News

The South King County Group has joined seven other local, environmentally-minded organizations in launching a new activities website, which captures in one place the events of environmental and conservation organizations based in south King County.

Besides the South King County Group, the organizations include Friends of Hylebos, Herons Forever, Horses for Clean Water, Lake Wilderness Arboretum, Middle Green River Coalition, Rainier Audubon, and Shadow Lake Bog. The new website's address is http://www.SKCEA.org, which stands for South King County Environmental Activities. Please check it out! Also, please contact the webmaster, Nancy Hertzel at Autumn207@comcast.net, if you know of any other organizations that might like to be included.

The Sierra club calendars for 2007 are now available to order. There are beautiful wall calendars and desk engagement calendars. They make great Christmas gifts!

To order, please contact Andrea Olson at the Cascade Chapter office: andrea.olson@sierraclub.org or call (206) 378-0114 X 301. Please tell her how many you would like to order. Checks only.

A recent study by Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) indicates that cost estimates for transportation projects across the state must be raised due to increases in the cost of materials like steel and concrete and fuel for equipment and trucks. New estimates for the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East project are being developed. This may affect the shape of Phase I, which currently is scheduled to widen the freeway to six lanes between Hyak and Keechelus Dam. WSDOT and the governor will be reviewing the findings and will make recommendations for any changes deemed necessary later this year.

National Park & Forest Land Acquisitions Need Funding

Congress will recess for elections before approving the FY07 Interior Appropriations bill, which funds the Forest Service, National Park Service and other federal land management agencies. This means the final decision on land acquisitions will also wait until November or later. Congress adopted a continuing resolution on September 26th that will keep the agencies functioning for two months past the September 30th end of the fiscal year.

The House version of the spending bill had the lowest allocation for conservation land purchases in decades. That bill included only 10 national park projects, including $1.5 million for acquisition of key parcels along the Carbon River in the recently authorized addition to Mt. Rainier National Park. In a similar situation for the Forest Service, $1.0 million was allocated to the Columbia Gorge.

Draining Rivers is Not the Way to Accommodate Growing Populations: 2003 Changes to the Municipal Water Law has Been a Dismal Failure

by

Rebecca Berman Phelps, Chair Cascade Chapter Water and Salmon Committee Rachel Paschal Osborn, Spokane public interest water lawyer

Water is a finite resource owned by the people of Washington and the Tribes. With 25% of Washington’s 62 watersheds already over-allocated, there is already not enough water for people and fish. Washington rivers are filled with endangered and threatened wild salmon, steelhead and other species struggling for their lives because Washington water is mismanaged in violation of the public interest and in violation of the Endangered Species Act which requires the protection of listed species. Washington rivers must be protected and restored, not drained until they become dry riverbeds.

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 On May 13, 2006, 4 volunteers and National Forest Ranger, Otis Allen, did an amazing amount of work to improve the remote and lovely Noisy Creek trail, at the Cascade Chapter's 3rd annual trail work party at this site.

Our volunteer day in the proposed Noisy Eagle wilderness area, east of Baker Lake, started out by meeting up in Sedro-Wooley and then proceeding to the Shannon Creek boat launch. We motored across the lake in the Forest Service boat, with Otis Allen at the helm. The group trekked into the Noisy Creek trailhead about 1/2 a mile from the boat launch, with the tools of our trail building trade. Otis spelled out his goals for the day, and wish list to try and accomplish, given the small size of the volunteer group that day.

March 2006 - The Forest Service received over 1,500 comments on the Draft EIS for the proposed expansion of the four ski areas at Snoqualmie Pass. The new ten-year plan for the Summit at Snoqualmie would rearrange some lifts and runs and add new ones, increasing total capacity by 39 percent. However, the proposal would result in cutting old-growth forests, degrading a critical wildlife corridor, and impacting roadless areas and wetlands. Two-thirds of the ski area is on national forest land. A Final EIS and decision are due later this year.

Skiing has been a fixture of the Pass for decades, but over time, resort development has resulted in logged forests, filled wetlands, and blocked wildlife corridors. The new plan should meet current environmental standards, including protecting wildlife habitat and water quality. While many aspects of the ski area’s $48 million proposal are not controversial, the cutting of old-growth forests in a key wildlife corridor would have a major impact. The Seattle PI published an editorial expressing alarm at the cutting of the forest and urged the Forest Service to go slow, allowing time to carefully study the impacts on wildlife. The paper’s website poll received over 340 responses, of which 2 out of 3 were against cutting the forest in the Hyak Creek area.

March 2006 - The latest threat to Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument is a copper mine along its northern boundary. A $400 million mine has been proposed by Idaho General Mines, Inc. from Spokane. Motivated by rising global copper prices, the company envisions a facility operating for as long as 30 to 40 years. The proposed area for the mine extends over more than 800 acres. It is inside the blast zone and was considered for inclusion in the national monument, but left out by Congress at the request of the Forest Service.

The company could propose an open pit mine, which would be big enough to eradicate much of Goat Mountain. Even a tunnel mine involves disposal of waste rock, and wastewater must be pumped somewhere; this area drains down through the Green River. Also, the project will require new roads, perhaps even a new road down the Green River through the pristine old-growth forests in the Monument.

National Park & Forest Land Acquisitions Need Funding

In May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the FY07 Interior Appropriations Bill, which had the lowest allocation for conservation land purchases in decades. The bill included only 10 national park projects, including $1.5 million for acquisition of key parcels along the Carbon River in the recently authorized addition to Mt. Rainier National Park. Rep. Norm Dicks, senior member of the appropriations committee, and Rep. Dave Reichert, who represents the 8th district where the park addition is located, worked to get this into a very tight budget bill. In a similar situation for the Forest Service, $1 million was allocated to the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area.