Have your say on the state's plans for Reiter Foothills

Everett Herald - Monday, December 28, 2009

Restoration and trail-building work around Gold Bar has some people concerned

By Debra Smith
Herald Writer

GOLD BAR — State officials want to hear from you about restoration work and trail building in Reiter foothills.

The Department of Natural Resources plans a workshop for the public at 6 p.m. Jan. 13 at Monroe High School, 17001 Tester Road.

Officials are in the final stages of bringing some order to the 10,000-acre forest. For decades, outdoor enthusiasts have come from near and far to use thousands of forested acres stretching from Sultan to Index.

The area was shut down in November so officials could begin to repair damage and rework the trails.

Officials plan to separate Reiter into areas for motorized vehicles, horses, mountain bikes and hikers. They also want to establish designated trails and eventually build restrooms, trailheads and campgrounds.

The plan hasn’t been an easy sell to some longtime users, who are worried about less access. Officials are concerned about damage to the land, including salmon- bearing streams.

For more information about the meeting, contact Candace Johnson at 360-854-2803 or e-mail candace. johnson@dnr.wa.gov.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20091228/NEWS01/712289908#Have.your.say.on.the.states.plans.for.Reiter.Foothills

WTA Feature on Cougar Mtn. credits N3C lifetime member Harvey Manning

Washington Trails Magazine, a publication of the Washington Trails Association (WTA) has a great feature in the current Jan/Feb 2010 issue about hiking in Cougar Mountain's historic mining district they titled Hike in History: Hitting the Mother Lode at Cougar Mountain. Read the full article HERE.

Harvey Manning (1925-2006), N3C lifetime member and legendary hiker/author, is credited by WTA writer Abby Wolfe as the conservationist who saved the Cougar Mountain area from encroaching suburbia:

Conservation activist and guidebook author Harvey Manning recognized Cougar Mountain's natural and historic value. Thanks largely to Manning's efforts, Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park was created in 1985, permanently preserving its rich heritage. Surrounded by Bellevue, Issaquah and Newcastle, it is the largest urban wildland in the US and the crown jewel in the King County Parks system.

WTA's website has a great short hike summary to go along with the magazine article. Note on the bottom of that page there's a link to a map so you can find the trail-heads and routes easily.

As the article says,

When winter shuts down hiking in the high country, I look to the Issaquah Alps for my inspiration.

It was N3C's Harvey Manning who gave them that name, and saved them for our enjoyment! To fully immerse yourself in Harvey's spirit, get a copy of "Irate Birdwatcher" on DVD, at the American Alps online store. You'll see why many of us revere him as the John Muir of the Cascades.

[And an insider tip: rumor has it that Washington Trails will feature articles about geology hikes in forthcoming 2010 issues. Experts will describe their favorite places to see spectacular North Cascades geology! Several of those hikes are likely to be in the American Alps study areas... stay tuned...]

A Nurse Log in Downtown Seattle

We visited the Neukom Vivarium in the Olympic Sculpture Park downtown Seattle today. So should you!

From an interview with the artist, Mark Dion, on the PBS website:

ART:21:      "What does it mean to take a tree from its natural setting and place it in a gallery context?"

DION:     "I think that one of the important things about this work is that it’s really not an intensely positive, back-to-nature kind of experience. In some ways, this project is an abomination. We’re taking a tree that is an ecosystem—a dead tree, but a living system—and we are re-contextualizing it and taking it to another site. We’re putting it in a sort of Sleeping Beauty coffin, a greenhouse we’re building around it. And we’re pumping it up with a life support system—an incredibly complex system of air, humidity, water, and soil enhancement—to keep it going. All those things are substituting what nature does—emphasizing how, once that’s gone, it’s incredibly difficult, expensive, and technological to approximate that system—to take this tree and to build the next generation of forests on it. So this piece is in some way perverse. It shows that, despite all of our technology and money, when we destroy a natural system it’s virtually impossible to get it back. In a sense we’re building a failure."

This huge nurse log in the Vivarium downtown came from the Green River watershed, but it could be from any of the increasingly rare low-elevation ancient forests of the west side of the Cascades. A prime example is the Baker River valley upstream from the head of Baker Lake, adjacent to North Cascades National Park.

Ancient forest of the Baker River - real and intact now, but for how long? The American Alps Program seeks to bring this and other* intact ancient ecosystems into National Park protection. Because if it is lost, it will be impossible to get it back.

*Other ancient forest study areas of American Alps adjacent to NCNP include lower Thunder and Big Beaver Creeks and the Cascade River valley.

