Idaho Transportation Department works to clear dead trees off Highway 55

BANKS, Idaho — Tragedy struck on June 7 when a tree fell onto a car on Highway 55. 13-year-old Coltin Jones of McCall died at the scene.

"Anytime we have a fatality we take the time to look into it," said John Tomlinson of the Idaho Transportation Department. "We look at what can be done and we look at what we can do to prevent another tragedy like this from happening."

Kayakers and rafters have noticed a huge increase in the number of trees that are dying along Highway 55 between Horseshoe Bend and Banks in the last two years.

RELATED | Tree Removal starting on SH-55, expect delays

"You have to be careful of trees like that, it gives me goosebumps as well," said Ron Abramovich who we caught up with at the put-in of the Main Payette. "These trees are dead. They are going to fall sooner or later, so it is good to see them working on them."

Drivers can expect delays on Highway 55 Monday through Thursday for the next few weeks as the Idaho Transportation Department has coordinated with the Boise Forest Service to cut down all the dead trees. ITD was planning on doing this before the tragedy happened in June.

It is a tricky process for the forest service to take down trees, especially with all the traffic in this busy recreation corridor.

"To provide for traffic flow we can only drop about two to four trees [at a time] and then we got to let traffic go," said Sam Lewis of the forest service. "So maximum backup time is, ideally, 30 minutes."

When traffic starts moving the forest service will plan their next cut. They are also trying to keep trees from falling into the river, even though some have.

"We are trying to send them down the slopes sideways and beach them so the tips don’t go in the river," said Lewis. "If we do put some wood in the river, we are going to send a raft down with a saw and a rope and start cutting things up and pulling it on the beach so we don’t have any wood in the river."

Boaters need to be aware of possible wood hazards in the river, but if you ask any of them, they will tell you they are more worried about the road than the river.

"We have been coming up here since the 90s, so it is just something that has changed in the past couple of years," said Abramovich. "We have to figure out what killed them because we have seen it up at Galena Summit on the sides of the road too."

Most of the trees that are dead are located just off the road, as further up on the slope the trees are healthier.

We asked ITD and the Forest Service what is killing the trees and they indicated it was due to drought, disease, and the bark beetle feasting on weakened trees.

The Idaho Transportation Department told us they changed the salt they use two years ago. Tomlinson told us the new salt allows them to use one-third less to keep the roads safe for travel in the winter, but is that salt contributing to disease?

"Since we started using salt, our fatalities have actually decreased because the roads are clear of the ice and snow," said Tomlinson. "We are not the experts, but we have taken soil tests and they are still in the range where the levels are safe."

ITD is a part of a national study looking at the impacts of salt on natural habitats, as more data needs to be collected to determine why so many trees are dying.

These trees also sit in the high desert where there was a fire five years ago. Last year featured record heat, and the year before that we saw a pretty bad drought.

Drivers are asked to be patient during this process. There will be no work on Highway 55 Friday through Sunday to ease the busy weekend travel.

People can stay up to date on road conditions through 511.