EVERETT – Smaller budgets and less money from logging have left managers for the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest with fewer and fewer resources.
Now, the supervisor’s office is leaving its freeway-fronting office in Mountlake Terrace to move into a smaller place in downtown Everett.
Thirty-four employees will move to the new office in September. The group manages the 1.7-million acre forest that stretches from Canada to Mount Rainier National Park.
That’s a significantly smaller staff than the 121 Forest Service workers who moved into the Mountlake Terrace building in 1990, said Allen Gibbs, a Forest Service spokesman.
The new offices will be in the third floor of the city of Everett’s Wall Street building.
The downsizing saves $320,000 per year in rent. That money that will be rolled backed into the agency’s budget, perhaps to fill vacant positions.
“It’s somewhat of a dilemma because the public isn’t asking for less services, they are asking for more services,” said Rob Iwamoto, the forest supervisor.
A smaller work force means fewer people to advise people on trails and maps, a smaller police presence, and a reduced capacity to fix flood-ravaged roads.
“There is more work than we have the funding (for),” Iwamoto said. “There comes a time when you can’t do everything. There are a number of things that will have to drop off the plate.”
Meanwhile, Congress has been shrinking the money it gives the local agency to pay its bills, from $20 million in 1998 to $14 million this year.
At the same time, use is climbing. More than 5 million people visited the forest last year.
“We are the back yard of the Puget Sound,” Iwamoto said.
Those looking for visitor services, such as hiking passes and maps for the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, can go to:
Outdoor Recreation Information Center, REI building, 222 Yale Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109. Phone: 206-470-4060.
Skykomish Ranger District office, 74920 U.S. 2, P.O. Box 305, Skykomish, WA 98288. Phone: 360-677-2414.
Darrington Ranger District office, 1405 Emmens St., Darrington, WA 98241. Phone: 360-436-1155.
Mount Baker Ranger District office, 810 Highway 20, Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284. Phone: 360-856-5700, ext. 515.
Snoqualmie Ranger District office, 42404 SE North Bend Way, North Bend, WA 98045. Phone: 425-888-1421.
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.
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