Oregon Public Broadcasting

A draft report from an advisory committee is recommending that Mt. St. Helens National Monument remain under the management of the U.S. Forest Service and not be designated as a national park.

A national park designation would shift the management of the mountain to the National Park Service which is under the Department of Interior.  The Forest Service is under the Department of Agriculture.

“It’s a  tough call because there are very vocal organizations on both side of the issue,” says Lee Grose, a Lewis County Commissioner who is on the advisory committee.

At the core of the issue is a debate over which designation – national park or national monument-- would attract the most funding and the most tourists.

“We’ve felt all along, the issue was not whether the Forest Service could manage it correctly, it was a matter of having the proper allocation to be able to manage it,” says Grose.

He says the committee wants to see a dedicated, line item budget for the monument that could not be diverted to other Forest Service projects. 

A national park designation, he says, is no guarantee of funding—especially these days.

“The National Park Service is $6 billion in arrears right now as far as their maintenance and operation of existing national parks.  So who’s gonna say if we made the monument a park, it was gonna be allocated a whole ton of money to operate?” asks Grose.

But Sean Smith disagrees with this assessment.  Smith is the regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association in Seattle. 

“The Park Service is actually in better shape than the Forest Service,” says Smith about the finances of the two agencies.  “So just transferring management to the Park Service, it would be in better shape than the current Forest Service.”

Smith points to a billion dollars dedicated to the Park Service in recent economic stimulus legislation.  And he says a National Park designation is the best way for the region to get more tourism and funding. 

“Just changing the name of a unit from monument to national park increases the visitation and it increases it in a sustained way,” says Smith.  “So you get this initial increase and excitement and buzz -- you know it’s the newest national park -- so there’s a spike, but then that spike drops off but the visitation is higher than what it was previously.”

There are only 58 national parks in the U.S., including Mt. Rainer to the north of Mt. St. Helens.  Smith says visitation numbers at Rainer prove his point -- significantly more people visit Rainer than visit Mt. St. Helens.

Smith worked two seasons as a Forest Service naturalist at Windy Ridge on Mt. St. Helens, so he’s experienced first hand some of the current concerns about the monument.

“No one is happy with the current situation.  The closing of visitor centers.  The bankruptcy of some of the local businesses, issues with wildlife.  People are not happy with the current state.  Where there is some disagreement, is on what to do about it,” says Smith.

One idea on the table is to start providing overnight lodging and camping at Coldwater Ridge so visitors don’t just spend the day at the mountain and leave.

That’s something Sheryl Hasse would really like to see.  She manages the Discover NW bookstores in the visitor centers at Mt. St. Helens.  She also spent a lot of time as a kid swimming, fishing, and camping at Spirit Lake.

“Right now it’s pretty much—it’s kind of a day thing,” says Hasse about visiting Mt. St. Helens.  “From Johnston Ridge, the road ends.  So you go up and turn around and come back.  There’s really nothing to keep people in the area longer.”

Hasse likes the idea of keeping the mountain a National Monument but she says there will definitely need to be more money allocated for maintenance and to develop overnight accommodations.

On the other side of the mountain, Pete Steadman runs the Carson Ridge Luxury Cabins in Carson, Washington.  He’d like to see the mountain become a National Park and thinks more road signs and interpretive sights would attract more tourists and help educate people.

“It would benefit the area, drawing more people.  They know of Mt. St. Helens, that it exploded and spewed ash all around the world, but they don’t know a lot more than that,” says Steadman.

Public comments on the future managing of Mt. St. Helens can be made March 30th in Kelso at the Commissioners Hearing Room from 6-9 p.m.

Another public comment session is scheduled April 13th at the Camas Police Department Community Room from 6-9 p.m.

The Mt. St. Helens Advisory Committee will make their final recommendation to the Washington congressional delegation in May.