THE WILD CASCADES THE JOURNAL OF THE NORTH CASCADES CONSERVATION COUNCIL SUMMER/FALL 1996

Dammed Skagit —IRA SPRING PHOTO INSET: Skagit River before being dammed, 1931 he North Cascades Conservation TCouncil was formed in 1957 "To protect and preserve the North Cas­ cades' scenic, scientific, recreational, THE WILD CASCADES Summer/Fall 1996 educational, and wilderness values." Continuing this mission, NCCC keeps government officials, environmental or­ In This Issue ganizations, and the general public in­ formed about issues affecting the MARC BARDSLEY 3 President's Message— Greater North Cascades Ecosystem. 4 News Update & Letters Action is pursued through legislative, le­ gal, and public participation channels 5 In Memoriam, Bill Lester: A Ranger's Ranger—JOSEPH W. to protect the lands, waters, plants and wildlife. MILLER Over the past third of a century the 6 Logger's Point Developments— KEVIN HERRICK NCCC has led or participated in cam­ paigns to create the North Cascades 7 Book Review— PHIL ZALESKY National Park Complex, Glacier Peak Wilderness, and other units of the Na­ 7 Randall Airport Reopens on Mount Rainier's Flank tional Wilderness System from the W.O. Douglas Wilderness north to the Alpine 8 The Matter of the Skagit: The FERC Settlement Lakes Wilderness, the Henry M. Jack­ — DAVE FLUHARTY son Wilderness, the Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness and others. Among its most 12 The Loomis Forest— DICK BROOKS dramatic victories has been working - with British Columbia allies to block the 13 Irate Birdwatcher: A Modest Proposal raising of Ross Dam, which would.have drowned Big Beaver Valley. 15 In Memoriam,lsabe\\ Lynn and Kay Kershaw: The End of an Era — HARVEY MANNING MEMBERSHIP 16 In the Footsteps of Wild Bill: Hikes in William O. Douglas The NCCC is supported by mem­ Country— HARVEY MANNING ber dues and private donations. These support publication of The Wild Cas­ 18 Beyond the Golden Triangle of National Parks, Foreword cades and lobbying activities. (NCCC is from Conservation and Conflict: The U.S. Forest Service and a non-tax-deductible 501 (c)4 organiza­ National Park Service in the North Cascades —HARVEY MANNINtion.G ) Membership dues for one year are: $10 - low income/student; $20 - regu­ 21 Land Exchange in Lake Chelan NRA: It May Be Legal But lar; $25 - family; $50.00 - Contribut­ ing; $100 - patron; $1000 - Sustaining. DAVE FLUHARTY Is It Right? — A one-time life membership dues pay­ 24 Another Airplane Crash— KEVIN HERRICK ment is $500.

The Wild Cascades The North Cascades Foundation Journal of the North Cascades Conservation Council supports the NCCC's nonpolitical ef­ EDITOR: Betty Manning forts. Donations are tax-deductible as a 501(c)3 organization. Please make your Ptinting by EcoGtaphics check(s) out to the organization of your The Wild Cascades is published thtee times a year (Spring, Summer and Fall). choice. The Foundation can be reached NCCC members receive this journal. Address letters, comments, send articles to: through NCCC mailing address: The Wild Cascades Editor Notth Cascades Conservation Council North Cascades Conservation Council University Station . P.O. Box 95980 Seattle, WA 98145-1980 University Station •**• The Wild Cascades is printed on recycled paper with soy-based ink. Seattle, WA 98145-1980

2 THE WILD CASCADES • Summer/Fall 1996 NCCC Board

President Marc Bardsley Founded in 1957 SEATTLE, WASHINGTON Board Chairman Patrick Goldsworthy

Vice President The President's Report Charles Ehlert Summer/Fall 1996 Treasurer Tom Brucker It is fashionahle these days to be positive about things, if at all possible. We in the NCCC have, in fact, been quite successful in the last year or so Secretary dealing with some very important issues. Phil Zalesky —We pushed Chelan County into a corner over the Stehekin River bulkhead situation and won. The river is safe for now. It could be said that the Chelan County Commissioners are their own worst enemy. Bruce Barnbaum —We recently won a significant round in the Logger's Point condominium proposal. It seems unlikely that they will be built any time soon. Dick Brooks —We were able to help rally supporters to the Spider Meadows fund-raising Dave Brower issue. It appears that a logging travesty in that area can now be avoided if the remaining players, including the Forest Service, will now complete their roles. Polly Dyer —The recent acceptance by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) of the Seattle City Light Mediation Agreement has ended with an Dave Fluharty impressive victory for NCCC. NCCC has worked diligently over the years for this settlement, which is precedent-setting. Mitch Friedman Thank you for all your contributions, both financial and spare time. But wait, what is the punch line? We all know it, of course. Nothing is ever Kevin Herrick safe. Nothing is ever finished. The pressures of population density and resource extraction demands are huge. The pressures to make obscene profits are appar­ Peter Hurley ently worse. Stopping one dangerous proposal just seems to translate into a problem elsewhere, or worse yet, in the same place all over again. What can we Conrad Feovy do but wring our hands? Harvey Manning We can do more. All our members and readers can help with a very impor­ tant part of the equation which sometimes gets overlooked. Be on the lookout for Betty Manning problems which are clearly going to get worse. Make an effort to blow the whistle early while there may still be time to do something effective. Everything Carolyn McConnell the NCCC has ever done successfully was initiated by a member or sympathizer with our goals. Jim McConnell If you see something which needs to be fixed while out hiking this summer, let the management agency know about it immediately. If you stumble onto a Rick McGuire problem which seems too outrageous or too bureaucratically insurmountable, let someone else know. Ken Wilcox We can do something working together. Hazel Wolf

Laura Zalesky

Summer/Fall 1996 • THE WILD CASCADES 3 Johnson and Sievers? The county council NEWS UPDATE has done so much to help Associated get its permit. Has it considered the tragedy that could be caused by this miserable project? Congratulations and Thanks to that will provide basic protections for the Do communities mean anything to the Marten and Brown critical areas that harbor the fish and council? Do families mean anything? Does The Seattle office of Motrison and wildlife that draw people to Chelan County the concept of a village mean anything? Foetstet, an international firm, recently and the North Cascades. Apparently not, because it continues to decided part ways and go on its own. The Note: NCCC began its work in Chelan support Associated at the expense of result is Marten and Brown. As it turned County GMA issues because of the impor­ families living in one village, one commu­ out NCCC's successful Loggers Point appeal tant wildlife habitat intermixed with private nity. was the first case the firm argued as Marten lands in the lower reaches of many eastside If permitted, the Associated project and Brown. NCCC congratulates Marten Cascade watersheds. would immediately industrialize one of the and Brown on its founding, and thanks most beautiful areas in this state — the especially attorneys, Gil Revis and Stephan Mountain Loop Highway. Its beauty is Parkinson, for their hard work. recognized by its designation as a National LETTERS Scenic Byway. The lower portion of that Chelan County Finds More Ways road has been grossly and sadly clear-cut Gravel Pit Developers and Allies and overlogged, detracting from its inherent to Trip Itself Threaten National Scenic Byway beauty. But given enough years and selective Chelan County's war on Washington's First the Republicans, now the logging practices, the damage can be Growth Management Act has met a few Democrats, have been projecting their own corrected. Industrialization cannot be setbacks. The Washington State Supreme version of how a country should be run and reversed; 620 trucks rumbling down that Court refused to hear their arguments, how children should be nurtured. The scenic road every day will not enhance its directing Chelan County to start where Republicans say "It takes a family," The beauty. That heavy truck traffic will prevent everyone else does, in Superior Court. Democrats say "It takes a village." Well, most other people from coming to the area Chelan's case in Superior Court met a they're both right and we all know it. I say to enjoy its beauty. Is that what the council quick demise via the state's motion for that in order to make a country strong it wants? That's what it's been pushing for, failure to provide proper service. Simply takes communities living together, work but is that really what the citizens want? speaking, they didn't send their announce­ together, raising and educating kids Now Associated is back at the drawing ment of the lawsuit to the right state agency. together, and solving problems together. Is boards, rewriting an Environmental Impact At this point, Chelan County has paid their it reasonable to say that we can all agree on Statement that was so devious and contra­ private attorney, Bob Rowley, $64,000 to that? dictory that it was ruled inadequate on ten get two suits rejected. So why is there a move in Snohomish grounds, and lost every appeal against that In the meantime, the commissioners County to rip apart one tightly knit ruling. We can be certain that the new EIS squandered yet another grace period community — Granite Falls — by placing will be nothing more than a new attempt to Governor Lowry gave them, to work on the largest open pit mine in Washington in deceive the public, because the truth about comprehensive plans. Having nothing to its back yard? The Associated Sand and the project would surely spell its demise. But Associated will try to hoodwink us show for their work (or lack thereof), Gravel quarry/gravel pit will create so many once again. The county's Planning and Lowry was forced to impose a minimal problems that the entire community will be Development Services Department will sanction in the form of withheld rural road destroyed by it. Most visible, of course, is again overlook its obvious failures and repair funds. When the county complies the traffic mess it will create, with its 620 Associated's political allies on the with GMA, they will get the money, plus gravel trucks traveling through town — Snohomish County Council will work as interest. The commissioners, of course, traveling very loudly and very slowly through town, mind you, because of the hard as ever to get the project pushed screamed about the heavy, coercive hand of oppressive congestion they will cause. through. The citizens of Granite Falls would big government. But many local people An obvious offshoot of the traffic not have to work so hard to protect seem to be getting tired of a war that congestion will be the increased traffic themselves if the members of county council produces no spoils, only wasted tax dollars. accidents, increased injuries and increased would start to defend the people they Someday the county might join the rest deaths. Just imagine the catastrophe of one supposedly represent, but none of them of the state and put some basic plans gravel truck collision with one school bus, have shown a change of heart concerning together. All GMA asks is that the county perhaps on the narrow Stillaguamish River the project, the families it will impact, and provide a growth plan that will remove the Bridge! Would that help the families, the the village it will destroy. guess work developers deal with when village, or the community? How about it, —BRUCE BARNBAUM. GRANITE FALLS trying to do business in Chelan and a plan council persons Garner, Nelson, Miller, THE HERALD. SEPTEMBER 15, 1996

4 THE WILD CASCADES • Summer/Fall 1996 In Memoriam BILL LESTER, 1942-1996 A Ranger's Ranger

JOSEPH W MILLER

Who walks the wild Or climbs the iced-draped heights, Then sleeps with night-bird cries and wild dog song; And wakes to sun beyond the peaks, To rise and go and leave no trace behind: That one is free.

