Attend a Snoqulamie National Forest restoration meeting!
Conservation Northwest / Jun 23, 2017 / National Forests
Forest officials are seeking input on where to focus management priorities in an important area for wildlife and recreation between I-90 and Mount Rainier. If you live or recreate in the Highway 410 corridor, please make your voice heard!
Between Mount Rainier National Park and Interstate 90 lies a large swath of land in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. This area includes the Upper White and Green River watersheds, popular recreation destinations including Greenwater Lakes and Crystal Mountain Ski Area, and important headwaters that flow into Puget Sound.
It’s also a vital linkage between Mount Rainier and the Alpine Lakes Wilderness north of I-90. It helps funnel animals towards the wildlife underpasses (and soon, overpasses) on I-90 that help them cross into new range safely.
Spotted owls, Chinook salmon, steelhead, elk, and bull trout all call the Upper White and Green River watersheds home. What’s more, newly reintroduced fishers have begun expanding their home range from Mount Rainier National Park – where we have worked over the past two years to release them – into the Upper White and Green River forests and watersheds to the north. Wolverines have also been documented recently to the east of here near Chinook Pass.
But this landscape also has the highest road density on the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, with roads that degrade watershed health and threaten this important wildlife habitat. A lack of old-growth forest – a forest type that both fishers and spotted owls depend on – also poses problems for endangered species.
That’s why we’re asking local residents and those who enjoy this area and it’s wildlife and recreation to attend public meetings hosted by the Snoqualmie Ranger District on June 27 and June 28. Please voice your support for forest management focused on habitat enhancement to improve conditions for aquatic and terrestrial life!
This management approach may also include decommissioning unnecessary Forest Service roads in the area in order to decrease erosion into bodies of water and habitat fragmentation. Access to important trailheads and other areas would be maintained, but the forest must find a way to reduce its road system in this area to a more sustainable level.
ENUMCLAW PUBLIC MEETING
When: June 27, 2017 from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Where: Enumclaw Public Library – 1700 1st St, Enumclaw, WA 98022
Please RSVP for this meeting as space will be limited.
GREENWATER PUBLIC MEETING
When: June 28, 2017 from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Where: Greenwater Community Center – 59707 Hwy 410, Greenwater, WA 98022
For information about the public meetings, please call 360-677-2258.