241 



DRAFT 



Fine Sediments (pag es 90 and 172): 



The authors make several statements concerning the effects of fine sediments on 

 salmonid production which are inaccurate, and are not supported by the literature cited. 

 The specific statements were attributed to Hicks et al. (1991) and are as follows: 



'Fine sediments reduced spawning success but may have locally 

 increased primary and secondary productivity . Locally, increases in 

 food production for juvenile and salmonids (sic) may have increased 

 nursery carrying capacity. ' 



'Sediments [from logging related surface erosion, mass wasting, roads, 

 scarification and slash burning] generally reduced spawning success and 

 rearing capacity but may have increased rearing capacity locally. " 



"Invertebrate production may have been locally stimulated. . . " [referring 

 to logging related increases in fine sediments] (page 172). 



Information reported by Hicks et al. (1991) is directly contrary to the statements 

 contained within this report. Hicks et al. (1991) state that: "in addition to directly 

 affecting salmonid survival, fine sediment in deposits or in suspension can reduce 

 primary production and invertebrate abundance and can thus affect the availability of 

 food within a stream (Cordone and Kelley 1961; Lloyd et al. 1987)." In addition. 

 Table 14.1 from Hicks et al. (1991), which is accurately reproduced in the OFIC report 

 (pp 170-172), specifically attributes increased fine sediments to "reduced food 

 abundance" and "loss of winter hiding space". Nowhere in the text or tables of Hicks 

 et al. (1991) could the Department document information to support the OFIC report 

 authors' statements. 



Natural Sediment Losses in Undisturbed Forests (page 92): 



For comparative purposes, the table presented on page 92 would be improved if the 

 data were converted from "tons per square mile" to "tons per acre". Most references to 

 erosion and sedimentation in this report are based on the latter standard of reference. 

 A conversion of this data (below) aUows comparison to text references (BLM 1981; 

 BLM 1983) of forest related sedimentation: road related sedimentation presented for 

 these references appears to be 20X to 300X greater than the maximum PNW Average 

 Range for sediment loss in undisturbed watersheds. 



A-35 



