THE WILD CASCADES December 1971 -January 1972 2 THE WILD CASCADES ^mmy? WM M M in this issue— HlGpV Ross T>(VM T>e*Ttt CIO en-? See^K&fe^ t * # Y-K Mo£e tXXML-S oo -TUfe l>£NOfc -To JSM> MX. Kiy: u>iuoe^es.s. fU=M} OK> ^c^es a - is: $eu*roP- Htwlty rl. JNOCSOK5S ST>vf£^£»oT To oocrftess LAS-T "becjEMfee^. ^\s vve ito^eoboccs swvn-7- nnf <££\es <ty oo£. coftftesfewiDeioT' M" Tr\fc fP-OOT. THAS UOO/TH Wfe UAiJjO of fb££ST 9fc°A>\Cf. UlST£fcf\T VtervM of Xte sVifciT LA*jf, A£jrr(\ \^> Twe GrifPoffc VvtOCVroT Kir\t \Ok) f\l_ T» RjcST *- * * ¥- 7*- vXfttrW &*peases VK> -rtte: T'<10 OMJOSOVT! ft€rAV> ©O, (fcOreS 1L tMiLO i/s oeTrwes or x^c cAse MOCA rto-P OS if V*o CMO. * y x ¥ ¥ 6* N0V3v>M_ COO^fet-MA-riOkJ GVfv£-t>fe^ SALG. -riufc f*,sr rNfPeorxc^viCr". set PfcOre 7_\ To£ v^eTrVuj;. COVER SKETCH by Eliza Anderson December 1971 - January 1972 3 N0KZHW8SZ WKDSKMSS eOWSKSMS Saturday and Sunday. April Hand 9 are the dates to save for the Ninth Biennial Northwest Wilderness Conference to be held in the Eames Theater. Pacific Science Center. Seattle. The Conference, sponsored by the Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs, the North Cascades Conservation Council and other cooperating organizations, will focus primarily on problems of wilder­ ness in Alaska and Canada. Sigurd F. Olson, conservationist, author and wilderness devotee, is to speak at the Saturday Banquet. Congressman Mike McCormack will talk about "Energy" as well as proposals for Wilderness in the Alpine Lakes and Cougar Lakes areas, at the Saturday luncheon. A panel of active Alaskan conservationists will include Jack Hession, Sierra Club Alaskan representative, Art Davidson of Friends of the Earth, and a spokesman for the Alaska Conservation Society. Dr. George W. Rogers of the University of Alaska will review "Alaska Today". The University of California at Santa Cruz will be represented by a group reporting its 1971 scenic and wilderness studies in Alaska's Wrangell Mts. and Dr. Richard A. Cooley discussing the Polar Bear and its Politics. A panel of officials administering Alaska's public lands and waters will also participate. Northern Canadian conservation issues will be reviewed by Kenneth G. Farquharson of B. C. and John Lammers of the Yukon Territory. A film festival on Friday evening April 7, will precede the formal conference which will open on Saturday, April 8 at 7:00 AM and close Sunday afternoon. April 9. Further information is available from the Conference chairman. Mrs. John (Polly) Dyer. (EM4-3933). FOR FURTHER DETAILS AND REGISTRATION FORM, PLEASE SEE INSERT AT CENTERFOLD. 4 THE WILD CASCADES High Ross Dam Appears To Be Doomed BY LARRY McCARTEN Another is a critical report by the Inter­ national Joint Commission, a six-member '•"«•' A high Ross Dam appeared doomed yes-i U.S.-Canadian advisory group on water- lerday, • ' power issues. • Conservationists unveiled a campaign Cooley said Aramburu suggested to him that promises to stop City Light from rais-, that "the Canadians probably will kill the ing the level of the dam by 122 feet and high dam" and the council thus should re­ pushing impounded waters of the Skagit consider the issue. River farther back into British Columbia. Cooley told The Post-Intelligencer: ..ILthe campaign succeeds — and indica­ "I would hope the two new members of tions are that it will — it would be one of W the council would not take a position on the greatest victories in the region for con­ this matter without being fully informed." servation forces. H Chapman said he, too, has talked with The matter of raising the dam is ex­ conservation leaders about the dam matter pected to be brought before the council H and was "very impressed with their argu­ again — and this time, instead of a 6-2 vote '< ments." But Chapman said: favoring the high dam, the outcome is ex­ W "I am not prepared at this time to state pected to be 5-4 against it. CO The key to the campaign was election of definitely how I would vote should the mat­ ter come before the council." Bruce Chapman and John Miller to the K City Council last year. Both are conserva­ Miller also said he cannot say how he tion-minded and both are expected to op­ w would vote, until making a thorough study pose raising the dam. of all the aspects. He explained: They thus would join with Councilmen < "If they are talking of new develop­ Tim Hill and Sam Smith and Councilwom- W ments, I have to take a look at these first. an Phyllis Lamphere to provide a majority K There are, of course, a lot of factors to be vote against raising the dam. H considered besides environmental dam­ age." . When the council on Dec. 14, 1970, ap­ CO But observers of Miller's and Chap­ proved a high dam, Hill and Mrs. Lam­ W man's conservation-keyed campaigns had phere cast the only "no" votes. Smith was little doubt that they would oppose the high absent that day, but declared yesterday < dam. that he will vote a solid "no" if the matter w Mayor Wes Uhlman also opposed rais­ comes up1 again. ing the dam and instructed then-City Light Voting for raising the dam were Council Supt. John Nelson not to file the applica­ members George Cooley; Liem Eng Tuai, tion with the FPC. However, the council, now council president; Wayne Larkin; by the 6-2 vote, overrode Uhlman's order Jeanette Williams; Charles M. Carroll and and the application was filed. Ted Best. Uhlman last week nominated Richard © D. Ford, Port of Seattle legal officer, to Miller replaced Carroll on Jan. 10 and o Chapman replaced Ken Rogers last Nov. succeed the retired Nelson as boss of City 29. Rogers replaced Best. Light. Ford faces a fight for confirmation by the council, because several council Two attorneys, Richard Aramburu and iH members question his lack of utility man­ Thomas Brucker, representing the North agement experience. Cascades Conservation Council, called on CO Uhlman, when he nominated Ford for Cooley yesterday. Cooley was chairman of K the council's Utilities Committee at the the post, remarked that he expects the phi­ U losophies of the leadership of City Light time of the 1970 dispute over raising the « dam. and the mayor's office to be the same in < the immediate future. Cooley said the attorneys told him there Raising Ross Dam by 122 feet would had been new developments on the Ross. provide 38.000 more kilowatts of base pow­ Dam issue that the council should consider. er and 140.000 kilowatts of peaking power, One of the developments mentioned, Cooley said. He declared the city needs the Cooley said, is the fact that John Biggs, < power and warned of future shortages. The head of the State Department of Ecology, Q hearing before the FPC has not been has said he will oppose raising of the dam I—I scheduled and only preliminary planning at the hearing before the Federal Power K can be done before the hearing. Commission. December 1971 - January 1975 5 LA BOHN GAP LAWSUIT ENDS The La Bohn Gap case is now closed and we hope it can so remain. On the 27th of December, 1971 the United States District Court ordered "that plaintiffs' complaint and inter­ veners' counterclaim are hereby dismissed without prejudice and without costs". The case opened on April 14, 1970 when the plaintiffs - Alpine Lakes Protection Society. North Cascades Conservation Council and Sierra Club - filed suit against the defendants - Clifford Hardin, Secretary of Agriculture. Edward P. Cliff, Chief U. S. Forest Service, Charles A. Connaughton, Regional Forester - Region Six, and L. O. Barrett, Supervisor Snoqualmie National Forest - to prevent construction of a "super-trail" that would facilitate miningat La Bohn Gap by Cougar Development Corp. On the 13th of July 1970 this mining corporation entered the case as intervenor with a counterclaim against the plaintiffs for "wrongful and officious intermeddling". Abandonment of the "super-trail" project occurred on September 28th when the Snoqualmie National Forest agreed to terminate its Cooperative Agreement (dated August 26. 1969) with Cougar Development Corporation and to refund the $39, 215. 35 deposited by this corporation. As a consequence of the issues in the case thus becoming moot, plaintiffs, defendants and intervenor agreed to the dismissal of the case. This is not to say that the question of miningat La Bohn Gap has been permanently resol­ ved. At some future date Cougar Development Corporation may apply to the U. S. Forest Service for access to the mine site again. However, the issues which would be involved at such time may very well be different from those raised in this case. Cougar Development's threat to the Alpine Lakes wilderness still remains and we will have to watch continuously for any signs of renewed activity. We are indebted to David G. Knibb for the very fine work he did on this case and to his firm Schweppe, Doolittle, Krug, and Tausend for the very modest nature of the fees charged for services. We are also grateful to The Mountaineers (Seattle, Tacoma, and Everett), the Sierra Club (National, Pacific Northwest Chapter, and Puget Sound Group), and the Alpine Lakes Pro­ tection Society for their generosity in sharing with us the plaintiffs expenses of $1400. 6 THE WILD CASCADES WHY WE NEED A MT. ST. HELENS NATIONAL MONUMENT PART II (Editor's Note: The following is Part II of a three part series.