he North Cascades Conservation but not for Bill. He tutored a whole should have been proud to claim him as a Council wishes to say "Goodbye succession of superintendents in wilderness son. But parent/child relationships are Tand thank you" to William Lester, management. frequently adversarial, and never was that one of its honorary life members, who Craig Holmquist, Chief Ranger, the case in our friendship with Bill. He died after a short and valiant fight against North Cascades Complex, said Bill had frequently referred to us in meetings as his cancer in early June of this year. Bill, who been an incomparable mentor for young "gurus," a not deserved but appreciated served as Backcountry Ranger, Skagit people in the service. No one in the compliment. We were completely on the District and later as Wilderness District United States has done more with the same wave length as regards wilderness Manager from 1978 to 1992, had recently Student Conservation Association, both in and the protection of national park transferred from his position as Chief designing useful park projects for volun­ resources. It was always a pleasure to Ranger at Pinnacles National Monument teers and in developing the skills and work for and with him, and our 14 years to a new assignment at Marblemount. He attitudes of the young SCA people so they together on the revegetation program have was to spend one-third of his time on could later become good Park Service or been the highlight of our lives. wilderness management in the North other resource agency paid staff. His All of us who work in large organiza­ Cascades National Park Complex, one- legacy to the Service was a growing tions, be they the military, the teaching third on that in the Pacific Northwest conviction among supervisors that "we profession, government agencies, or big Region, and one-third on national must educate our employees in a wilder­ corporations, know that our most difficult wilderness issues and ethics ness ethic." He had heard a Park Superin­ job is to keep our eyes on the MISSION At his death, his family requested that tendent in one of the wilderness confer­ despite the rain of our British friends call in lieu of flowers, memorials be sent to the ences he had attended with Bill character­ "bumph" from up the line. Of all the North Cascades Institute, Sedro Woolley, ize him as "the father of wilderness people I ever knew, Bill Lester had the best where the Bill Lester Wilderness Education management." developed b-s meter. Hew never let Fund has been established. John Reynolds, one-time Superinten­ official gobbledygook deter him from his A commemoration of Bill Lester's life, dent at North Cascades and current Park main mission as he saw it; the preservation held at the Visitor Center, Newhalem, was Service deputy Director, told how Bill had and protection of the wilderness. attended by more than 200 members of recently received the prestigious Harry Bill, we shall miss you, and the the Park Service "family" and Bill's friends Young award. This is named for the first wilderness of our beloved North Cascades and family members. Russ Dickenson, national park ranger back in 1874, and is will miss you. We can only rededicate retired Park Service Director and one of awarded to a ranger who epitomizes what ourselves to carrying on your task. We the speakers, described Bill as an exem­ being a ranger is all about; one who has thank you for the great good you accom­ plary ranger, who began and remained a demonstrated excellence in the profession plished in your too few years with us. So wilderness man. The expansion of the of the park ranger. long, friend. Park Service into more urban and historic Margaret and I are more than old parks and monuments may have brought a enough to have been Bill Lester's parents. Instead, when he came to North Cascades change in attitudes among some people, Please see next page. and we really began to know him, we

Summer/Fall 1996 • THE WILD CASCADES 5 NCCC action sends Stehekin condos back to the drawing boards

pokane surgeon-turned-developer, satisfied the Chelan County Health response is, "We agree wholeheartedly. William Stifter, found out the Department's concerns about health and Chelan County developers, commissions hard way that Chelan County's human safety. and commissioners do a great job at easy-going permit process doesn't Sounds fine until someone points out shutting the public out using tactics that fit Salways benefit developers. that the planning commission's primary perfectly with the 1958 zoning regulations Mr. Stifter, who wants to build 14 reason of existence is to determine that still govern much of the county." "condominium cabins" on the exception­ whether a project meets health and human We left the courtroom cautiously ally steep hillside of Loggers Point at the safety requirements. The planning optimistic despite the fact that at an head of Lake Chelan, was told by Chelan commission review is also the only venue earlier prehearing, Judge Small had made a Superior Court Judge Chip Small that where the public and other agencies can few comments that did not make us feel health and human safety issues must first give input. like we had much of a chance. be fully aired and evaluated prior to NCCC's attorney Gil Revis of Marten However a few weeks later, Judge receiving a permit, not after. and Brown, made these points before Small ruled that a geotechnical study and From a human health and safety Judge Small. Stifter's attorney responded other issues must be evaluated by the standpoint, Stifter's 14 condos, septic by saying that the public could participate planning commission, not just the health system, and switchback road system in the continuing process though the department. The project had been potentially pose a significant threat to the health department's evaluation. improperly permitted. Stifter now starts safety of people driving, biking, and As NCCC sat back and watched, again at square one (with his new walking on the road that anchors the base Judge Small queried Stifter's local downtown Seattle attorney). of the steep hill he intends to build on. attorney on a number of points, including The ruling may have brought us a Failure of the septic system and erosion how the public could participate in the step forward in understanding how from road and building sites also poten­ health district's deliberations. The answer: business is done in Chelan. At minimum, tially pose threats to the pristine water by filing a Federal Freedom of Information it forces Stifter to face the reality of what quality of upper Lake Chelan. Act Request. The judge then wondered if he proposes to construct. However Judge Sifter's vaguely described original that was really a reasonable way for the Small did not rule on the merits of the permit application failed to deal with public to participate in a decision that project itself. In fact it was quite clear these issues. Yet the planning commission could affect the private or public rights or that there is not much in the law to stop gave the O.K. to the conditional use interests of individuals or groups. Stifter's Stifter from condominiumizing Stehekin permit. They attached a creative "condi­ attorney's last line of defense ended up as long as he meets a number of health tion" to the permit saying that construc­ being, "Your honor this is how things and human safety requirements. tion could not begin until Stifter and work in Chelan County." NCCC's Mr. Stifter may well reconsider developing his property in heart of Lake Chelan National Recreation Area and ask himself, "Do condominiums belong here?" BILL LESTER, 1942-1996 This is a valley that was (until Mr. Stifter) protected by lack of a road to the outside To see the greatness of a mountain, one must keep one's distance; world and by the sense of developers To understand its form, one must move around it; before him that condos have no place in To experience its moods, one must see it at sunrise and sunset, the place that is Stehekin. At noon and at midnight, in sun and in rain, The legislation designating Lake In snow and in storm, in summer and in winter, Chelan National Recreation Area does And in all the other seasons speak to the power of the National Park Service to bar incompatible uses. The NPS He who can see the mountain like this comes near to the life of the mountain. has never exercised this power. Yet a —LAMA GOVINDA reading of the Congressional Record from (Courtesy of Saul Weinberg, North Cascades Institute) the years leading up to designation of the Continued on page 7

6 THE WILD CASCADES • Summer/Fall 1996 Stehekin condos Seems to me we've heard this song continued from page 6 before...it's from an old familiar score Park Complex leaves little doubt that From an Associated Press despatch of early though some sort of development may 1992 to pay for an environmental impact May, 1996 statement, which found no conflicts to have been intended to be allowed, Airport High in Cascades prevent reopening the strip. Congress did not see Stehekin as being the Reopens Last weekend. . . Jan Liberty of Renton place for intensive development as An airstrip built during World War II landed her Cessna 180 . . ."It gives me the proposed by Mr. Stifter. by the Army Air Corps to train fighter pilots distinction of landing now at every state —KEVIN HERR1CK in flying in mountainous areas is getting a airport," Liberty said. . . . new life. . . Ranger Creek Airport, on the Harvey Colvin of Des Moines said edge of Mount Rainier National Park. . . is pilots in the past would fly low over the To help stop the condos, scheduled to reopen May 15. The airfield runway to let people know they were about drop a note: was closed by the military in 1957 but to land. Al Banholzer, a WPA member opened the following year to general from Renton, said the strip is a destination Bill Paleck, Superintendent aviation use. Thirty years later the Forest for pilots who want to camp. . North Cascades National Park Service declined to renew the lease on the QUERIES: Complex runway saying airplanes were incompatible with the hikers, campers, and horseback (1) Who was asked to comment on the 2105 Hwy 20 riders who also used the area. Since its environmental impact? closure, the airstrip deteriorated and Sedro Woolley, WA 98284-1799 (2) Were any environmental organizations disappeared from aviation charts. Ask him to work to keep invited? The Washington Pilots Association and condos out of Stehekin. the state Division of Aviation led the fight to (3) What did the National Park Service reopen the airstrip. The state agreed in have to say? BOOK REVIEW

Olympic National Park: park; the various salmon migrations wave. And in a larger sense they are: cast in A Natural History Guide ecologically binding sea and mountains; the from the sea, lifted briefly to their wintery symbiotic relationships of life at the edge of heights, and brought down by the agents of TIM MCNULTY sea and land; and the critical need for gravity." HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY, 1996 protection to marine life in the Olympic The most important message in the Even though this is not a book about National Marine Sanctuary which with the book is cast by the four ice ages that made the North Cascade mountains, it is a superb detailed story gives us a fuller sense of the the Olympic peninsula a virtual island. As a natural history presentation applicable to coast's unique place within the ecosystem. result, unique species and subspecies were the Cascades or Olympics. It is a book of As far as the present advances in created in this island-like refuge. Some of riches — rich in geological, zoological, scientific understanding can take him, the plants such as the Fletts violet and botanical, and ecological insight and rich in McNulty demonstrates a significant Piper's bellflower can be found nowhere the imagery of its language. McNulty has interdependent, ecological linkage. "The else on the planet. Eight such endemic- combined intensive scientific research, Olympic ecosystem is a living fabric that plants have been found thus far, and nine presenting the most current scientific data stitches the movement of tides over storm endemic animal species and subspecies, too. available, with his own personal and worn coastlines to windblown drifts of "It became obvious that some significant distinctive narrative. snow at heights of mountain peaks. Within evolutionary factors have been at work The research is extensive reaching into this tapestry lies a wealth of interdependent here." Noble fir and numerous plant and such areas as the tectonic process forming plant and animal communities flourishing in animal species, currently in the Cascades, the mountain range; the legacies of four ice a landscape of timeless beauty." remain outside the Olympics. One Cascade age advances isolating the peninsula and As you can see, this imagery marks the animal species present now, which is not an resulting in an evolutionary biological writings of a poet, which McNulty is. Many endangered species in Washington, is the refuge for unique plants and animals; the times as 1 read this for review, I would stop mountain goat. Its introduction by humans research into the alpine and subalpine high and ask my spouse to listen as I read her in the Olympic Mountains in the first half country revealing trends toward global passages: "Harlequins [ducks] look as of the century places at risk the very unique warming and cooling; the coevolution of elk though they might have been painted by species which characterize the pristine and rain forest demonstrating the complex­ tribal fetishists...When they arrive in the Olympics. And thus, it has been the source ity of these pristine wilderness valleys; the forested reaches of Olympic rivers in March of recent controversy between those wishing special intricate webs of mutually beneficial and early April, it's as if the village minstrels to preserve this uniqueness and those who interconnections that have evolved within were led into the cathedral." or "The want recreation at any cost. the national park's ancient forests and what mountains seemed poised at the crest of a has been lost by logging excesses outside the —REVIEWED BY PHIL ZALESKY

