First, let me say, mkrochta, that I'm on your side more or less and I am certainly not arguing against the project of removing the red roads. I am proponent of increasing roadless areas and wilderness areas. As I explained in detail in another post, we all ought to be proponents of removing roads, pulling back trailheads, and expanding wilderness. We benefit from it by gaining access to more roadless/wilderness area. Even hunters benefit. It's counter intuitive, but that is the way the geometry plays out, on average. Anyway, that's for another thread. But I am questioning some of the rationale being put forth; I question the relevancy of fragmentation.
And about the photo ...
mkrochta wrote:
The date of the photo was either 2/13/2014 or the next day, taken from 2 Rivers campground I believe.
Well, that was the date that eastbound I84 was closed due to a massive rock slide, caused by a spell of deep cold that was followed by unusual warming. Here is Salem's temperature, rainfall, and cloud cover for the lead-up week:
For weather news from that week, here is a google search ...
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=we ... oregonlive
... which returns headlines like
"Tracking Oregon's 2014 winter snow storm (Day 5: The 'Big Thaw')" "Welcome to Day 5 of our coverage of the 2014 winter snow storm that has smothered Portland, the Willamette Valley, the Oregon coast, Southwest Washington and the Columbia River Gorge with snow and, now, ice. As the region begins to thaw out Monday -- temperatures are expected to reach the low 40s -- the focus now shifts to potential flooding concerns and clearing area roads of snow and ice."
In the photo you posted, it looks like the Clackamas is in flood stage, and the lead-up weather supports that. I'd the expect the Collawash River was in flood stage too. It's a dramatic photo of the confluence, but knowing what was happening weatherwise, I don't give the drama much import. Using that photo borders on propaganda in my opinion - and I'm on your side regarding the endpoint of closing the red roads! I am not saying that it is not like that everyday. It may be just an unfortunate coincident of timing. Do you have other photos from other days?