•There is a knee-jerk tendency to label LWD as “dangerous” or “hazardous”
•
•The majority of LWD is neither
•
•Most “hazardous” LWD is really just inconvenient
–e.g. a channel spanning log with an upstream pool and a portage trail
•Uncut wood will almost always provide greater function and persist longer than cut wood
Take-Home Points (cont’d):
Characterizing something as a safety risk make us feel better about removing it
•even if removal may not be the appropriate prescription
•often a way to cover-up laziness (i.e. not wanting to portage)
Rivers are not inter-state highways