Mount St. Helens panel to hear testimony in Stevenson
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 6:54 PM PST
By Barbara LaBoe
Printable version
E-mail this articleAfter months of fact finding, the Congressional Mount St. Helens Advisory Committee will take testimony Thursday about whether the National Park Service or the U.S. Forest Service should run the area around the volcano.
The committee meets in Stevenson in Skamania County, one of three counties involved in crafting recommendations for the future of the 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. The committee is charged with looking at all aspects of the volcano’s future, but calls for a change in management helped spark its creation.
Some favor moving the monument into the National Park system, saying it would have more prestige, visibility and funding. Others, though, say the Forest Service just needs more money to run the monument effectively.
Opponents say the Park Service would further restrict use of the land for hunting and recreation.
Thursday, representatives from the Park and Forest services will speak on management models for the monument. Each agency will have 30 minutes and then will be questioned by committee members, according to the agenda.
The committee is made up of government, tourism and recreation representatives from Cowlitz, Lewis and Skamania counties. It is jointly run by Cowlitz County Commissioner Axel Swanson, Lewis County Commissioner Lee Grose and Skamania County Commissioner Paul Pearce. Meetings have rotated between Kelso, Chehalis and Stevenson. The final meeting, slated as a public comment wrap up session, is set for Dec. 18 in Kelso.
Committee members will report their recommendations to four members of the Washington congressional delegation: U.S. Reps. Brian Baird and Norm Dicks and U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray.
Thursday’s meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Skamania Lodge, 1131 SW Skamania Lodge Way, Stevenson. For details, contact Pearce or Debbie Slack at (509) 427-3700 or slack@co.skamania.wa.us.
loowit wrote on Nov 19, 2008 2:28 PM:
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