Summer/Fall 1996 • THE WILD CASCADES 7 THE MATTER OF THE SKAGIT: North Cascades Conservation Council and the Skagit Hydroelectric Project—1992-1996 Resuming the Story

DAVE FLUHARTY

he Skagit Hydroelectric Project Not until, May 16, 1995 did FERC issue its the members of the staff of the Environ­ license process is finally over. Order Accepting Settlement Agreement, mental Affairs Division of Seattle City Light Thousands of hours and dollars of Issuing New License, and Terminating to whom goes the credit for crafting a T Proceeding. That ruling left out much of common-sense innovative Settlement NCCC efforts and resources have finally paid off. On June 26, 1996 the Federal what NCCC and other intervenors had Agreement. Their approach saved Seattle agreed constituted mitigation for environ­ City Light and its customers lots of money Energy Regulatory Commission accepted mental impacts. Thus, intervenors re­ and time from protracted wrangling over the full Settlement Agreement. It means quested a rehearing. On June 26, 1996, the terms of the relicensing. that Seattle City Light will be spending FERC issued its Order on Rehearing that What precedent does the Skagit $100,000,000 over the next 30 years to reinstated all of the terms of the Settlement Relicensing set for other similar proceed­ mitigate the impacts of the operation of agreement in the license. Jubilation broke ings? First, it offers an alternative to hydroelectric facilities on the Skagit River. loose from NCCC stalwarts. Joe and protracted legal conflict over the terms of (SEE TABLE 1.) It also sets important Margaret Miller said, "Fantastic!" Pat environmental mitigation for major precedents for the way the backlog of other Goldsworthy said, "It sure has been a long hydroelectric projects. If parties can jointly relicensing actions can take place. time coming." Harvey Manning said, "The analyze environmental impacts and agree on North G D Highway ought to be subject to what needs to be done, this will speed the Background the same sort of review." Saul Weisberg, relicensing process, reduce its cost and The February 1992 issue of The Wild North Cascades Institute, could not be result in more effective mitigation. Cascades carried the first chapter of this reached for comment. He was too busy Second, the Skagit Relicensing story. It is a story that began with NCCC planning for the new Environmental demonstrates the need for and appropriate­ opposition to the High Ross Project as part Learning Center. Fayette Krause, whose ness of combinations of onsite and offsite of relicensing the Skagit River Project (FERC advice on land and wildlife habitat needs in mitigation. In accepting the Settlement #553) of Seattle City Light in the the Skagit River area was invaluable to Agreement, FERC opened the door a little late 1960s. NCCC appeals to the US NCCC, was out looking for new parcels to on consideration of mitigation measures Supreme Court produced a stalemate only nominate for purchase. taken outside of the Project area defined in resolved by an international treaty with The Settlement Agreement and the the license. Previously, FERC had taken a Canada to supply power if High Ross Dam FERC license are very complex. The hard line against such measures. However, was not built. Still, the matter of relicensing highlights, from the standpoint of NCCC, the logic of choosing the best suitable the Skagit River Project (due 1977) was not are that significant lands of high value for measures finally won out. resolved. In 1988 the Federal Energy wildlife will be purchased in the Skagit and Third, by including in the license Regulatory Commission, in charge of the South Fork Nooksack Valley. (SEE MAP) process the innovative solutions of Settle­ hydroelectric dam relicensing, admonished Furthermore, a loving legacy of environ­ ment agreements, FERC's own role, in Seattle City Light to complete its applica­ mental education will take place at a North streamlining the process and making tion for relicensing. Cascades Institute-operated Environmental government work, is enhanced. FERC's Seattle City Light embarked on this Learning Center replacing the defunct role is not diminished. It must ensure that task with a new approach — a negotiated National Park Service concession at Diablo all environmental laws and other obligations settlement approach as opposed to litiga­ Lake. are met. And, where parties cannot agree, it tion. They proposed that intervenors (SEE The Upper Skagit Tribes traditional must make decisions based on the merits of BOX, page 12) and the utility would work sites will receive added investigation and the case. together to develop mitigation for continu­ protection. In addition, cultural centers will Fourth, FERC accepted innovative ing environmental impacts of the Skagit also be built. The National Park Service mitigation like the Environmental Learning Project. With some trepidation, NCCC and U.S. Forest Service will receive funding Center as part of the license even though it agreed to this approach. (This is where the for much needed erosion control and does not fall into the traditional concept of story left off.) recreational facility improvements, all of "tit for tat mitigation," i.e., fish for fish/tree which benefit the outdoor recreation public for tree. Shift to Fast Forward — fishing, rafting and wildlife viewing. Implementation of the license terms In April 1991, NCCC and other Casual drivers, cruising the Skagit corridor, has already started. Many of the flow Intervenors and Seattle City Light signed a will benefit from measures undertaken to improvements for salmon had been started monumental Settlement Agreement for reduce the visual impact of power line before the Settlement Agreement in 1991 as Skagit Project Mitigation. We expected pylons and the clearcut corridor paralleling a result of state, tribal, federal and SCL quick acceptance by FERC. Therefore we the road. All parties share in the benefits in fisheries managers. Implementation of the promised readers to continue the story in river flow to protect salmon. land acquisition started after the Settlement the June 1992 issue of The Wild Cascades. Probably the biggest winners of all are Agreement. Had SCL waited until

8 II THE WILD CASCADES • Summer/Fall 1996 the FERC approved the license, many of The one big casualty of the delay in teams that negotiated the agreement — the lands would have been logged or the approval of the full license is the Charlie Raines, Rick Rutz, Keith Kurko, to developed and major opportunities lost. Environmental Learning Center, and even name a few, have moved to new positions. In the intervening five years costs, that is not a total loss. SCL purchased the John Earnst (former Superintendent of the especially of timberlands, would also have buildings at Diablo Lake Resort from the North Cascades National Park) and John increased. Now the license confirms that concessionaire (NPS owns the land) and Jarvis have also migrated. How can we be these properties must be held in protected preliminary design work began. Still, sure the agreement will be implemented status for wildlife. there were no funds for developing or according to the vision of those who Starting with the issuance of the operating an environmental education signed it? The FERC license and federal partial license in 1995, the full implemen­ program. Now, we hope all will be oversight is important, but NCCC must tation of these measures took off running. rectified. continue its watchful presence. Many projects have been started for Implementation of such a large and Thanks to all NCCC members who historic presentation, vegetation manage­ complex license is no small task. In just supported this process throughout the ment, erosion control, etc., involving SCL, the five years since the Settlement Agree­ nearly 30-year struggle. It wouldn't have many ttibes, government agencies and ment was signed the Environmental Affairs happened without you! private contractors. Division has lost many key members of the Watch these pages for information on developments. Future reports will document progress toward restoring parts of the Skagit. Future issues of The Wild TABLE I Cascades will document the behind-the- Skagit Settlement Agreement Costs scenes story of the negotiations. (1990 Dollars) Stay tuned! $100,000,000 or 1,0% over 30 Years TOTAL COST Mitigation Measure ITEM COST Parties to the Settlement $ 49,500,000 FISHERIES PROTECTION Agreement FERC No. 553 Flow modifications to protect downstream fish $ 43,000,000 Skagit River Fish enhancement projects for steelhead, Chinook, and chum, including habitat improvement, fish propagation, Hydroelectric Project and research $ 6,500,000 $ 20,000,000 WILDLIFE HABITAT PROTECTION CITY OF SEATTLE Purchase of wildlife lands (Blocks in Nooksack, Sauk, City Light Department (City) and Skagit River drainages — see map) $ 17,000,000 INTERVENORS • Research and monitoring of wildlife and habitats $ 3,000,000 PARTICIPANTS A $ 17,000,000 RECREATIONAL ENHANCEMENT • U.S. Department of Interior Construction and operation of the North Cascades • National Park Service (NPS) Environmental Learning Center on Diablo Lake $ 9,000,000 North Cascades National Park (N0CA) Renovation and maintenance of recreational trails, • Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) campgrounds, boat launches (25 sites — see map) $ 8,000,000 A Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) $ 4,500,000 NATIVE AMERICAN TRADITIONAL CULTURAL • U.S. Department of Agriculture PROPERTIES • U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Inventory and documentation of Native American A Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest traditional cultural properties and funds to support tribal cultural activities $ 4,500,000 • U.S. Department of Commerce $ 3,000,000 EROSION CONTROL • National Marine Fisheries Ser. (NMFS) Erosion control through stabilization and revegetation of • Washington State eroded sites along project reservoirs and roads, including • Department of Fisheries (WDF) a major native plant propagation effort $ 3,000,000 • Department of Wildlife (WDW) $ 2,000,000 AESTHETIC IMPROVEMENTS • Department of Ecology (WD0E) Visual quality improvements to project facilities by • Skagit System Cooperative (The Tribes) enhanced landscaping (Newhalem & Diablo townsites) $ 1,600,000 • Upper Skagit Tribe Improvement in right-of-way vegetation management at • Sauk-Suiattle Tribe Bacon, Damnation, Thornton, and Goodell Creeks, • Swinomish Tribal Community Gorge Dam viewpoint, Diablo Y, and Diablo overlook $ 400,000 • Nlaka'pamux Nation of British Columbia $ 1,500,000 ARCHAEOLOGY • North Cascades Conservation Council (NCCC) Documentation and mitigation of impacts to archaeo­ logical resources in the project area $ 1,500,000 A American Rivers $ 500,000 HISTORIC PRESERVATION A North Cascades Institute (NCI) Protection of historic aspects of hydro facilities and the towns of Newhalem and Diablo $ 500,000 $ 2,000,000 STAFF TIME $ 2,000,000 SEE MAPS NEXT TWO PAGES. $100,000,000 TOTAL COSTS $100,000,000 Continued page 10

