Conservation Note for June

(Photo of Goat Rocks Wilderness by Tom Kogut.)

On May 4 a group of Trails Club volunteers planted 1,360 seedling forest trees in the total burn area around Nesika Lodge. Thank you!! And a special thanks to Linda Conrad for organizing the work day for us. Usually newly planted forest seedlings are watered well by rain, but unfortunately our planting was followed by a heat wave, threatening their survival. If you are up at Nesika for any reason, and the weather has been dry, and the Nesika water is on, please take a few moments to fill a 5-gallon bucket and water a few of the baby trees. You can find them by their pink, orange or green flagging. Thank you!

Our featured organization this month is Cascade Forest Conservancy, which we would like to introduce to you with an article written by Barry Buchanan of the Mazamas Conservation Committee, and published last month in the Mazama Bulletin, reprinted here with Barry’s permission.

CASCADE FOREST CONSERVANCY PROTECTS PUBLIC LANDS IN SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON

Barry Buchanan, Mazamas Conservation Committee

On May 18th, 1980, Mt. St. Helens exploded, lowering its summit approximately 1300 feet, leveling large tracts of forest, generating massive mudflows and clouds of ash, reshaping the landscape. Two years later, after a land-swap agreement with commercial interests, a previously reluctant President Reagan signed a bill declaring 110,000 acres around the mountain as a national monument, protected for research, education and recreation. The transcendent monument sits within the boundary of the 1.3 million acre Gifford Pinchot National Forest (GPNF), home to Mt. Adams, Goat Rocks and Trapper Creek among other wilderness areas.

In 1985, spurred in part by timber operations near the popular trails along the Lewis River, a citizen’s action group named the Gifford Pinchot Task Force (GPTF) formed to help protect the national monument, to inventory old growth and advocate for conservation in surrounding forests, submitting alternative forest management plans to the Forest Service. Today they are known as the Cascade Forest Conservancy (CFC), a nonprofit dedicated to protecting and preserving the forests, streams, wildlife and communities in the heart of the Cascades through conservation, education, and advocacy.

Today CFC is focused on many initiatives in addition to forest protection – three are highlighted here.

“Mt. St. Helens: No Place for a Mine”

On the doorstep of an active volcano, along a beautiful, clean river – the Green River valley is truly no place for toxic mine tailings ponds which have proven prone to breaches.

Several attempts have been made to start up mining operations just outside the border of the Mt. St. Helens National Monument in the Green River Valley. The area was purchased by the National Forest Service using public funds originally dedicated for conservation and recreation. It is home to the Goat Mountain Trail, an equestrian camp, and bountiful wildlife, including critical wild salmon and steelhead populations (24 subpopulations listed under the Endangered Species Act). The Green River, a candidate for Wild and Scenic designation, feeds eventually into the Toutle, then the Cowlitz River watershed, which is densely farmed and supplies drinking water for communities in southwestern Washington. The river is designated by the state of Washington as an official Wild Steelhead Gene Bank. Most communities, conservation groups and recreation groups in the region have officially rejected the mining proposals. So far, three previous attempts to start exploratory mining by multiple companies have failed thanks greatly to CFC’s efforts.

However, following a Forest Service go-ahead earlier in the year, on December 3rd, 2018, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) gave final approval to Ascot, a Canadian mining company, to begin exploratory drilling in the Green River Valley. CFC is leading a coalition of 31 conservation and recreation groups – including the Mazamas – to protect this pristine valley through legal, grassroots and legislative means.

Climate Resilience

Over recent years, Northwest hikers have been eyewitnesses to rapid changes in the Cascades. As warming is expected to move the timberline upward, shrinking alpine and subalpine zones. It is important to have the best possible understanding of the evolving needs of resident wildlife to support species adaptation and help preserve what we can.

CFC has researched and developed a Wildlife and Climate Resilience guidebook centered on three major categories of ecosystems – aquatic, forest, and alpine. The guidebook is an important resource to focus conservation and restoration efforts. It is published online to supplement planning by other groups and government agencies. Areas critical to wildlife habitat and migration must be identified, preserved where possible and in some cases restored, to reduce climate impacts on species. Based on research in this guide, CFC has launched several restoration campaigns.

For aquatic species, CFC is spearheading restoration work to build more side channels for streams along with riparian plantings to provide shade, reducing water temperatures. For forests, CFC is monitoring resident species, identifying critical habitat and old growth forest, biodiversity zones and wildlife movement corridors, prioritizing roads to be removed and restored. One interesting new project has been in the works over the past year; CFC is partnering with the Cowlitz Tribe and the Forest Service to strategically introduce more beaver to GPNF. Beavers, a once very plentiful native species, on their own, create stream side-channels, improve water quality and enhance fish habitat.

Alpine ecosystems are, of course, important for more than recreation. The wildlife we encounter on high altitude climbs and magically enhance our outdoor experience – subalpine flowers, butterflies, pikas, marmots, martens, wolverines, and mountain goats – depend on the cold, rocky landscape and intermediate meadows. Alpine areas are important for consistent water supply to lower ecosystems. CFC has identified subalpine focus areas for monitoring on the southern and western slopes of Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier. Other strategies encourage forestry practices that reduce encroachment of the subalpine by intense wildfire, support designation of subalpine “refugia”, monitor vegetation changes to target restoration efforts, and collect seeds and pine cones for use in future restoration.

Citizen Science

All of the important work above requires support from local communities and other organizations. CFC invites citizens to volunteer for conservation trips, providing training and equipment for data collection and environmental surveys of wildlife, streams, forest and roads. Restoration projects, such as post-fire seeding and riparian plantings, are also options for volunteer participation.

More recently, CFC is excited to offer special outings to engage youth and connect them to the outdoors. Young Friends of the Forest is a program that works with local middle schools and high schools to bring students into the forest field trips to learn about and help with conservation projects. CFC works closely with teachers to create experiences that align with curriculum. For some young people the experience can be life-changing as the first time they experience the outdoors, camping and wildlife.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Visit the Cascade Forest Conservancy web site (cascadeforest.org) to learn more.

Sign up for a CFC volunteer trip on the website.
Make a tax-deductible donation at www.cascadeforest.org/donate
If you live in Washington, please contact your local and congressional representatives and tell them you categorically oppose mining in the Green River valley.
Download and read the Climate Resilience guidebook.

Wishing you all a spring and summer of good hikes and great backpacking, with enough rain to keep our baby trees alive and fend off another year of drought.

For the love of our forests, streams, rivers, and wetlands,

Your Conservation Committee