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New book from NCCC! Wilderness Alps: Conservation and Conflict in Washington's North Cascades By Harvey Manning. |
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The Wild Cascades
Journal The Wild Cascades, published three times a year (Spring, Summer/Fall, Winter), is the journal of the North Cascades Conservation Council. |
Recent Developments
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The Upper Stehekin Valley Road In late 2006, the National Park Service issued a decision to permanently close the upper ten miles of Stehekin Valley Road above Car Wash Falls. The lower 12.8 miles are not affected and will continue to serve all of the sites and amenities that the vast majority of visitors to Stehekin have enjoyed for many years. The upper Stehekin Valley Road, however, is extremely isolated and could only be reached from Stehekin, which itself requires a 50-mile boat ride up Lake Chelan to reach. There is no car ferry. Severe flood damage in 2003 (and many times previously) had made this one of the nation's most expensive roads to repair and maintain for the benefit of just a few dozen vehicles. The NCCC has always favored closing the road due to its impacts on wildlife, the Stehekin River, and other wilderness values. We were delighted that the issue was finally put to rest by the Park Service--that is, until Congressman Doc Hastings introduced, in August 2007, a bill (HR 3408) that would allow the road to be rebuilt by changing the boundary of the Stephen Mather Wilderness. This short-sighted legislation is not only damaging to the recovery of this spectacular wilderness valley, it is a threat to wilderness everywhere and should be vigorously opposed. For more information: see the Spring 2007 issue of The Wild Cascades |
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Blanchard Mountain - The battle continues DNR plans to intensify logging across much of Blanchard Mountain near Bellingham, despite strong objections from the public, including N3C, the Sierra Club, Coast Watch Society, the Chuckanut Conservancy, and others. At issue are 4,800 acres of spectacular coastal forest that have not been heavily logged for more than a decade. Mature forests (80-year old trees), lakes, wetlands, and salmon and steelhead streams are at risk, along with miles of popular hiking trails and habitat for state and federally listed species. Blanchard has been called the "Issaquah Alps of the North" and contains the largest contiguous block of maturing second-growth forest anywhere on the coast of the greater Puget Sound region. Tell the DNR that it's time to set aside this unique place for the benefit of wildlife and future generations. For more information: see the article in the Spring 2007 issue of The Wild Cascades, or visit www.chuckanutconservancy.org. |
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from The President's Report: "Not long after I became president of this organization, Harvey Manning began sending me letters on a wide variety of subjects that seemed to have just popped into his head. He wrote these letters to people with his museum-quality manual typewriter on the back of envelopes or the blank side of bills and junk mail. He pushed the envelope on recycling. Often my letter would be a smudged carbon of something that had gone to some other NCCC member. Despite the lack of sophisticated media presentations, the content of these letters was fascinating. The topics were often rambling but never boring communiqués that could be on virtually any subject, from trails to national politics. I could never understand why an author of Harvey’s stature would use his time to bring me up to speed on the latest things racing through his mind...." For more information: see the Winter 2006-2007 issue of The Wild Cascades |
P.O. Box 95980
Seattle, WA 98145-2980