GLEN FORK

    For more than a month after the flood, County Route 1 was closed from near Sabine almost to Jesse along Route 10, east of Oceana. When Bob Gates flew over the area a couple of months after the flood, washouts and slides on the timbering sites were easy to spot. The photo below is from a logging operation along Glen Fork. The logging roads washed out and carried mud down the hillsides. Though Division of Forestry's best management practices recommend cutting the fewest roads possible, a number of the sites photographed had nearly a dozen roads up and down and across the hills, all making easy paths for heavy runoff.

    Local residents complained to us that the timber companies leave as many trees as they cut. The aerial photos confirmed this phenomenom. DOF officials say that cutting the extra trees may have been recommended by a certified logger. The trees may be diseased and need to be cut to make way for new growth. However, cut logs were found in the flooded areas of the hollows, and local residents say the logs were one of the loose items that blocked bridges and culverts.

                                                                                                Photo by Bob Gates

The runoff from Glen Fork feeds into Laurel Fork at the community of Glen Fork. Laurel Fork travels about 10 miles and meets Clear Fork in the center of Oceana. The timbering site below is near Laurel Fork, between Glen Fork and Oceana.