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THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2022
Lodge, campground OK’d at Mount St. Helens
By TOM BANSE
Northwest News Network
The U.S. Forest Service
has OK’d a plan to develop
what would be the fi rst
overnight tourist facilities
within the Mount St. Hel-
ens National Volcanic Mon-
ument, including camping,
cabins and a lodge.
The lodge complex and
outdoor school are the
vision of the Mount St.
Helens Institute, a Clark
County, Washington-based
educational nonprofi t. Insti-
tute executive director Ray
Yurkewycz said the idea for
overnight lodging — and
the demand — has been
around for a long time.
“If you look at any
other
similar
public
land site throughout the
Pacifi c Northwest, there
are opportunities to stay
longer and engage. And
that’s an important thing,”
Yurkewycz said.
“You know, it’s one thing
to come for a few hours and
go to the visitor center, do
a hike and go home. It’s
another thing to stay over-
night — for kids espe-
cially, but all visitors,” he
continued.
The Forest Service in
late April signed off on a
phased 30-year permit for
the Mount St. Helens Insti-
tute to remodel the exist-
ing Coldwater Ridge Vis-
itor Center and add a trio
of 10-room lodge build-
ings, a cluster of cabins and
a 40-space campground.
These would be arrayed
on and around Coldwater’s
vast, nearly empty parking
lot. The renovated visitor
center would include a new
cafe and bookstore, along
with meeting and classroom
spaces.
“The infrastructure is
already there,” Yurkewycz
said. “This is not new
disturbance.”
Once detailed design and
engineering is completed,
the Forest Service plans to
do further environmental
analysis. A Giff ord Pinchot
National Forest spokesper-
son said the public will have
a chance to provide input
Hennebery Eddy Architects
Artist rendering of the planned Mount St. Helens Institute lodge and outdoor school campus on the site of the former Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center.
during that process.
The Coldwater Ridge
center is in the blast zone
about 7 miles as the crow
fl ies from the crater of
Mount St. Helens.
Yurkewycz said the esti-
mated $35 million construc-
tion cost still needs to be
raised from public and pri-
vate sources. That means
the grand opening is proba-
bly around fi ve years away.
“Partnerships such as
this strengthen our conser-
vation education program-
ming while benefi ting local
communities,” Mount St.
Helens National Volcanic
Monument Ranger Rebecca
Hoff man said in a pre-
pared statement. “The For-
est’s decision to issue these
30-year operating permits
to Mount St. Helens Insti-
tute is a result of our con-
fi dence in the i nstitute’s
vision and due diligence.”
T here are lots of RV
camping
and
lodging
options available in gate-
way communities such as
Castle Rock, Kelso, the
Cowlitz River Valley and
Cougar, Washington. But
from those places, volcano
visitors generally need to
drive an hour to the prime
viewpoints and trailheads
inside the national monu-
ment. Backcountry camp-
ing is possible seasonally on
the fringes of the national
monument.
In late March, the
Cowlitz County Board of
Commissioners signed a
letter of support for the
lodge complex.
“Since its 1980 eruption,
public access to Mount St.
Helens has been steadily
decreasing; yet fewer than
40 miles away, visits to
Mt. Rainier are increas-
ing steadily,” the commis-
sioners’ letter stated. “We
believe that MSHI’s Lodge
& Education Center will
provide expanded access to
the m onument, thus tapping
into a growing market for
overnight accommodations
and amenities in places of
interest. We believe that
outdoor recreation tour-
ism is an important driver
of economic diversifi cation
which will enable Cowlitz
County to grow long-term
as demand for outdoor
recreation
opportunities
surges.”
The existing Coldwa-
ter Ridge Visitor Center
was built in 1993 and later
closed by the Forest Service
in 2007 due to high mainte-
nance costs and staffi ng lim-
itations. Nowadays, most
visitors head straight to the
Johnston Ridge Observa-
tory, a day-use visitor cen-
ter located a short drive
away at the end of the Spirit
Lake Memorial Highway.
However, Johnston Ridge is
closed approximately half
of each year due to snow.
Coldwater Ridge is accessi-
ble nearly year-round.
The Mount St. Hel-
ens Institute reopened the
Coldwater visitor cen-
ter in 2012 under a renew-
able lease to run science
and outdoor education pro-
grams for youth — mainly
day programs, but with
limited overnight school
usage, too. Forest Service
rangers sometimes staff
the facility on weekends to
answer visitor questions.
Yurkewycz said he antic-
ipated shared, alternating
occupancy of the future
lodge complex by school
groups and the general pub-
lic during the spring and fall
school fi eld trip seasons.
“We envision the facil-
ity being dedicated just
to (outdoor school) Mon-
day nights through Thurs-
day nights in those months
and then weekends could be
available to other visitors,”
Yurkewycz said.
Summertime could be a
mix of youth camps, school
and general public reserva-
tions. Wintertime might be
chiefl y open to tourists and
recreationists, he said.
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