Allegations: Oregon Not Forthcoming With Landslide Hazard Information

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Allegations: Oregon Not Forthcoming With Landslide Hazard Information

Written by Randy Post

Friday, 25 January 2008

Folks in Oregon are angry about a recent landslide and debris flow that closed Highway 30 and destroyed property in the town of Woodson. (Here is a powerpoint presentation by Bill Burns of the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries showing how the event happened). Some rather stinging allegations are being made that politicians withdrew a landslide hazard map from general use in 2002 for political reasons. That map or another one had characterized the area effected by the December 2007 debris flow as a "very high" or "extreme" risk of landslides. A very interesting article.

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John Rehm said:

Dear geo blogger,

My take on this slide is that the old railroad crossing or road crossing that held up the water for the Clatskanie Event on or about Jan 11, was not "put to bed". The crossing should have been destroyed and the abutments pulled out of the channel. The slide volume and extent of travel of the subsequent debris flows would have been much smaller and shorter.

I served for a year as an ERFO Hydrologist at the Detroit Ranger Station, up the Santiam Canyon from Salem in 1997 and 1998. An about-to-retire civil engineer, Bill Day, used the "put to bed" term and practice. He also said something else that was useful, "it takes trees to be twenty years old or more before their root systems hold back natural landslides. The trees on the reforested property above the Clatskanie debris flow section were not that old.

I agree with Bill Burns and, to reinforce his statements, I like what he said about the recent spate of landslides.

John Rehm
Registered Geologist G1137
Salem, Oregon

___________
Note: This is a Opinion based on literature (Dryness, c. 1964), my MS Thesis published on the Rutgers University Geosciences website, and professional experience under registered engineer supervision by Bill Day (1997-1998 (just in case OSBGE is reading this)

Thursday February 14, 2008 03:04PM

rockman said:

Thanks for your insights John. I've never heard the term "put to bed" before, but I couldn't agree with you more. And the factoid about tree root systems seems like a very useful rule of thumb. -- Randy Post (aka Rockman)

Thursday February 14, 2008 03:55PM

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