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THE NEWSLETTER OF THE ALPINE LAKES PROTECTION SOCIETY (ALPS) 2004 Issue No. 1

Old Cascade Tunnel another acquisition targetBy Jim Chapman

The Cascades Conser-vation Partnership is not

the only group involved inAlpine Lakes land acquisitionefforts. Working with the ForestService and Volunteers forOutdoor Washington (VOW),The Mountaineers Foundation istrying to buy a very significantpiece of real estate right in themiddle of the three-mile-longOld Cascade Tunnel at StevensPass. The parcel is a one-milelong, 200-foot wide segment ofless than 25 acres that includesboth the tunnel and the surfaceabove it. If successful, theFoundation will transfer owner-ship to the federal government.The state Office of Archaeology& Historic Preservation and theStevens Pass Greenway alsosupport its acquisition.

The property's significance isprimarily historic. Great North-ern Railroad trains passed throughthe tunnel from the time it wasbuilt in 1900 until the currenttunnel replaced it in 1929. It is partof the Stevens Pass HistoricDistrict. The Iron Goat Trailcurrently ends at its westernportal. The former town ofWellington was located here andwas the site of the infamous 1910avalanche that killed over 100 trainpassengers and crew.

The property's surface, whichlies about a quarter mile fromSkyline Lake, is very scenic

although somewhat hard to reach.The Pacific Crest ridgeline passesover the tunnel at the property'swestern end and looks straightdown to the Iron Goat Trail and itsWellington trailhead. The easternsegment is a pristine part of theNason Creek watershed.

The property is owned by TyeValley Tunnel Co., a family corpora-tion formed in 1968 by J. Gaylord &Ella Riach and Elizabeth Olson. Thelate Mr. Riach, a Lynnwood attor-ney, once owned much of the areaaround the Wellington town site

and planned to turn it into a skiresort. The company's pur-chase of the tunnel propertyfrom Burlington Northern wasformally recorded in ChelanCounty in 1984.

VOW was able to locate Mrs.Riach, the surviving owner, inSeptember 2003. She promisedto donate the land to TheMountaineers Foundation onthe condition that it be calledthe Riach Memorial Tunnel.This can be done since points ofinterest may have severalformal names.

So far, so good. The greaterdifficulty is that while the localForest Service people want theland, their regional office hasinstituted a policy that it mustreceive all subsurface (mineral,oil & gas, etc.) rights as well orit will not accept the property.Burlington Northern, nowBurlington Northern Santa Fe

Railway, still owns all these rights.It has expressed a willingness tosell, but at a price far above thegoing rate for subsurface rightswith no proven value. If VOWand The Foundation were to agreeto this demand, they would be

Looking west to the old path ofthe Iron Goat.

JIM C

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Also in this issue:

Alpine Lakes News & Notes ....... 2Welcome to ALPS ....................... 3Sawmill Creek parcel purchased 4Trustees Election Ballot .............. 5

2 ALPINE

jacking up theprice for mineralrights every-where, which noconservation orgovernmentgroup wants tosee.

The two groupsare actively tryingto negotiate withBurlingtonNorthern SantaFe and want allissues to beresolved by theend of 2004.

Stay tuned.

CASCADE TUNNEL

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Wild Sky Wilderness hasone determined opponent

Richard Pombo, CaliforniaRepublican chairman of the HouseResources Committee, continues tocare about preservation - of oldroads and logged-off areas. Hewants approximately 16,000 acresremoved from a package now at103,000 acres, because some partsare not in pristine condition. Thisgoes against past legislative practiceand also against the intent of thewriters of the Wilderness Act of1964. On July 21, Pombo reiteratedhis opposition to the bill in the formrequested by Reps. Rick Larsen,George Nethercutt, and supportedby Snohomish County. Last year,nearly the same package passed theSenate with the active support ofSens. Patty Murray and MariaCantwell. The House scheduled apublic hearing for this July 22. ALPStrustee Mike Town was scheduled totestify on behalf of Friends of theWild Sky.

Alpine Lakes News & NotesALPS takes a stand againstunderground laboratory

From a recent ALPS letter to theWenatchee World: �The DUSELproject would have many negativeeffects on the Icicle valley, andwould set a terrible precedent fordevelopment in a protected Wilder-ness area. We believe the DUSELproponents have been less thancandid about the true scale of theimpacts it would have, and alsoabout the suitability of alternativesites in South Dakota and California.For these reasons, ALPS opposesDUSEL as currently proposed, andwe urge the residents of Chelancounty to take a long, hard lookbefore signing on to it.� � ALPSpresident Don Parks

Cle Elum district studiesroads

The Forest Service is attemptingto come to grips with over 100 milesof roads that have come to it in the

past five years, most of it from PlumCreek Timber. Some of these will beclosed but some are consideredimportant for recreation access andmaintenance. A list was publishedin March. Contact Leslie Doak at thedistrict office for further updates orpublic involvement opportunities.

Recreation passes—simpler?

The Northwest Forest Pass is $30for an annual pass, $5 for a singleday. It is required for parking within0.25 mile of developed ForestService trailheads and some othermarked locations. If you also spenda lot of time at state or Nationalparks you may want to consider theWashington and Oregon RecreationPass, which at $85 will cover mostpark admissions and forest trailheadparking in the region. For informa-tion or to purchase passes, go towww.naturenw.org or call 1-800-270-7504.

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Welcome to the Alpine LakesProtection Society! Whether you

are a new or renewing member, or justreading this as a "visitor," thanks forpulling up a chair. Since we have had anumber of new members join recently,we (the ALPS board) thought it wouldbe timely to say a little something aboutourselves.

