Flood damage closes road

Published 9:00 pm Monday, March 12, 2007

DARRINGTON – A popular road to the Cascades is closed and will likely remain so for at least a year.

The closure, caused by a washout and a landslide, eliminates access to hiking trails, two campgrounds and the Sauk-Suiattle tribe’s only two cemeteries.

This is the latest in a series of landslides that have closed parts of the Suiattle River Road, six miles north of Darrington off Highway 530.

Contractors were preparing to repair three sections of the road damaged in 2003 during major flooding, when last fall’s Election Day storm washed out three more sections.

Then a week and a half ago, the Suiattle River flooded, weakening the land around milepost six and creating a landslide that spared only 2 or 3 feet of roadway, said Wayne Hamilton, assistant forest engineer for the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

The previous damage was farther down the road and hadn’t resulted in a total closure.

Suiattle River Road is the only access point to the Pacific Crest Trail between I-90 and Highway 20.

For the most part, the road runs parallel to the Suiattle River through state, Forest Service, tribal and private land.

There are no homes along the road.

During the summer, campers and hikers frequent the road. In other seasons, snowmobile riders, firewood collectors and hunters use it. Sauk-Suiattle members rely on the road for access to traditional medicines, food and ceremonial swimming areas.

“We’re more concerned about the tribal property up there and cemeteries that are still being actively used,” tribal councilman James Roberts said. “If we have a death, how do we get someone back in there? That makes it a big problem.”

In 1996, during the last vehicle count on Suiattle River Road, monthly traffic ranged from just more than 600 cars in January to 4,400 in both July and August, according to Darrington district Ranger Peter Forbes.

“People are still going to want to go to the woods, so they’re going to have to find other choices,” he said. “What that’s going to do is, more than likely, put more pressure on existing roads and campgrounds.”

Due largely to funding shortages, it will probably be a year before the repairs are even approved, Hamilton said.

He estimates the most recent washout and the Election Day flood damage will cost around $750,000 to fix.

Until the Forest Service develops a plan for making those repairs, $600,000 worth of repairs stemming from the 2003 flood have been postponed, he said.

“The frustrating thing is there are so many people who come from far away for their vacations and then they get here and they can’t go where they want to go,” Hamilton said.

Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com.

Open House

The Darrington Ranger District has scheduled an open house for 4:30 to 9 p.m. today to give the public an opportunity to meet district Ranger Peter Forbes and get information on flood damage and Forest Service projects. The Ranger Station is located at 1405 Emens Ave. N. For more information, call 360-436-1155.