Oregon daily emerald., February 13, 1981, Page 10 and 11, Image 10

Story by Leslie Farris
Graphic by Sioux Anderson
Groups argue use of mountain
r
Humans alone do not create or shape
environments. The cataclysmic eruption of Mt.
St. Helens on Max 18 proved that.
Nevertheless, various land-management
plans already are attempting to determine what is
best for the mountain and the public.
On one hand, groups such as the Mt. St.
Helens Protection Association want the area
designated as a national monument. On the
other hand, timber companies such as
Weyerhaeuser want to continue salvaging
lumber.
The MSHPA, based in Longview, Wash., has
advocated environmental management and
protection of Mt. St. Helens for more than 50
years. The group first sought national park status
for the mountain 1930.
Susan Saul, an MSHPA member, says Rep.
Don Bonker, D-Wash., has agreed to introduce a
bill to Congress “within a few months"
establishing a Mt. St. Helens National Monument.
Bonker, himself, doesn't endorse the bill.
A national monument also can be
established by presidential order. However, Saul
says she doesn’t think the group “would get
anywhere with Reagan.”
"Also, we consider it to be a national issue,"
Saul says. “So by having it discussed in
Congresss, we're putting it in a national forum,”
The area within the proposed boundaries
includes the volcano, the main area devastated
by the eruption, a 17-mile stretch of private land
in the North Fork Toutle River Valley that was
filled with a massive landslide, older geological
features and special wildlife areas north and
south of Mt. St. Helens. It's comprised of 141,000
acres of U.S. Forest Service land, 65,000 acres
of private land—mostly Weyerhaeuser Company
and Burlington Northern railroad—and 10,000
acres of state forest.
Saul says former President Carter
considered declaring the volcano a national
monument, but decided against it partly because
of timber industry lobbying efforts.
"The industry lobby said ‘We have to give
the public a chance to respond,’ yet at the same
time, everybody’s up there doing their own
thing,” Saul says. “Weyerhaeuser is in there
logging salvage. And the Forest Service, having
sold two bids (of timber) already, is planning on
selling 10 more at the end of the month.”
The MSHPA proposal would prohibit salvage
logging within the national monument except
where necessary to protect life and property.
Removing salvage and building roads the
steep mountain slopes could increase erosion
and eventually cause slides and flooding, Saul
says.
Research now underway at Oregon State
University does indicate the downed timber on
the volcano may be slowing erosion by trapping
sediments between logs and providing footing
for new vegetation.
Professor Alexander McBirney, director of
the University of Oregon’s Center for
Volcanology, says the biggest danger is not from
logging salvage but from large amounts of ash,
which enhances the erosion power of water.
“These logs represent an enormous loss,
not only to the timber companies but to the
people who earn salaries working in the
industry,” McBirney says. “After one year, these
logs will have deteriorated in value, so it’s now or
never. It's hard to argue they don’t have a right
to their own timber.”
McBirney says a national monument
designation wouldn't necessarily aid scientific
study of the mountain.
"Very rapidly, the ash will be washed away
and the downed trees will rot, so everyone’s in
there now frantically recording information," he
says. "It’s not the sort of thing we can wait 10
years to get.
"On the other hand, we want to continue
observing the volcano. But you don’t need a
national monument to do that.”
Saul says a big impetus for seeking national
designation is to promote tourism. Cowlitz
County, where Mt. St. Helens is located, is
dependent on the timber industry.
"Visitors from around the country and
outside the country know something will be here
for them — recreational areas, scientific
information, facilities — when they come," Saul
says. "And without a national monument, it’s less
likely you'd have guide books for it, and it
wouldn’t appear on highway maps.
"It would smooth out the ups and downs we
go through with the timber industry.”
Speaking as a geologist, McBirney says, "I
find it hard to say yes, you must draw a line and
preserve what’s inside. But historically speaking,
this is one of the most extraordinary geographic
events in history, and it seems only right to make
it special.”
Other land-management plans in various
Stages of development are those of the U S.
Forest Service, the state of Washington, and the
two major corporate land owners. The Forest
Service plan, developed by a special Mt. St.
Helens Planning Unit, was made public
Wednesday.
The plan includes eight alternatives ranging
from proposed wilderness to no action. Their
"preferred management plan” would provide for
a 89,560-acre interpretive, or geological, area. It
would designate recreational activities and
scientific research and would allow some timber
salvage to be harvested. <
Washington state’s own plan will be made
public in April. A so-called industry plan
recommends 66,650 acres for recreational use.
The plan allows some salvage logging and
provides for roads, trails and visitor centers.
Mt. St. Helens is only the second volcano of
the Cascade Range to erupt in this century.
California's Mt. Lassen erupted in 1915.
McBirney saxs the Mt. St. Helens explosion
is the best recorded large-scale eruption in
history.
"The main thing we've learned from Mt. St.
Helens is ways in which to monitor volcanoes,"
he says. "The techniues are very innovative.
We’ve made tremendous advances in
anticipating the sorts of things that might occur
throughout the Cascades."
But despite popular belief, McBirney says
there is no connection between the eruption and
earthquakes near San Francisco and Los
Angeles. And there’s no reason to expect other
Cascade Range volcanoes to begin erupting.
"Nothing connects one volcano to the other.
They’re independent."
McBirney, who visited the mountain last
week, says the area already is transforming.
“Surely everyone should get a chance to
see it while it lasts. No amount of pictures or
films can convey the magnitude of the
destruction."