheds heats the cold water salmon need to survive, as do Oregon’s scientifically insufficient buffers along larger waterways. Roads and denuded slopes also cause artificial peak stream flows in the decade after clearcutting that can scour out fish eggs, and increase sediment runoff into waterways, filling them with mud and debris that cloud clean water and make it harder for salmon to feed.