Mount St Helens advisory committee meeting.

Amy's early report back from the Advisory Committee meeting that was held on Thursday are promising.  The meeting was informative and Jon from the BBTC made a very good impression on the committee.  I'm anticipating a more complete update this weekend, or at our meeting on Tuesday!  In the meantime here is some information from BBTC's website on Mount St Helens: "The Mount Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument is managed by the Forest Service and contains some of the most dramatic mountain bike trails in the country. Like many government agencies that provide outdoor recreation, the Forest Service is facing a funding crisis and is unable to adequately fund maintenance of their facilities and trails.

Washington Senator Maria Cantwell is proposing to turn Mount Saint Helens into a National Park. Historically, National Parks have had very limited mountain biking, particularly on trails. However, IMBA has made significant progress with the National Park Service on allowing singletrack mountain biking within their Parks. Mount Saint Helens represents a good opportunity to both preserve existing mountain bike access, and showcase a new National Park with world-class singletrack.

BBTC is currently partnering with PUMP in Portland and IMBA to ensure that the proposal preserves mountain bike access on all trails where it is currently allowed, and Cantwell's staff has indicated that our access is not at risk. IMBA and BBTC's Jon Kennedy are currently in Washington D.C. lobbying our congressional delegation on this issue.

BBTC (and PUMP) will only support proposals regarding Saint Helens that preserve full mountain bike access to our existing trails and address the current funding shortfall."

 Go to BBTC's website for more information at: http://bbtc.org/wiki/index.php?title=March_2008_Trail_Access_and_Advocacy_Update One thing that could be helpful, especially if you live in Earl Blumenauer's district is to send him letters on Mount St Helens, that could also be tied to his Mount Hood Wilderness proposal.  Let him know how much you use the singletrack on Mount St Helens and how important it is for our recreation interests - even if it isn't in our state, or his district.  e.g. several areas in his Mount Hood Wilderness proposal are outside his district. The more that we mention singletrack to our Congressional delegation and how important it is to us the better it will be for us in the long run. Go to BBTC's website for a sample letter to Senator Maria Cantwell.  Be creative and use your own words in writing your letters.  http://bbtc.org/wiki/index.php?title=Mount_St._Helens#Action_Alert Here is the link to Congressman Earl Blumenauer's contact webpage: http://blumenauer.house.gov/about/Contact.shtml Thank you very much.  Your trails will thank you! David Anderson

Here are Jon Kennedy's notes from the April 24th meeting.  Jon is the volunteer director for BBTC (Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club in Seattle.

St. Helens Advisory Committee Meeting4/24/2008 

Thursday April 24th marked the first of six fact finding meetings being held by the Mount St. Helen’s Citizen Advisory Committee in Kelso, WA. The committee was formed by U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and Representatives Brian Baird and Norm Dicks. The goal of the advisory committee is to “explore the community’s vision for the future of the Mt. St Helen’s Monument and make a recommendation regarding the best course of action for ensuring that Mount St. Helens remains a key tourist destination and economic engine for the area while preserving its natural resources and allowing it to remain a world leader for scientific research.” It is the intent of the advisory committee to be independent and not debate over management of the area. Once this process is complete, it will be the responsibility of the committee to formulate a recommendation for congress.

 

The attendance was great at the first meeting. I would guess that roughly 70 to 80 people attended. The focus was on recreation for the 110,000 acre monument. David Freece from the Cowlitz County Museum gave an introductory presentation on this history of the mountain and shared various historic photos of recreation throughout the mountain’s past. Freece stressed the great value and importance of recreation as a part of the monument’s history.

 Next up was a presentation from Tom Mulder, Forest Administrative Officer for the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Mulder started off by outlining the Monument’s Core Mission, which has five parts:

1. Protect significant monument features
2. Public health and safety
3. Provide for natural recovery and process
4. Emphasize recreation and interpretation
5. Encourage opportunities for study and research

Tom also outlined the three settings throughout the forest as deemed by the Gifford Pinchot National Forest staff and gave visual references on a map as to where these types of areas were located. The three settings were:

1. Front Country – Accessible via an easy day trip to folks from outside the area.
2. Back Country – Remote/rustic, multi-day excursion accessible (mostly by hikers, bikers & equestrians).
3. Solitude – Monument, legislative set aside, wilderness setting, little to no development, very remote.

