DARRINGTON — People in this town want the Suiattle River Road back.
They want it for their own use as a way to get up into the mountains to beloved fishing holes and campgrounds such as Buck Creek, and to cherished trails, including those that connect with the Pacific Crest Trail.
They want crowds of backpackers in town again, with families and other day hikers who spend a little money on their ways in and out of the Darrington District of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
Many feel so strongly about access to the forest that they are willing to contribute time and money to the a new committee called the Darrington Area Friends of Public Use. The community group got the OK this week from the Forest Service to help maintain and monitor roads and trails in the Darrington District.
“We just want to keep our access to the outdoors,” said Nels Rasmussen, who is an avid hiker, a chiropractor in Darrington and president of the Darrington Area Business Association.
Rasmussen and about 100 other people showed up to an open house at the Darrington Ranger Station on Thursday to voice their opinions about a new plan by the Federal Highway Administration and Forest Service to repair and, in some wash-out areas, reroute the Suiattle River Road, which also is known as Forest Service Road No. 26.
The 23-mile-long Suiattle River Road runs from north of Darrington and east along the north side of the Suiattle River. The upper end of the road has been closed since storms caused major flooding and washouts in 2003, 2006 and 2007.
In the face of a lawsuit filed in April, the federal government backed out of plans to repair the road this summer. The Pilchuck Audubon Society, the North Cascades Conservation Council, and Lynnwood engineer and hiker Bill Lider brought the lawsuit. They contended that the proposed repairs would destroy old trees and wildlife habitat. Lider also objected to the use of emergency highway repair funds for the project, since the last damaging flood was in 2007.
Federal Highway Administration and Forest Service officials plan to do another environmental assessment and again are proposing to fix the road, although work probably would not begin until the summer of 2013, said Darrington District Ranger Peter Forbes.
The new assessment is due out near the end of the year, Forbes said. People will have a chance to comment on the environmental assessment before a decision is made about work on the road.
“What we are proposing to do on eight sections of the road deals with the issues of protecting natural resources and providing access into the forest,” Forbes said. “We are trying to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people.”
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen said he plans to send a letter of support for the project to the Federal Highway Administration.
“I stand with the people of Darrington on this one, and I have to say the Forest Service does its level best to manage the forest,” Larsen said. “We’re not going to return to big harvests of timber, but we’re not going to lock up the forest. Another environmental assessment of the work on Forest Road 26 is fine, but in the end I want to see that road reopened.”
After the assessment is released, people will have a 30-day comment period. Copies will be available at the Darrington Ranger Station and can be requested from Federal Highway Administration at the same addresses.
The Suiattle River Road was established in the early 1900s by miners packing out to work their claims. By the 1930s, the road extended nearly 20 miles to the Civilian Conservation Corps-constructed Buck Creek Campground. In the big timber heyday of the 1950s and 1960s, the road was used heavily by logging trucks. Just off Suiattle River Road are seven popular trailheads, two campgrounds, a rental cabin, hunting, fishing and gathering spots and access to private, state and tribal lands.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.
How to comment
Those who want to comment on issues they believe should be addressed in the environmental analysis of the road project can email WFL.Suiattle@dot.gove.
Also comment online at www.wfl.fhwa.dot.gov or write to Western Federal Lands Highway Division, 610 E. Fifth St., Vancouver, WA 98661.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
