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Mount St. Helen's National Park?

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Mshvolcanocam_copy    Boy, I bet Dubya never thought of this possibility when he started to squeeze the U.S. Forest Service's budget: The Park Service might get the bill.
    I mean, wasn't the plan to have the private sector rush in and take over facilities the Forest Service could no longer afford to operate? Instead, some senator suggests the Park Service rush in to the rescue.
    The case at hand involves Mount St. Helen's National Volcanic Monument. On Friday the Forest Service announced that it planned to close the monument's Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center this coming November, and to transfer the visitor center at Silver Lake to the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission.
    In response, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell proposed that the monument be transferred to the Park Service. As if that agency doesn't already have enough financial problems. (Perhaps it could be a signature project for the centennial initiative!)
    But the National Parks Conservation Association actually thinks the transfer is a pretty good idea.
    "The National Parks Conservation Association is deeply saddened to learn that the Forest Service will soon close or transfer ownership of two of its three Mount St. Helen's visitor centers," said Sean Smith, the NPCA's Northwest regional director. "The Forest Service is obviously stretched to the limit, and its ability to safely and adequately manage the monument is clearly in doubt. As such, we share Senator Cantwell's sentiment that it is time to consider transfer of the volcano to the Park Service."
    I guess the question, though, is how much would be gained by transferring the monument to the Park Service? As things stand under the latest announcement, there still would be four visitor centers open, albeit under the jurisdiction of entities other than the Forest Service. Would Sen. Cantwell's proposition call for all those facilities to be turned over to the Park Service as well?
    It'll certainly be interesting to see how much steam the senator's proposal generates.

Comments

It would be a great idea for the NPS to take over Mount St. Helens. I know the Service is strapped financially, but if a place deserves NP status, it's certainly Mount St. Helens. When one mentions that the monument has five visitor's centers, one needs to realize that actually only two of them are within the National Volcanic Monument (Johnston Ridge and Coldwater Ridge, the second of which the Forest Service plans to close). The visitor's center with the most interpretive information is the Silver Lake center which (if it goes the way of other privately held centers such as the wretchedly propaganizing Weyerhauser center) it will become little more than a marketing tool for the association with fewer and less cared-for displays. Mount St. Helens is an important geological & ecological site which the Forest Service has compromised on every turn. It was originally set aside to serve scientists and the public in a better understanding of volcanic rejuvenation, but the site has been compromised again and again in the interests of big business (particularly Weyerhauser). Let me know where to fan those flames to get this moving... this is an idea which deserves attention.

The NPS shouldn't spend too much money on visitor's centers at Mt. St. Helens. It's still an active volcano after all.

So is Lassen Peak, Haleakala, Mauna Loa, Mount Rainier, Crater Lake and Mount Baker. But these have visitor centers and other park interpretation.

Well, Lassen hasn't erupted since the early 1900's and I don't recall any expensive looking facilities up there. All I'm saying is that while St. Helens is still occassionally belching and the interior of the crater is still rising, it's not the time to be building multi-million dollar state of the art visitor's centers in the blast zone.

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