Ot clearing wood out of creeks?

[hdh]

Is it ok to clear wood out of creeks in the Ouachita national forest ? ....Creeks that go thru private property?ect. .. Not only strainers, but trees growing In the creek bed??

[Tmuse]

Not legal on creeks than run thru private prop. Not legal to cut the live trees in the creeks on FS land, but you can clean out the dead stuff without to much trouble. Come on up and get to cleaning its lots of fun.

[Cowper]

I agree with Tim’s answers.

Additional information, environmental considerations, etc:

1) Whenever this issue comes up, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, I point folks to this article which was originally published in the American Whitewater Journal: http://www.americanwhitewater.org/conte ... play/full/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2) FYI, myself and DeBo will be meeting this week or next with a wildlife biologist from the Ozark National Forest to learn more about the positive impacts of woody debris on aquatic habitat. It is known that in some cases boaters have been removing woody debris from creeks, due to boater safety considerations. Meanwhile, Forest Service employees have been placing woody debris into some of these same creeks, to improve/enhance fish habitat. The goal of the meetings is for each side to understand the other’s point of view, and for neither side to actively work at undoing what the other side has done.

[prophet]

it would be interesting to find out the particulars that go into stream selection for habitat improvement. so many choices..