Summer/Fall 1996 • THE WILD CASCADES 9 Site Code

1. Skagit Tours 2. Newhatem Visitor Contact Station 3. Diablo lots ferry Service 4. SCL Picnic facilities 5. SCL Traits 6. Hoxomsen Boat Ramp 7. Ross Lake Boat Docks B. Gorge Lake Boat Ramp 9. Colonial Creek Boat Ramp 10. Cooaell Creek Boat Access Site 11. Damnation Creek Boat-In Picnic Site 12. Uarbtemoant Boat Access Site 13. Hozomeen Water Distribution System 14. Gorge Creek Overtook 15. Colonial Creek Cndrrwater Cable IS. North Cascades environmental Learning Center 17. Happy flats-Panther Creer. Trail 19. Thimcter Knob Trail 19. Diaoto Late fishiny facility 20. Desotation-Bosomeen Trail 21. Black Peak Overtook 22. Rocky Creek River Access Site 23. Steethead Park Trail 24. Lower Sauk River Boat Access Site 25. Sviattle River Boat Access Site

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RECREATION PLAN 3 SKAGIT RIVER rlTDROELECTRIC PROJECT Mo. 553 Site-specific Recreation Actions SEATTLE CITY LIGHT a

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o on c 3 3 n I So. & a H City Light Department wa City of Seattle Skagit River Project FERC No. 553 Wlldllf. Habitat Protection end Management Plan r- O n MAP 2 > Location Map for Lands In the Skagit n River Hydroelectric Project > Wildlife Plan D m 00 THE LOOMIS FOREST Education vs. The Environment DICK BROOKS

he quality of life and our is a market for the pine. Forest elevation assumes that accelerated logging will standard of living depends ranges from 1500 feet to nearly 8,000 feet, resolve the problems of fire and educated awareness of good with the average about 6,000. Some of the insects, and will assure forest health. land resource management. harvested forest has been planted with tree 3. It puts emphasis almost totally on TOne might argue that if we do a good job species not ideal for this environment, i.e., timber cutting. Wildlife gets only lip with education, the land will certainly be Douglas fir rather than Ponderosa pine. service as do soils and water quality. handled with intelligence. Not so. Well The spotty management in the past, with 4. The plan is to cut 100-, and up to 200- educated people and educators themselves no overall plan, and little environmental acre plots. The "leave" trees will only are prepared to sacrifice the land if it will awareness, resulted in repeated environ­ be 13 per acre, including 5 dead trees. financially benefit education. The mental challenges. The concerns were Basically, old-time forestry. problem stems from the fact that the over lynx habitat, stream-side damage 5. The riparian zones, to provide "mini­ legislature traditionally underfunds caused by overgrazing by domestic mum" protection, average 100 feet on education, requiring special levies to bring animals, water quality, forest health, and each side of streams, and 30 per cent of educational standards and facilities up to a recreational opportunities. In addition, the forest volume can be removed in reasonable level. To help make up the fire suppression has change the forest that zone. funding shortfall, educators have turned to ecology. The DNR; now intends to 6. Grazing provides only 2.5 per cent of the Washington Department of Natural manage the forest to return it to its the gross revenue from the forest, and Resources, expecting it to raise more "desired future condition." Presumably, probably loses money, but it will money through the exploitation of state the way it would be if left alone to evolve. continue to be a "viable component of lands mainly through accelerated logging. To implement its plan, the DNR the Loomis Forest." Even the regents at the University of assembled a 13-member advisory commit­ 7. Only 25 per cent of each sub-alpine fir Washington and Washington State tee to set the goals for an ecosystem-based zone and Douglas fir zone will be University have gotten into the act, urging management of the forest. The plan managed to achieve late successional accelerated logging and the sale of state states: "This 134,000-acre forest land will forest. Twenty-five per cent! At forest lands with the proceeds being be managed sensitively. . ." But then it elevations up to 8000 feet! invested for a greater return. states: "All resources of the Loomis State 8. Recreation is not discussed as an issue, The current case in point is the Forest are an intrinsic part of the Common and the objective is to "provide Loomis State Forest in North Central School Trust. Certain resources may have recreational opportunities that do not Washington. This forest of 134,000 acres, priority over others at specific points in adversely impact trust assets or public is termed School Trust Land, with income time or in specific locations on the resources." designated for public school construction. forest..." The most troubling of the issues is the Hence the loud cry for exploitation from In other words, the fate of the forest pitting of education against the environ­ Forks to Pullman. lies in the details. ment. A nine-page analysis by Bogle and The Loomis Forest is in the area west The response to the draft Environ­ Gates on behalf of the Quillayute Valley of the Sinlahekin River and Toats Coulee, mental Impact Statement was massive, but School District is symptomatic of the and adjacent to the Pasayten Wilderness. the Final EIS shows little change, and problem. Even the interpretation that the If you have visited Horseshoe Basin you contains major deficiencies. Most notable trust is for the benefit of schools over all have driven through it. Much of it was is that there is only one action alternative, other values may be grievously in error. burned at the turn of the century by which probably makes the EIS inadequate. Nothing in the Constitution gives schools miners and grazers and regrew largely in 1. It ignores the impacts on the Pasayten priority over the environment. But, if even stands of lodgepole pine. The forest Wilderness, which it adjoins. schools had their way, the Loomis would has been protected until recently by the 2. It calls for construction of over 200 be a 134,000 acre clearcut. fact that there has been little market for miles of road and the logging of the timber, so far the forest has been Unless these issues are resolved, the 22,000 acres in the first decade, mostly highgraded for Douglas fir, and now there Loomis Forest is probably a goner. in currently roadless land. The plan

12 «'•; THE WILD CASCADES • Summer/Fall 1996 A Modest Proposal IRATE BIRDWATCHER

Randal OToole, an economist with the sisters and all their brothers and their North Cascades National Park (1 very good, Thoreau Institute, has offered interesting nephews and their nieces and their aunts 1 who did his best which would have been suggestions on how to eliminate certain and their cousins (by the dozens) would pay good but his superiors wouldn't let him so difficulties plaguing the National Park the "modest annual fee" in order to he quit, 2 zeroes, and 2 "upwardly mo­ Service (see reprint, following). He sees the guarantee that the park is managed to suit biles"), we can't but think the organization worst problem (aside, of course, from the desires of Stehekin and Chelan and which spearheaded the campaign to create Congress) as being "the bureaucracy," which Wenatchee? the North Cascades National Park is a more many of us would consider an excessively Worth taking a chance, one must say, solid foundation for keeping the trust than rude term to be applied to the rangers we inasmuch as there are more park-lovers in the high-level "bureaucrats" and their have come to know and love over the years. King County than Chelan County, not to slimeball political associates now betraying Among his recommendation is that the mention San Francisco, Chicago, and it. nation "...replace the Park Service bureau­ Boston. No, a small choir of loud mouths Happily, strip away rust and rot and cracy with nonprofit trusts for each park. can have a hot time in the Chelan County mediocrity and we find a corps of men and Anyone could join the 'Friends of Mount Courthouse but never could dominate the women who form as dedicated and sensitive Rainier' or 'Olympic Park Society' for a nonprofit trust, even if they employed the a group as ever has served the nation. Let us modest annual fee. Members would vote for professional recruiting services of Battle­ defend, preserve, improve our National the park's board of trustees. Each board ground and imported the Freemen from Park Service! would be obligated to manage the park in Montana. trust for the people of the United States." Now, about that board of trustees to be Hmmm...Before we rush into endors­ elected by members of the trust... Opening Seattle Times. June 5, 1996 ing or condemning the proposal, some the ballot to the mechanism of politics has thought must be given to how the system its dangers. Examples abound of organiza­ Users should might work. tions whose constitutional charters have Membership in that "nonprofit been subverted by candidates who con­ lend a hand in trust"...To confine discussion to the North cealed their ulterior motives and once in Cascades National Park, such a body office threw off their cloaks. funding already exists, and has since 1957, and dues I believe the means to avoid the danger of the North Cascades Conservation lies in the requirement (by act of Congress) national parks Council surely are "modest." that "Each board would be obligated to The words "national parks" bring to Given the responsibility, and a manage the park in trust for the people of mind vast natural landscapes with abun­ membership which would be substantially the United States." The wording of the dant wildlife, a few roads and beautiful enlarged as more of the citizenry joined, legislation would have be carefully worded, hotels beside clean streams and lakes. In would the trust be a better trustee than a but since it would be acted upon by a reality, parks suffer form at least four bureaucracy which is pressured by the heavy United States Senate which has 100 major problems: thumb of whatever member of Congress is members, surely this would be a more • Crumbling infrastructure, including exploiting the park for votes/campaign supportive group than one (1) senator, and roads, buildings and sewage-treatment contributions, and is ever quick to bend not to ruin your day, his name will not systems; over backwards to avoid giving offense to appear in this piece, because you all know • Deteriorating ecosystems, often neighbors who claim property rights and if who he is. because populations of one or two species they don't get them will scurry to their When we examine the people who of wildlife are exploding at the expense of friendly member of Congress and/or hoist have been (and are) Director of the the rest; the Stars and Bars and whistle Dixie? National Park Service (in the assessment of • A huge bureaucratic overhead that absorbs nearly half of the $1.6 billion Probably. a respected historian, "not one ever better annual Park Service budget; and However, is there not a risk that all the than second- or third-rate") and those who • Overcrowding and congestion. residents of Chelan County, and all their have been (and are) Superintendents of the Continued on page 14

