Road Maintenance Costs and Funding: Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

March 31, 2006

Road maintenance is essential for continued public use and to minimize adverse environmental effects of roads. Unfortunately, the cost of road maintenance exceeds the current federal appropriations. In an attempt to close this funding gap a Roads Policy was introduced in 2001. The Hells Canyon National Recreation Area is among the first of the national forest units to have incorporated the roads policy into its management plan. This brief is the result of a study by The Wilderness Society to assess whether maintenance needs are currently being met and are likely to be met.  

• Roads in the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area (HCNRA) cost significantly more to maintain than is provided by current federal appropriations.
• The road maintenance backlog in the HCNRA is estimated at over $16 million.
• When roads are poorly maintained, potholes and washboard sections diminish the quality of the recreational experience, and soil erosion degrades water quality and aquatic habitat.
• A 2003 management plan for the HCNRA calls for reducing the road network, but road maintenance funding will still be inadequate if it remains close to past and current levels.
• To avoid further increases in deferred maintenance and ecological degradation, more funding needs to be provided from federal, state, or other public or private sources, and more roads need to be reclassified or decommissioned to lessen annual maintenance costs.