Lack of logging oversight leads to landslides

Despite Washington state forestry rules that allow the Department of Natural Resources to restrict logging in problem areas, an investigation by The Seattle Times revealed that Weyerhaeuser, a logging company, operated without oversight and clear-cut large areas on unstable slopes. Landslides last December in Washington's Chehalis River basin, where Weyerhaeuser was operating, left nearly 3,000 residents in the area without tap water for over three months. Aerial surveys examined by The Times found that nearly half of the steepest sites to be clear-cut had suffered landslides.