Summer/Fall 1996 • THE WILD CASCADES 13 Continued from page 13 extermination and other activities have require congressional funding: While these concerns seem very favored some species of wildlife over others. • First, allow all parks to collect fair different, all have the same source: the Favored species overpopulate the parks at market value for recreation. Modest fees congressional funding process. Park the expense of other plants and animals. for entering, camping, hiking, fishing and infrastructure and visitor services suffer Elk overrun Yellowstone, Rocky other activities could cover the costs of because members of Congress get more Mountain, and Glacier parks. In turn, nearly all the parks. Differential fees would publicity and votes from creating new beaver, aspen and other species have distribute use from crowded to less- parks or building new facilities than from disappeared or are declining. Deer are the crowded areas. mere operations and maintenance. So culprit in Grand Canyon, Acadia, and other • Second, fund each park exclusively Congress saddles the Park Service with parks, but the impact on vegetation and out of its net income. This will encourage new and expensive sites and diverts other wildlife is the same. parks to spend money only in places where construction funds into favored districts The Park Service once let rangers shoot it is needed and discourage overdevelop­ while funds for the large traditional parks elk and deer to prevent overpopulation. But ment. remain scarce. protests from wildlife lovers and hunters • Third, replace the Park Service One new park — the San Francisco who wanted to shoot the animals them­ bureaucracy with nonprofit trusts for each Presidio — contains fewer than 1,500 selves led key members of Congress to park. Anyone could join the "Friends of acres, yet costs more to operate than criticize this and other park interventions in Mountain Rainier" or "Olympic Park Yellowstone's 2.2 million acres. The Park natural ecosystems. The Park Service Society" for a modes annual fee. Members Service plans to spend hundreds of responded with a policy of "natural might receive park discounts and would millions of tax dollars turning the regulations." vote for the park's board of trustees. Each Presidio's army barracks into a glorified Natural regulation lets "nature" take its board would be obligated for manage the office campus. The Park Service will rent course — even though that nature is heavily park in trust for the people of the United the offices out at a loss because San influenced by all sorts of human activities. States. Francisco already has a surplus of office Discredited by most ecologists outside the • Finally, dedicate a share of all park space. Park Service, natural regulation may be user fees to national biodiversity and Meanwhile, the General Accounting destroying many park ecosystems. But it historic trust funds. These can be spent by Office reports that "the overall level of immunizes park managers form congres­ appropriate boards of trustees to safeguard visitor services was deteriorating" in 11 of sional criticism — and threats to park resources that might not be protected by 12 randomly selected parks. funding — because managers can blame any user fees along. Shenandoah Park was forced to close ecological problems on nature. Some people worry that increased a popular campground for lack of The Park Service bureaucracy con­ user fees might deny park access to poor operating funds. When James Ridenour, sumes nearly half the agency's budget. Just people. In fact, most fees will remain Park Service director under President 51 percent of the Park Service's $1.2 billion modest except in crowded areas such as Bush, stepped out of his car in Sequoia 1994 operations budget was spent by the Yosemite Valley. Besides, park users are Park, he found himself walking on raw parks themselves. Close to half of park typically wealthier than average, so low- sewage leaking from nearby restrooms. construction budgets also go into overhead, cost recreation is a subsidy from the poor Congress also subverts park construction which explains how parks can spend to the rich. and reconstruction needs. Ignoring Park $250,000 to build a 1,300-square-foot, tow- Ultimately, the question is, do we Service priorities, powerful members of bedroom house for park employees. Private want to sacrifice our parks to the question­ Congress earmark funds for projects in businesses periodically shed middle able goal of cheap outdoor recreation? their districts: managers to remain profitable. But because Our government works on the * Building a railroad museum in Congress funds the Park Service whether it principle of checks and balances. These Pennsylvania — which already has is profitable or not, the agency has no four steps — user fees, funding out of net fourteen other rail museums — gets incentive to curb its bureaucracy. fees, park trusts, and biodiversity and priority over treating sewage in Glacier or Overcrowding results from Congress historic trusts — provide the checks and Sequoia parks. setting user fees well below market value. balances needed to sustain our national • Restoring unused bath houses in Park managers could distribute use and parks through the 21st century. Hot Springs, Ark., gets priority over reduce impacts by charging more to enter, keeping visitors safe in Yosemite hotels and say, Yosemite Valley than less-crowded areas. RANDAL CfToOLE is an economist with the Thoreau Institute in Oak Grove, Independence Hall. No one in Congress wants to harm the Ore., and a member of the Range Declining park ecosystems are parks. The harm comes from an inadequate Writers, a program of the nonprofit another side effect of congressional "park system of checks and balances. The solution Gallatin Institute based in Bozeman, barrel." Fire suppression, predator is to create a new system that doesn't Mont.)

14 THE WILD CASCADES • Summer/Fall 1996 End of an Era: Kay Kershaw and Isabelle Lynn of the Double K

sabelle Lynn passed away on March first published in The Wild Cascades in 25, 1996. Kay Kershaw died on July In Memoriam 1960. I 19, 1996. Both Isabelle and Kay had When the "Treaty of the Potomac" been in failing health over a long period. ISABELLE LYNN resulted in the North Cascades Study Team The "Double K Gang" rode the range the federal agencies (National Park Service, from Washington City to Yakima to Seattle. 1916-1996 U.S. Forest Service) infamously paid only Goose Prairie, on the Bumping River, was KATHRYN KERSHAW cursory attention to anything but the the headquarters, centered on two neigh­ proposal for a North Cascades National boring spreads. Kay Kershaw, reared in 1906-1996 Park. The Cougar Lakes area was sold Yakima, returned from service abroad in down the river, the team's recommendation World War II to establish the Double being to designate a tiny parcel of K Mountain Ranch, providing guests high rocks as a Mount Aix Wilder­ with horses to ride the trails to the ness. Not even that insulting high meadow country, and back at the proposition was followed through. ranch, the cozy comfort of the big Let it be noted that though the fireplace, the piano for those so party line of the Forest Service was inclined, a library of wilderness adamantly anti-wilderness, rangers in reading for rainy days. — Not to the Goose Prairie vicinity liked, forget the food, famed across the respected, and to a large extent nation, most particularly perhaps, heeded Iz and Kay. In that mad era Isabelle's bread. Next door was the of the early 1960s when the dogma favorite retreat of Kay's school-days of multiple-use was interpreted by chum and fellow wildland rover, fanatics as requiring all National Supreme Court Justice William O. Forest trails to be open to whatever Douglas. When he was in residence, machinery could be dumped on American shores in the Revenge for to summon him for a Double K lunch Hiroshima, the Double K kept required only the tinkling of the pounding the Forest Service ears so martini pitcher. vigorously that few trails in the The reputation of Goose Prairie Bumping country were left open to drew influential Washington City machines. figures, as well as citizens of wilder­ ness passion and activist bent from far Then, in 1984, the campaign of and wide. In 1950 and 1951 Isabelle a quarter-century was rewarded when Lynn came as a guest — and in 1952 the Washington Wilderness Act just plain never went back East, established the William O. Douglas staying on as Kay's partner, devoting Wilderness. particular attention to the kitchen, Would there have been a that quintessential wilderness-edge campaign without Iz and Kay and cuisine. their friends? Would there now be a However, enjoying comforts of wilderness commemorating the most the Double K, and beauty of the famous member of the group? wilderness that stretched from the Fortunately, we don't have to neighbor, Bill Douglas, and such regular back door to the Cascade Crest, and to bother our heads asking. Because there visitor-friends as Carmelita ("Mad Dog") Mount Rainier National Park, occupied were Iz and Kay and there now is the Lowry (after her untimely death, Carmelita only second place on the list of priorities. William O. Douglas Wilderness. Basin was given her name), drew up the First came protecting that wilderness. It proposal for a Cougar Lakes Wilderness — was at the Double K that Iz and K and their a proposal supported by the NCCC and Continued on page 16

Summer/Fall 1996 • THE WILD CASCADES 15 In the Footsteps of WILD BILL

For some years a certain sector of the on "private lands" (stolen from the public Multiple Use Area managed by the state Goat Rocks Wilderness has been the domain during the Great Barbecue of the Department of Natural Resources, and Manning "family home." We've agitated 19th century) and pled for extension of eventually to write them up for the Spring/ to get the cows out of Conrad Meadows, the Wilderness boundaries, if necessary by Manning book, 55 Hikes in Central the largest valley-bottom midmontane exchanging loot lands for public land Washington. meadow in the Cascades; the Forest elsewhere. The summer of 1995 a sad awareness Service stubbornly and lamely responds But let's face it: East of the Cascades of the decline of our old and dear friends, that "Mr. Conrad's critters started eating the Forest Service has long since been co- Iz Lynn and Kay Kershaw, caused me to those flowers more than a hundred years opted, manages the National Forests less renew my correspondence with the Naches ago and it would rile the Conrad family if for the nation than for neighbors, who Ranger District of Wenatchee National we expelled the Conrad cows, and besides even when not members of the rangers' Forest, which was in process of renewing that, the American People get 130a month families always have a useful Congressman the ancient Conrad cattle permit, and to per cow, and that adds up to nearly or Senator in their Confederate pocket. extend my explorations of the outside-the- enough to pay the expense of shuffling the Curiosity about the highlands we saw Wilderness ridges of the ancient Goat permit papers in our office." looking out from Wilderness led us to Rocks Volcano. From our camp high in the Wilder­ explore Ahtanum Creek to Sedge Ridge Continued on page 17 ness we have heard the snarl of chainsaws and Darling Mountain, in the Ahtanum

In Memoriam: ISABELLE LYNN AND KATHRYN KERSHAW

Continued from page 15 lonesome and quiet country. 1 even found and tear of an active mountain lifestyle." one stretch of veritable trail somehow not It was more than that — the sudden onset Addendum by H.M. appealing to the wheelies, virtually of a swift-moving bone cancer. On a Betty and I didn't see Iz and K after unchanged since WOD walked it as a lad. Friday, July 19, she died. they left the Double K where we had "My hope was to return home from At noon on the following Sunday the spent, over the span of a quarter-century, one of these trips via Yakima, but I guess family, neighbors, and friends assembled at so many socially memorable (and politi­ the timing wasn't right. Wish I'd just Prairie House, formerly the getaway of Bill cally productive) weekends of spring and dropped in for the chance to say a last Douglas, now the Goose Prairie retreat of fall, their "quiet" seasons when they were happy trails to Iz. 'The past is a foreign Loren Smith, "one of us." Memories were free to entertain solely members of the country. They do things differently there.' shared around the group, which included Double K Gang. Came a time when even —And as I say to the kids in their fancy such NCCC members of the Gang as the Christmas cards ceased, for reasons we duds and big money and flossy toys. "You Eileen Ryan and the Mannings. Then the knew through the grapevine. missed out on the good times. There is ashes of the two were spread on the A main tendril of that grapevine, nothing in the present that comes anywhere grounds of their Double K Mountain Eileen Ryan, former NCCC director, sent close to what WE had." Yes, fondly, fondly, Ranch, also now the retreat of respectful us a newspaper clipping of March 29, our Betty and I recall the great times at the new owners who are (more than) "one of first word of Iz's passing. Following is an Double K. These times will live forever — us." —H.M. excerpt from our April 3 letter to Kay: or as long as we do, and that's long "Dear Kay: . .1 happened to spend a enough." lot of time last summer-fall in Tieton- Ed Kershaw invited us to "Isabelle's Ahtanum country. Got hooked on homecoming," Sunday, July 21, his letter retracing WOD routes and was egged on by saying "Hopefully Kay will be able to join Contributions in memory of USFS folks. Blue Slide Lookout, us. She is recovering from her broken leg Kay Kershaw and Isabelle Lynn fine but is generally weaker due to lack of Narrowneck Gap, Klickton Divide. may be given to the NCCC or Fascinating stuff. Of course, the 4WD the activity level we witnessed throughout the NCCC Foundation. jockeys, the omnipresent 'sports utility her life. Kay is in no pain and in her 90th vehicle,' play here. But in middle of week, year she is simply experiencing the wear

