Interesting (and a bit predictable in its news) article from the (soon-to-be-defunct?) P-I on the recent rash of flooding in Western Washington.
Logging and development are prime suspects because dense forests intercept and slow down rainfall before it becomes a flood, while development plasters concrete and asphalt across marshy areas that once soaked up floodwaters. Meanwhile, climate change appears to be increasing the incidence of extraordinarily heavy rainstorms, scientists say.
A federal study adds credence to the development and logging hypotheses. In fact, the Puget Sound region so far has come out No. 1 nationally in an examination of how land cover changed -- primarily from development and clearcutting -- from 1973 to 2000.
The study is nearly finished, and so far no faster rate of land conversion has been found anywhere in the nation, said Dan Sorenson, a U.S. Geological Survey geographer.
The main reason is clearcutting, which decreased forest cover by 10 percent. The No. 2 reason is the footprint of development, which increased nearly 7 percent.
The reporter also notes that a significant amount of that development has foolishly - at least to some of us - gone into river floodplains.
Hylebos Creek got its picture in the news over at the Seattle Times website.
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