Tom was commended on the work that he and the Park Staff are able to do with such limited resources. Folks in the audience seemed to really understand this. The final session rounded out the evening with a participant panel representing the various recreational user groups within the area. Represented were Community recreation associations, hunters, fishers, snow mobilers, the Gifford Pinchot task force, equestrians, astrologers, and mountain bikers.  Many folks highlighted the legacy that their user groups lead around the mountain and some the illuminated the need for improvements for various forms of recreation. I stated that our main concern was to retain access to all existing trails open to mountain bikers regardless of the committee’s recommendation to remain a monument or to change to a National Park. I stressed the importance of this particularly unique area to our user group and emphasized IMBA’s partnership agreement with the National Parks Service when asked about the possibility of access within National Parks. I reiterated that we’d consider supporting either stance as long as we were able to preserve all existing mountain bike access and that we were presently happy with our current access. The committee seemed quite receptive to this and according to PUMP’s David Anderson in a recent email, “Jon from the BBTC made a very good impression on the committee”. J In all, I think the meeting went well and I believe that many user groups made a strong argument for continued recreation on the mountain. I am going to try to attend the subsequent meetings but want to continue to encourage those who can make it out to do so. Our work is not finished just because the recreation meeting has passed. Anyone who might have any applicable recreation tourism info, please feel free to contact me at jon@bbtc.org.   

The meetings will be held the fourth Thursday of every month from 5:30 – 9:30 pm. The following is a schedule of the six meetings and the topic to be discussed:

·         April 24, 2008 will be held in Kelso at the Courthouse, 207 4th Ave., Kelso, WA.  This meeting will focus on recreation.

·         May 22, 2008 will also be held in Kelso at the Courthouse and will focus on the tourism industry.

·         June 26, 2008 will be held at the Lewis County Courthouse in Chehalis, WA and Science and Conservation will be explored.

·         July 24, 2008 will be held in Kelso at the Courthouse and commercial industry will be discussed.

·         August 21, 2008 will be in held in Kelso at the Courthouse and infrastructure will be discussed.

·         September 25, 2008 will be held in Stevenson, WA at Rock Creek Center and there will be discussion on “what if St. Helen’s were a National Park.

 

The committee consists of: 

·         Paul Pearce (arce@co.skamania.wa.us)

Skamania County Commissioner

·         Lee Grose (bocc@co.lewis.wa.us)

Lewis County Commissioner -

·         Axel Swanson (swansona@co.cowlitz.wa.us)

Cowlitz County Commissioner

·         Mark Plotkin (mark@visitmtsthelens.com)

Tourism Director of Cowlitz County Tourism Bureau

·         Maree Lerceh (maree@windermere.com)

Executive Director, Destination Packwood

·         Mark Smith (ecoparkman@mac.com)

Owner/Operator, Eco Park Resort

·         Nancy Parkes (n.parkes@comcast.net)

Professor, Evergreen State College

·         Jim Sedell (jimsedell@yahoo.com)

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

·         Peggy Bryan (???)

Skamania County Economic Development Council

·         Jim & Debbie Waters (info@carsonridgebnb.com)

Owners of Carson Ridge B & B

·         Mariah Reese (mariah_reese@excite.com)

Director, Lelooska Foundation

·         Mary Kay Nelson (Info@VisitRainier.com)

Visit Rainier Executive Director

·         Debbie Slack (slack@co.skamania.wa.us)

Administrative Assistant to the Board

·         Casey Roeder (casey@skamania.org)

Executive Director Skamania County Chamber of Commerce

·         Paul Pearce (pearce@co.skamania.wa.us)

Skamania County Commissioner Dist. 1 

" PUMP ride September 2006