16 bj THE WILD CASCADES • Summer/Fall 1996 Continued from page 16 recalling when this was the main horse ous mounds suspected of being "rock So excited was I by my discoveries I trail from the Tieton to the lookout. At glaciers" left over from the Little Ice Age. added two trips to the new edition of 55 5550 feet the ridge narrows to a cleaver And then just past Darling Mountain, Hikes (due out early in 997). As readers edging the Blue Slide canyon, where there's that abrupt notch in the otherwise know, the Spring/Manning guidebooks are volcanic trash busted loose and shoulder-broad crest of Klickton Divide. . . political manifestos, intended to get your WHOOSHed to the valley. The wheel-eroded gash climbs straight boots on the ground. In this case, in the At the canyon top the 4WD quits, up open forest, crosses a closed logging footsteps of William O. Douglas. yielding to genuine trail which soon drops spur, passes bits of telephone wire from Following are excerpts from the two off the ridge into a dandy little meadow the Golden Age, and at 5600 feet swings new trips. basin bounded on one side by a lava talus into, and out of, the swale of a meltwater- from a lava bluff and on the other by a time tributary to Discovery Creek. Blue Slide Lookout heap of moss-greened rubble (hypoth­ Supersteep wheelway emerges from big- esized to be, perhaps, a relict "rock tree forest to steppe-meadow, to pointy- Round trip 6 miles glacier"). Snow scraps linger to early top subalpine firs, feathery-needled larch, High point 6785 feet summer, meltwater rippling by groves of and witchy tangles of whitebark pine — Elevation gain 2300 feet subalpine fir, over fields of glacier lily, and to blossoms. Bitterroot! Buckwheat! Managed by Wenatchee National polemonium, pussypaws, buckwheat, Larkspur, wallflower, roseroot, and a glory Forest and Washington Depart­ partridgefoot, and a world of other color, more. ment of Natural Resources the more vivid for the contrast of black The angle eases in rolling meadows USGS map: Darland Mountain lava from the Goat Rocks Volcano and atop Klickton Divide, the views down to Green Trails map: Rimrock companion vents. Tieton and Klickitat valleys, out to Mount DNR map: Ahtanum Multiple Use The trail intersects a 4WD ("road No. Adams, Goat Rocks, peaks of the William Area 621," the shame of it!) which finishes the O. Douglas Wilderness, and Mount The lookout cabin of old was perched climb to a 6300-foot saddle in forests atop Rainier. Though the route is signed as an on the tip of a rock peninsula jutting way Divide Ridge. In every direction run official ATV route, toy-boys don't get up out there in the middle of the air, high 4WDs, east along Divide Ridge into here much. above the Tieton River concordance of Ahtanum drainage, southerly along Divide Press the button on your time valleys. Long gone, of course. But the Ridge past 6202-foot Blue Lake to Darling machine and see the lad, Bill Douglas, outlook still is the grandest any lookout in Mountain. The myriad intersections can loping from his Yakima home up Ahtanum these parts ever had. be confusing, but not terminally befud­ Creek, over the top of Darling, down to In his books Justice Douglas wrote of dling if you keep wits and map about you. the Tieton (on the track you have just boyhood rambles through all this Tieton- Any of several obvious ways 4WD and/or climbed), and up from Conrad Meadow to Ahtanum-Klickitat country. Tragically, his elk path and/or open forest and steppe summits of the Goat Rocks. When trails have been conceded without so much meadow lead to the bare rock jut, 6785 lingering snowfields seasonally transform as a skirmish to the hordes of SUV, 4WD feet. 4WD gashes of the present to the trails he (4x4, jeep), ORV, and ATV, the multiple- Hark! On a day chosen wisely, hear walked, wander lonely as a cloud, no abusers tolerated — nay, benignly fostered only winds and birds and silence. Look sounds louder than winds and birds, past — by their acronymic siblings, the USFS out to the ridges, down to the valleys, Darling Mountain to Blue Slide Lookout and DNR. Before a just share of the through the eyes of young Bill Douglas to (Hike 13) or Sedge Ridge (Hike 11), or unique geography can be restored to that good past before a Yakima lad's rite of along Klickton Divide to Spencer Point exclusive use of feet and hooves, a new passage was getting his wheels. and Petross Sidehill, where wheel scars generation of non-mechanicals must fade out in old-timey foot-only meadows. rediscover the land of the Douglas youth. Narrowneck Gap Search for traces of the ancient Klickitat The task can be undertaken now, and Trail to Cispus Pass. joyously, free from racket and turmoil of Round trip 5 miles the toy-boys, in midweek. Best of all is High point 6480 feet early summer, when bare ground between Elevation gain 1730 feet snowpatches turns back snowmobiles The geography hereabouts is a while the snowpatches turn back wheels. . fascinating melange of volcanic absurdities. The Blue Slide, for example, and all along The 4WD climbs steep forest, passing Divide Ridge to Darling Mountain rock outcrops exhaling fragrances of sage picturesquely peculiar lava cliffs and and pennyroyal, bits of telephone wire felsenmeers and talus, as well as mysteri­

Summer/Fall 1996 • THE WILD CASCADES 17 'n August 1994 the North Cascades Conservation Council published the CONSERVATION AND CONFLICT: 2preliminary Edition of the definitive/ authoritative history of events leading up to The U.S. Forest Service and surrounding creation of the North Cascades National Park. One-hundred And National Park Service copies of the book were published ("desk­ top") as the preliminary to a larger printing in the North Cascades of an edition in the Exhibit Format invented and made famous by David Brower. In BY HARVEY MANNING naive good spirits and high hopes, we spoke of these as "one-hundred bricks to be hurled North Cascades Conservation Council through one-hundred plate-glass windows an ebullient proprietary pride, the other a from Seattle to Washington City." Beyond the shameless proprietary greed. The rain The windows were fairly targeted, the Golden Triangle of bricks accurately flung. The sound of forests could not be seen by the timber shattering glass was awaited. And awaited, National Parks barons, blinded as they were by the board and awaited. . . What was the meaning of feet. The wildlife was homesteaded by the n their journey westward from the Great this silence? great-granddaddies of today's communities Through the grapevine we did hear that Lakes across the Great Plains and the of Forks, Port Angeles and Hoquiam; the one high official ran to his superior in what IGreat American Desert, over the Big best cash crop of Olympic Peninsula Dan'l was described to us as blubbering terror, was Muddy and under the Big Sky, passing side Boones was the Roosevelt elk, slaughtered slapped smartly on the cheeks (so to speak) trails to the Grand Teton and Big Hole and not for meat but the teeth, wanted for and admonished, "Be a man! Ride it out!" Gros Ventre, and to the Great Salt Lake and watch chains of the fraternal society — And ride he did, ride they all did, from the Great Central Valley, to the Grand founded in 1868 and at century's end Sedro Woolley to Denver to the White Canyon and Rio Grande, the pioneers gazed burgeoning nationwide, the Brotherly and House. upon and heard about a goodly amount of Protective Order of Elks. Still, the time for Well then, obviously a sterner cannon­ sizable geography. Nevertheless, approach­ ade was needed than bricks shattering the Olympic Mountains had to come. From ing Puget Sound they were struck dumb, or windows. Bring up the 16-inchers! Aim for front porches of Seattle, in wintertime folks as near to it as a pioneer could be, by the the waterline! The manuscript was watched the sun sink into the horizon south hugest lump of free-standing American submitted to both of the two large environ­ of South Mountain, in summertime, north mental organizations of America which earth ever in view of a prairie schooner, so of Mount Zion, and midway through the sponsor major book-publishing programs. almighty high that the upper reaches were seasons, directly into the crags of Mount Enthusiasm was awaited. And awaited, and winter-white the whole summer long. Had Constance, highest point of the skyline. By awaited. . . What was the meaning of this they felt the need for an outside opinion, 1938 there had been too many sunsets to be silence? they (or their children, anyhow) could have denied; Olympic National Park celebrated We wonder. We speculate. Somewhere quoted John Muir, who after completing sunsets, elk, and rain forests. The campaign ears are burning, sleep is uneasy. Where is the eighth (or thereabouts) ascent in 1888, for the North Cascades National Park not for us to suggest in these pages. That proclaimed that "Of all the fire mountains would have been the lengthiest of the three would be rude. which, like beacons, once blazed along the had it truly begun, as the chronicles usually Under the guidance of David Brower, Pacific Coast, Mount Rainier is the noblest." we continue to seek an Exhibit Format repeat, at the turn of the century. In reality, His imprimatur helped establish "The publisher, knowing as we do that such a the gestation did not commence for certain- Mountain," in 1899, as Washington's first production will make a turbulent saddle for sure until the mid-1950s and came to full national park. those attempting to "ride it out," and also term in 1968, stunningly swift for a most embarrassing bystanding for environ­ The second vertex of the triangle came campaign of such large dimensions, mental mugwimps currently in positions of slower, despite the oratory of the state's first geographically and philosophically. In the leadership. (A mugwimp" is a latter-day governor, who in 1889 announced, wake of victory the words and deeds of descendant of the nineteenth-century "Washington has her great unknown land prophets and harbingers suitable for holy "mugwump," who remained always on the like the interior of Africa" and challenged writ were sought out, but, really, the fence, his mug on one side, his wump on the adventurers "to acquire fame by unveiling intermittent calls to action never came to other.) the mystery which wraps the land encircled anything, nor led to anything. For the Meanwhile, from time to time, as space by the snow capped Olympic Range." The generation arriving on the scene in the is available, The Wild Cascades will carry fifty-year delay in achieving parkhood was abridged chapters of the Preliminary Edition. 1950s, everything remained to be done. due to the fact that the frontiersman's We begin, here, with the unabridged fondness for scenery had two sides, the one Continued on page 19 foreword.

