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Exceptional Mountains: A Cultural History Of The Pacific Northwest Volcanoes

Author : O. Alan Weltzien
Published : 2016-08-01

One reviewer described this book, as, “…why and how we have sanctified these high-altitude mountains.” However O. Alan Weltzien’s fine effort also casts some wonderful light on aspects of the national parks and National Park Service that are very pertinent to this, the Park Service’s centennial year.

While President Obama has used his authority under the Antiquities Act to designate national monuments that resonate with specific groups of Americans, some sites might fit better under a “National History Department” rather than an agency launched to protect and preserve natural wonders.

A century ago the founders of the National Park Service were perhaps more discerning. There was a clamor to add more of the Northwest’s volcanic peaks to the National Park System after Mount Rainier, Lassen Volcanic, and Crater Lake parks were created. But Stephen Mather and Horace Albright, the director of the Park Service and his deputy, were not easily swayed, notes Mr. Weltzien.

“Many people from Seattle to Portland were urging us to make national parks out of every volcanic mountain from Mount Baker to the California border. Mather and I agreed we couldn’t make every peak a park and didn’t have time to inspect them all,” Albright recalled later in life.

He also noted that, “We declined to consider… Mount Hood, Mount Baker, Mount Shasta…and many other beautiful areas because they did not measure up to what we regarded as national park standards or had too much commercial development or too many inholdings, or because the cost was prohibitive considering what Congress would give us.”

Mr. Weltzien also raises an important issue, one specific to the volcanic peaks but which we also shouldn’t overlook this year in light of record park visitation and how the National Park Service is trying to cope with it.

“In the Twentieth Century’s second half people come to the volcanoes in far greater numbers, engaging in more diverse activities than ever before, and at some sites our love affair with them creates practical, visible problems” he writes. “That love affair sometimes obscures, to our peril, the fundamental differences between these Arctic lands, as they’ve often been described, and the primary topographies of our lives. We must see beyond them as inevitably distorting mirrors even as we figuratively hold them in our embrace. To read the volcanoes is to read ourselves, and we need a fresh look.”

Running a bit over 200 pages, and amply footnoted, Exceptional Mountains touches on many of the issues in the Northwest that also are confronting our national parks: recreation demands, wilderness issues, commercialism, political meddling, and even backcountry travelers who, revering technology above personal skills, soon find themselves beyond their abilities and in need of a rescue.

Though Mr. Weltzien’s focus is the high volcanic peaks of the Northwest, many of his findings and impressions can relate to the entire National Park System.

Comments

Kurt writes "some sites might fit better under a "National History Department" rather than an agency launched to protect and preserve natural wonders."

In this flippant remark, what is implied?  That Gettysburg, Independence Hall, the National Mall, or treasured NRHP sites in Yellowstone and Yosemite are inappropriate for NPS?  Egad!  That vision of NPS' role is far narrower than that of Congress or Presidents over the past century, or of most NPT readers! 


Not flippant at all, RodF. For instance:

Edgar Allan Poe National NHS

Clara Barton National NHS

Glorida Dei Church NHS

Little Rock High NHS

Saint Paul's Church NHS

There are many more, but that's a small sampling. Interesting sites all, but should they be in the same portfolio as the Yellowstones, Yosemites, Grand Canyons, Acadias and the like? Or would they fare better in a collection specific to U.S. history? Consider it a discussion starter....


Agree with you Kurt.  Many of these units could be run very effectively by private foundations.  Think Mt Vernon.  


I like that the NPS is active as a force to preserve our national history. "Run very effectively" here is code for 'run for a profit', and I think that the intrinsic value of our national history and wilderness wonders are ample justification for themselves, even if preserved at a net loss.


To be fair, while not all the volcanoes in the cascades fall under the National Park Service, a majority of them are protected as USFS Wilderness areas.  The Three Sisters, Mount Washington, Mount Jefferson, a large portion of Mount Hood, Mount Adams, Glacier Peak, Mount Baker, and even a large part of Shasta all fall under the protection of the wilderness act.  Even Mt St Helens is protected quite well under the USFS.  All of them are gems, and hopefully will always remain either as NPS lands, or USFS Wilderness lands.  So, the protection of these areas is well established.


 "Run very effectively" here is code for 'run for a profit',

Only in your mind.  My words "private foundations" and example "Mt Vernon" demonstrate there is no profit motive in my comment - not that there would be anything wrong with it if there was.  


Even Mt St Helens is protected quite well under the USFS.

Mount St. Helens is overrun with snowmobiles and large parking lots to accomodate them.  They don't even have to purchase the summit permit required of climbers and skiers:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERp8QiF84r0


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