Coming Soon: "North Cascades: People, Places, and Stories"

Mark your calendars! Thanks to the generous support of REI, KCTS 9 will be airing North Cascades: People, Places, and Stories this January. The Wilderness Society is very excited about this documentary all about the beautiful North Cascades. TWS is a sponsor and KCTS-9 community partner.

The documentary will broadcast on KCTS 9 / KYVE 47:
Sun, 1/17 at 10:30 p.m.
Wed, 1/20 at 7:00 p.m.
Sun, 1/31 at 4:30 p.m.

 Also, it will air in Spanish (ESP) on the V-Me network 1/23 at 7PM and 1/30 at 7:30PM.

New Photos posted to the AmAlps Gallery

More photos have been added to the American Alps Photo Galleries! This time it's some spectacular winter shots taken from near Cascade Pass. Here's a little taste:

On the Galleries page, look under "Area 2: Cascade River" for the new top listing: "Cascade River - various Spring trips in 2008 and 2009." Check out that bear and avalanche track!

And a little tech note from our web guru: some of our galleries  start in SLIDESHOW MODE. Nice big full-screen photos appear! But they change too fast! So... just click the PAUSE button right away (it's one with the 2 vertical bars) and take your time to soak-up the scene and read the caption, advancing the photos manually with the "right arrow." 

The Picasa photo site likes to start showing slides in 3-second rapid mode, which is too fast for our taste, and there doesn't seem to be a way to change how it behaves when it starts-up. You can slow it down by clicking the little (+) symbol below the photo, but we think it's best to just PAUSE it and use the "right arrow" when you're ready - no need to rush these spectacular pics! And just click the big "X" on the right to close the slideshow and see all the thumbnails, and choose any pic you want by clicking on it. Enjoy!

Trip Report: A First Ski Trip of the Winter!

A trip report came in that we had to share:

Just Barely Enough    -It has been a sparse winter in terms of snow, with the lower elevations of the Cascades snow-free thus far, save for a day of snow here or there that quickly melts away.  Despite frigid temps over the past couple of weeks, it has been dry (not unusual). But suddenly the forecast called for "snow overnight, with rain by afternoon." So I took my chances and headed up, carrying hiking boots just in case there wasn't enough snow.  I left late enough to allow the plows to clear any problems on the Mountain Loop, and sure enough, on my way out, passed the plow on it's way back in from Deer Creek. I was able to drive to Sunrise Mine road, where there was just barely enough snow to ski on!  I could have driven the road, but why drive what can be a scenic ski tour??  And scenic it was--dry, with the high peaks of the Stilly headwaters flirting with the clouds. (See pics.) The skiing was quite enjoyable--at times I was able to lock my ankles together and slalom with my 210cm XC skis. I feel cold air rushing in to my lungs, frosty wisps of exhalations, my heart working in rhythm with my legs, my whole being at one with the world around me. Then the clouds and rain came--I glanced at my watch:  12:15.  Quite a forecast--rain in the afternoon was spot on!  I continued skiing until about 1:30, when it really started coming down.  I headed out, the snow thinning under the deluge. It was just barely enough!

Stilly Headwaters                                                  Morning Star Peak 

                              
             
Del Campo

AmAlps Conclave Praises Blog, Greets Supporters

At the meeting last night, key players in the American Alps Project met to map-out future strategy. Among the hot topics were THIS BLOG and the newly refurbished AmAlps main website! Phil says:

I had to take a bow and explain that it's really just as simple as writing an email to a group, but in this case the group is all of our supporters out there! (There seems to be some interest in a Facebook page... stay tuned...) And just so ya know -- the AmAlps site now features a web-based Field Guide and online Photo Gallery that focuses on the study areas, with new photo albums posted recently that play as nice big full-screen slideshows using Google's "Picasa." Here's a sample thumbnail from one of the new galleries, courtesy of Tom: 

You'll also get a kick out of some of the "retro" postcards from the 60s I put up on our "The Story" page!

And speaking of supporters, we had reps from several groups present who are now or will soon be fully signed-on members of the American Alps coalition! Of course Mountaineers and NPCA reps were present but a few new ones were, too, and we'll be announcing these new partnerships soon.

Also Jim Davis, N3C Executive Director, said more about the AmAlps economic impact study that's starting soon. (See our previous blog post about that.) A consultant has been hired and the study will be getting underway with the new year.

Anyone interested in forging new alliances our exploring the economic benefits of new Park in the North Cascades is encouraged to contact us at info@americanalps.org