18 THE WILD CASCADES • Summer/Fall 1996 Continued from page 18 from Park Creek Pass to Cascade Pass to decades of the century, the North Cascades The most prominent failing of the Suiattle Pass? The Picket Range? All of the Conservation Council is calling upon North Cascades was that they did not stare above? Americans to come together to finish the much of anybody in the face, as the To keep the record straight, there were job started in the 1950s. This book opens Olympics and Rainier did Seattle. Foothill prophets and harbingers. Henry Custer in the call by providing a narrative of the hamlets might brag up their backyards but 1859 and Edmund Coleman in 1866-68 veritable and verifiable facts. the newspapers of Wenatchee and eloquently described their explorations in A reader may ask, "Why a book ? Bellingham were not read in Washington the North Cascades and as veterans of the Haven't these facts been published, over City — nor in Seattle. Nor did hamleteers Alps spoke from the authority of an and over again, in newspapers and solicit or encourage or desire or tolerate international perspective. Their immediate magazines? Aren't they familiar to outside interest that might inhibit the successors in the wilderness seldom waxed thousands upon thousands of Americans in orderly looting of their backyards. The poetic except in the presence of shining the vicinity and across the nation? Don't railroad barons found no financially (fool's) gold or fools with money to invest government officials — of the cities, the practical routes to scenery suitable for in mining stocks. In the 1890s a few of the counties, the state, the federal Department marketing in Chicago and Boston and hardier urban tourists began hiking of the Interior, the Congress — have them therefore didn't push their well-worn prospector-built trails and dispatching prose in a firm grasp? The National Park Service buttons in Congress, as they did for poems to local newspapers and national has been on the ground a quarter-century Yellowstone and Mount Rainier and Glacier magazines and journals. These decades of — surely a succession of rangers has kept a National Parks and other surefire ticket- now-and-then, here-and-there praise day-by-day account of significant actions sellers. Though automobiles probed the contributed naught, or next to it, to and basic data — an account which is range in the 1920s, for many years thereaf­ completion in the 1960s of Washington's mandatory reading in the training of new ter the flower fields and glaciers of Mount Golden Triangle of National Parks. arrivals? Cannot a citizen simply query a Rainier, and even Yellowstone's geysers and Completion? That's a good bit too ranger and get ready answers?" the Southwest's canyons and Oregon's strong. Indeed, the motivation of this The answer is no, no, no, no and no. Crater Lake drew immensely more Wash­ history is precisely the lack of completion. The tenure of a public servant averages ington state tourists, to say nothing of Ohio In 1967, testifying before the United States three or four years. Those on hand at the and New Jersey tourists. Few people knew Senate Committee on Interior Affairs, a start of the campaign for a North Cascades much of anything about the North Cas­ director of the North Cascades Conserva­ National Park are long gone. Those now on cades. The assumed reason was a lack of tion Council, who a quarter century later the scene missed the first two or three much of anything worth knowing. No was to undertake this history, said: decades. Only the North Cascades Conser­ roads traversed the North Cascades and for If the Congress were to preserve in vation Council was there at the beginning the America which had recently gained the national parks and wilderness areas and is still there. freedom of the wheels, what could not be the maximum amount of land that Journalists work under the pressure of seen from an automobile window did not has been asked to date by any single deadlines which rarely give them leisure to exist. proposal or by a combination of all probe beneath the surface. A journalist so A second major fault of the North proposals, the people of the year innocent as to do so in the North Cascades Cascades was being too big to fit handily 2000 would say, "It is not enough. would be scolded by his editor for raking into an urban imagination. A Puget You should have saved us more." In muck; the Sunday supplements and travel Sounder of the genteel class which invented 2000 they will say of the North sections don't want dirt, they want tidy and fostered the notion of national parks Cascades Conservation Council, "You little idylls of the colorful "Sons and could wrap his mind around the compact were too timid. You compromised Daughters of the Pioneers" who live on the uplift of the Olympic Mountains and the too much. You should have been wilderness edge. Readers in cities of the grand unity of Mount Rainier, but not until more farsighted, more daring." ... I North Cascades hinterland and from sea to far into the twentieth century did the hereby place on record my personal sea are charmed by the idylls; the mythol­ genteel mind expand sufficiently to embrace apologies to the year 2000. In our ogy they embody is accepted as gospel, its the thirteen thousand-odd square miles defense we will then only be able to veracity assumed to be confirmed by its north from Stevens Pass to Canada, from say, "We did not ask protection for all durability. Government officials at every saltwater to sagebrush. the land we knew needed and level from Chelan County to Washington Third and finally, if the North Cascades deserved protection. We did, for a City (known to Easterners as D.C.) were to be condensed into a single Rainier- fact, compromise in the name of swallow the Myth whole, most from like or Olympic-like symbol of essence, political practicality. We tried to save ignorance, some for darker reasons. As what would it be? Mount Baker? Glacier you as much as we thought possible." for the National Park Service, the best of Peak? Lake Chelan? The Cascade Crest That was 1967. Now, in the last Continued on page 20

Summer/Fall 1996 • THE WILD CASCADES IS 19 Continued from page 19 custodians of national-interest lands. As serious career risks. In the past, to demand the rangers (there have been superb ones) cockiness has contributed to the strength of that review was the risky path. Early eventually have glimmerings that the the U.S. Forest Service, meekness has been retirement has been the alternative of official record is incomplete or worse, but the Park Service's abiding weakness, causing rangers who no longer could endure the since they typically occupy posts in the it to pander to pork-barrel politicians and shame of submitting to decisions of North Cascades a mere several years Chambers of Commerce. If the existing superiors which besmirched the honor of before transfer, they carry their newfound agencies cannot be drastically improved it the Park Service and Forest Service; in wisdom a thousand or two miles away. may be necessary to scrap them and start future it may become the forced alternative The less-than-the-best rangers (there have over. of the superiors. been a few too many) scrupulously avoid Our focus on a specific area of the 5. When the North Cascades Conser­ glimmerings. nation may tend to obscure matters of vation Council objected in 1968 to the Our history is not written from the importance to America as a whole. Histori­ raising of Ross Dam on the Skagit River by heights of Olympian dispassion. We make ans, academic and journalistic, have failed Seattle City Light, no opposition of the sort no secret that we are down in the field of to digest or even nibble at the following ever had been given more than a dismissive battle and have a point of view, and we huge chunks of red meat: sneer by the Federal Power Commission give due warning that there exists a 1. The 1968 North Cascades Act (FPC). However, in 1991 a chastened strenuously opposed point of view. Of the established the first new super-park since Seattle City Light joined the N3C and other two, suffice it to say that our bias is up Olympic in 1938 and Kings Canyon in intervenors in submitting to the Federal front, out in the open. It is always the 1940. After the lapse of twenty-eight years, Energy Regulatory Commission (successor national, public interest in preservation of this was the dramatic creation that pre­ to the FPC) a proposal for mitigating the the remaining vestiges of the wild. served the National Park Service from the effects of the power project on the Skagit Another thing our history is not is the fate then impending, of becoming as River as a condition of being granted a self-pleasuring of the hermit antiquarian. significant to protection of the American thirty-year renewal of its license to exploit We mean to teach and the students we seek earth as the Beefeaters are to defending the the public waters. No such accord between above all others are the National Park Tower of London from foreign armies. power interests and the public interest ever Service and the U.S. Forest Service. We are Without 1968, there could nor have been a had been placed before the federals. The confident that in their ranks are many of 1980 Alaska Lands Act and there would be, precedent will affect all other such decisions "the best" who when supplied the verified, as century's end nears, little reason not to — across the nation — from now on. verifiable facts will — from their first day in dissolve the National Park Service. 6. The defeat of High Ross Dam was the North Cascades — recognize the Myth 2. The 1968 Act gave the Stehekin accomplished by a close alliance of two for what it is. We would also hope to teach Valley due, if belated, recognition as "the nations. The American spearhead group, officials of the cities, counties, state, the Yosemite of the North," recognition which the N3C, could not have won alone, but it Departments of the Interior and Agricul­ still escapes the vision of too many govern­ expertly exploited administrative and legal ture, Congress, the general public, and, ment officials from Chelan County to recourses to buy time. Lacking this time, wherever possible, journalists. Washington City. ROSS (Run Out Skagit Spoilers), the British Academic historians will find our work 3. The argument put forth by the Columbia spearhead, could not have invaluable as a source, though they will North Cascades Conservation Council mobilized its decisive forces. deplore the absence of an apparatus. Not as (N3C) since 1968 and elaborated in the 7. These years of intimate cooperation an apology but an explanation, we are 1980s by the Sierra Club Legal Defense promise a bright future for the Greater writing from such a close range in time and Fund (SCLDF) was at long last, in 1991, North Cascades Ecosystem which encom­ space, that we feel no need for elaborate accepted by the National Park Service: The passes the range on both sides of the documentation. (We have provided a Park Service has the same powers in a international boundary. The defenders of bibliography, however.) The people of the National Recreation Area as in a National the North Cascades are not localists or North Cascades Conservation Council were Park. (See Parts 9 and 10 and Appendix 3.) regionalists nor even nationalists but on the scene from, and before, the start, This is the most important stiffening of internationalists. Geographical circum­ they mostly wrought the North Cascades agency spine since the administration of stances have given the North Cascades a Act of 1968, and what they themselves did Franklin D. Roosevelt. historical importance for the peoples of two not do they personally witnessed. 4. The suit filed by the SCLDF on nations, from sea to sea. The intent of this behalf of the N3C has reverberated book is to inform the two nations what has ***** been done here — and thanks to what has The fundamental theme of this book throughout the National Park System. been done here, the opportunities which (and of several others recently published) is Henceforth to undertake significant have been preserved and enhanced for the that the National Park Service and the U.S. planning action without subjecting it to a nations, from sea to sea. Forest Service have been unsatisfactory rigorous environmental review may entail

20 THE WILD CASCADES • Summer/Fall 1996 Land Exchange in Lake Chelan NRA: 77 May Be ver the years, there have been NCCC on the third point as it generally persistent rumors about the has to pay a high price for an easement ONational Park Service (NPS) Legal But Is (50-90% of the fee-simple property value) considering various land exchanges with but lacks the benefits of ownership. The property owners in Lake Chelan NRA. It long-term cost of monitoring and interac­ now appears that the NPS with Superin­ It Right? tion with the property owners must tendent William F. Paleck in the lead, is justified by offsetting public benefits like intent on making these deals happen. in the vicinity of the lower field was preventing inappropriate developments. NCCC has long opposed land exchanges thrown in, also a 16-acre area near Little The settlement agreement on the Sherer in preference to outright acquisition by the Boulder/Boulder creeks, six acres east of property reported in earlier issues of The NPS. There are numerous reasons for this the airstrip and five acres in the vicinity of Wild Cascades is a good example of the use position: foremost, that the public is Stehekin Valley Ranch. of easements by the NPS. excluded from comment and participation None of the properties are adequately Along these lines, Jim McConnell, a in the decision making due to the propri­ mapped in the Land Protection Plan and Stehekin property owner and NCCC etary nature of the exchanges. Second, the no GIS resource values or other adminis­ Board Member, adds another sobering public expects the NPS to purchase trative ratings are provided. In fact, the criterion for exchange lands — don't use properties from willing sellers in the NPS selected the lands for exchange using lands purchased by private parties and sold interest of the nation and to keep them — entirely different criteria than those used to the NPS. In many cases, the private not barter them away. Third, less than fee- to rate the lands being proposed for parties intended to prevent development simple ownership of property (easements exchange, i.e.: within Lake Chelan NRA when they sold for example) locks the NPS into a continu­ All acquired lands—not previously their land to the NPS. In the early days of ous process of micro-management of alienated from the public domain Lake Chelan NRA, the Webb and Avery private land. subject to the development families, acting like a mini-Nature The NPS counters the first complaint constraints of (a) slopes greater Conservancy or Trust for Public Land, by stating that the public is allowed to than 20% (failure, erosion, visually purchased properties in the Stehekin comment on the selection of lands suitable intrusive); (b) sensitive soils [(where Valley from willing sellers who could not fot exchange in the context of the mapped?)— only wetlands shown]; be accommodated by the NPS land pteparation of the Land Protection Plan. and (c) geohazard areas (rockfall, acquisition process or funding constraints. Yes, the public got to comment but the avalanche, debris cones, terrace They held these ptoperties and later sold NPS did not listen. As NCCC noted in its edges). them to the NPS with the expectation that comments on the Land Protection Plan, Now the NPS acts as if these proposed the NPS would not develop the properties. administrative as well as riparian consider­ exchange lands have received proper Now the NPS makes the claim that it can ations should be paramount in the NPS public and environmental review. sell these properties as no specific intent decisions about which lands to include for With regard to the second complaint, was attached to the sale of the property. In exchange purposes. The NPS, infatuated the NPS responds that where environmen­ fact, the NPS does not purchase properties with its new Geographical Information tally sensitive or otherwise administratively with significant restrictions on use. In any System (GIS), did an adequate job of desirable lands are traded for less environ­ case, the American public can legitimately identifying properties with environmental mentally sensitive or administratively expect the NPS to hold onto land it has significance along the river. It ignored desirable lands, there is a clear gain for the acquired for public purposes. It may be other rationales for selection of exchange public. NCCC might grudgingly accept a legal; but is it right. lands suggested by NCCC, e.g., lakeshore trade where there were clear public A recent example shows the NPS used ptoperties, significance for visitor or benefits, however, using the NPS's own to know the difference between right and administrative use, historic importance, rating system and our suggested criteria, wrong. When Stehekin lakeshore property etc. Thus, a parcel of land in the vicinity of the exchange lands all rank fairly high. was willed to The Nature Conservancy a both the popular scenic area of Rainbow Where is the benefit of trading one high few years ago it was later sold to the NPS Falls and the Historic Buckner Orchard value environmental value property for by TNC. Then, the NPS acted appropri­ was included in the designated exchange another? ately by removing an existing cabin and lands. Similarly a 21-acre parcel up valley The NPS would probably agree with Continued on page 22

Summer/Fall 1996 • THE WILD CASCADES 3: 21 Continued from page 21 the development of docks, lakeshore would like to correct the fact that its restoring the site for desperately needed residences and cabins on the cliffy portions driveway is on NPS property and would lakeshore access by visitors. This action above the road. A few Stehekin residents like to acquire nearby pasturage that it uses was not popular with those who argue that have actually written letters to the Chelan under a Special Use permit. The Horse­ this erodes the property tax base in the County Board of Adjustment opposing the shoe Basin claim has little or no mineral area. But it did respect the wishes of the development and many more privately value and certainly would cost a lot of person making the bequest and met the would not like to see it happen. money to develop. Thus, its exchange expectations of TNC. value is small relative to the Enough on the problem value of the Cascades statement with regard to Corrals interests. National exchange lands. Let's review Park Superintendents from some of the rumored proposed Reynolds, Earnst, and, exchanges and see if you, our presumably to Paleck, have loyal readers, agree or dis­ sought to find ways to agree. increase the value of such an exchange by seeking Logger's Point Property restrictions through According to Kevin easements on Stehekin Herrick, NCCC's former staff Valley Ranch operations, person and newest Board such as, screening from the Member, the NPS is consider­ road, placement of build­ ing a trade involving all or ings and residences, etc. some of the Logger's Point Apparently the parties are property owned by Dr. Stifter far from agreement. for unspecified parcels of land. NCCC has been adamant in Gans Family and NPS East Side Buckner support of NPS purchase of the Orchard/Rainbow Falls Logger's Point property (40.04 Board Member Jim acres spanning the road at the McConnell reports that the head of Lake Chelan) for NPS is considering an public access to the lakeshore exchange of land with the and to prevent environmental Gans Family for its river and scenic damage to the shore front property opposite the and cliffy uplands from Buckner Orchard Historic proposed development. District on the west side of Fortunately, the Superior the Stehekin River (no road Court and Mama Nature have access). The Grand Flood of confirmed that this is a tough November 1995 apparently site to develop. Does that did significant damage to mean that Dr. Stifter is willing the Gans' premises. to sell or exchange these lands? Therefore, the NPS and the Perhaps. Gans Family are deeply The first question is moot Rainbow Falls, Stehekin Valley engaged in discussions to because the NPS has little or —KEVIN HERRICK PHOTO exchange the vulnerable no money to buy the property. flood plain property for The second is scary because none of the Stehekin Valley Ranch and Horseshoe higher land, reportedly at the entrance to five exchange properties in the 1995 Land Basin Mineral Claim Buckner Orchard. As currently rumored, Protection Plan appear to come close to The NPS has long wanted to close out the exchange would permit the Gans parity for development purposes. It is very the mining claim in Horseshoe Basin, one Family to occupy a parcel of land relatively difficult to imagine how such an exchange of the few remaining, inside North near its previous home. Unfortunately, the could be made attractive to Dr. Stifter. Cascades National Park, held by members proposed parcel is land close to the heavily From what NCCC understands, there a of the Courtney family who own Stehekin visited Buckner Orchard Historic District few Stehekin residents who would support Valley Ranch. Stehekin Valley Ranch Continued on page 23

22 ' THE WILD CASCADES • Summer/Fall 1996 Continued from page 22 What should be done? least environmental cost. Under these and Rainbow Falls. For administrative, if These are just some of the currently conditions, it might be possible to discover not ecological reasons, the NPS has been rumored exchanges. Obviously there is a a clear public benefit from land exchanges. doing everything in its powers to minimize tremendous mix of private and public Second, willing sellers should work development in this area, including concerns attached to these exchanges and with the NPS to approach County and purchase of properties from willing sellers. it poses important policy issues for the Federal elected officials to explain the Now it appears to reverse its direction. • NPS, private parties and the public. NCCC need and desire for fee-simple purchase of Futhermore, the exchange involves sees three components to a solution. properties where the conditions warrant. properties purchased by the Webb and First, the NPS must get out of the box The NPS and willing sellers should not be Avery families' mini-land trust and sold to into which it has painted itself with its solely limited to land exchanges as a the NPS to stave off developments in the "approved" set of lands available for management tool. Funds should be area. [On this point the NPS disingenu­ exchange. It should revisit its choices and appropriated to allow such positive ously argues (letter to McConnell from repeat the selection process to include only solutions to work. William Walters, Deputy Field Director) those lands with low natural resource Third, where conservation or scenic that the Webb/Avery group intended to value ratings and lands without significant easements are the only way to maintain develop these properties themselves historic or visitor impact concerns. It public interest in properties, the land because they bought them. The fact is that should select those properties that are owner and the NPS should work together they did not develop them and sold them appropriate for development by being to convince County and Federal elected instead to the NPS.] adjacent to other developed properties and officials of the"need to fund purchase of. where fire, water, waste water disposal and these mechanisms for land protection. other services can be provided with the —DAVE FLUHARTY

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, Be part of the North Cascades Conservation Council's Advocacy of the North Cascades. Join the NCCC. Support the North Cascades Foundation. Help us help protect North Cascades wilderness from overuse and develop­ ment. NCCC membership dues (one year): $10 low income/student; $20 regular; $25 family; $50 Contributing; $100 patron; $1,000 sustaining. A one-time life membership dues payment is $500. The Wild Cascades, published three times a year, is included with NCCC membership. -

Please check the appropriate box(es): I wish membership in • NCCC* • NCCC Foundation** • Both *The North Cascades Conservation Council (NCCC), formed in 1957, works through legislative, legal and public channels to protect the lands, waters, plants and wildlife of the North Cascades ecosystem. Non-tax-deductible, it is supported by dues and donations. A 501 (c)4 organization. **The North Cascades Foundation (NCF) supports the NCCC's non-political legal and educational efforts. Dona­ tions are tax-deductible as a 501(c)3 organization. This is a DNew D Renewal QGift • Memorial • Name Address_

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Summer/Fall 1996 • THE WILD CASCADES 23 Another Airplane Crashes Trying to Take Off From the Stehekin Clearcut (emergency landing strip)

We collected on the ground details of reports. At press time, the NPS had failed the second near fatal accident at the the accident through a visit to Stehekin to provide the accident report we re­ Stehekin strip in two summers. We expect this summer. However, for an event of this quested through a Freedom of Information to deliver a full report in the next issue of sort we prefer to work from official Act request. They have yet to provide an The Wild Cascades. explanation as to why they delayed beyond —KEVIN HERRICK the time extension they requested. This is

t/5 o o I BU si U , 2 ' S X y. > I

THE WILD CASCADES BULK RATE Journal of the North Cascades Conservation Council U.S. POSTAGE Post Office Box 95980 PAID University Station SEATTLE, WA Seattle, Washington 98145-1980 PERMIT No. 8602

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