What does ALPS do?ALPS has a tradition of taking

positions on issues only after carefullyresearching them and thinking throughthe questions at hand. Being on-the-ground people, we base our advocacyon detailed knowledge of the locallandscape, acquired the old slow way,on foot throughout the Alpine Lakesregion in Washington's Central Cas-cades. We sometimes challengeunlawful actions in court, but we willmore often sit down with the projectproponents to negotiate reasonablesolutions. ALPS board members, whohandle most of the business of theorganization, have earned the respect ofthe US Forest Service and other majorland managers in the area. Still, many ofthe challenges we face are complex andwe need fresh minds with new ideas to

help deal with these issues and keep ourorganization vital. Some of the issueswe are currently working, and whichyou can participate in right now are:

� Fighting inappropriate off-roadvehicle use. We have successfullyprevented expanded use in upperNegro Creek and carte blanche allow-ance in the Teanaway area. Stoppingunauthorized rerouting by motorcyclistsof the Mt. Baldy trail, just west of thesouth end of Lake Cle Elum, was arecent victory.

� Promoting the expansion of theAlpine Lakes Wilderness fromSnoqualmie Pass to east of the Cle ElumRiver. The Forest Service is due to makeits recommendation to Congress by theend of this month.

� Working to establish a Wild SkyWilderness Area, just north of theAlpine Lakes.

� Developing a Middle ForkSnoqualmie River Valley access manage-ment plan that would convert the upperMiddle Fork road to a trail, as well asbuild new trails, a new campground,and other recreational developments.

� Retaining the wild character of thePratt River Valley, near North Bend, as arefuge for wildlife.

� Taking a careful look at the Universityof Washington's proposal to drill twotunnels and an underground researchlaboratory underneath Mt. Cashmere,next to the Icicle River Valley. Thesefacilities would require major construc-tion adjacent to and beneath thewilderness. Other U.S. locations may bemore suitable. We are opposing thisdevelopment, based on currentinformation.

What can you do?Participation can take many forms. Hereare just a few:

� Take pictures! The ALPINE and theALPS website are in constant need ofgood photos to grace our pages andhelp make our points. For use in theALPINE, keep in mind that we printgrayscale only. We can scan prints butprefer digital images. We will credit youwith your photo, of course.

� Check out the Forest Service websitesfor upcoming projects and studies. Geton their mailing lists for specific projects.Write a letter to the Forest Service oryour elected representatives on anyissue you find of interest on websites,the ALPINE, or your newspaper.

� Pass along your special knowledge ofan area or issue, including breakingnews, to ALPS via email or phone (seeback cover for contact info).

� Come along to a Forest Service publicmeeting with ALPS board members. Ifyou hear of something coming up thatpiques your interest let us know - we'lltry to team up.

� Commit yourself to lead an issue orproject as ALPS' point person. You mayfind yourself on the board before youknow it!

At whatever level, we appreciate yourmembership and/or interest in ALPS,and we hope to have the chance towork with you soon.

Welcome to ALPS

A quiet morning at Snow Lake.

JOH

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Sawmill Creek parcel purchased2004 goal is Final Four Option lands

By Jim Chapman

The Cascades ConservationPartnership raised just over

$100,000 at its special December 6auction held at glass artist DaleChihuly�s boathouse. Top item wasa 2004 Toyota Prius, which broughtin $29,500. This gave The Partner-ship the money needed to buy thenorthern-most of three targetedPlum Creek parcels along the eastbank of Sawmill Creek. A pressconference to announce the pur-chase was held March 22 in Tacoma.

The final sale price was just under$2.0 million. Of that amount, theCity of Tacoma paid $350,000 andwill become the owner, since theparcel is in its Green River water-shed. The Cascade Land Conser-vancy will hold a special easementthat prevents any commerciallogging.

Everyone in The Partnership,including ALPS, considers theprotection of Sawmill Creek to becrucial. It forms the eastern bound-ary of the Kelly Butte SpecialManagement Area, created by the1999 I-90 Land Exchange legislation.Its large stands of old-growthDouglas firs and cedars provideexcellent habitat for marbledmurrelets and amphibians. An oldForest Service trail follows along theeast side of the creek much of itslength.

The 302-acre north parcel that waspurchased has the most valuabletrees and was the most threatened.Plum Creek planned to build a roadfrom the east into the middle parcel,and then up through the northparcel. With this purchase, PlumCreek has a much lower incentive to

build the road at all since there arenot nearly as many trees to cut.Without the purchase, all threeparcels would have been subject toheavy logging.

Although the threat to the twoother parcels has been reduced, it isstill there. Both the 150-acre middleparcel and the 260-acre south parcelneed to be acquired. How that willbe done remains to be seen.

Option LandsThe $5 million that Congress

appropriated last year was enoughfor the government to buy four ofthe remaining I-90 �Option Lands� -Paris Creek and Thorp Creek to thenorth of I-90 plus Frost Creek andLodgepole Creek to the south, atotal of 2,677 acres.

That leaves a �Final Four� of theoriginal 21 Option Land parcels to

be acquired and complete this four-year-old acquisition program leftover from the I-90 Land Exchange.The four parcels are Salmon la SacCreek, Little Salmon la Sac Creek,Branch Creek and Section 33southwest of Thorp Mountain. Allare north of I-90.

President Bush has budgeted $2million for I-90 purchases in FY2005,but $3.4 million is needed. ALPSand The Partnership will be work-ing hard with our congressionaldelegation to get the necessaryfunds.

Forest Legacy The $1.5 million that Congressappropriated last year for ForestLegacy is targeted to buy develop-ment rights on 224 acres a mile eastof Swamp Lake on the north side ofI-90�s Stampede Pass Interchange,

Long valley below Scatter Mountain, an early victory.

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The terms of four ALPS Trusteesexpired last year, so an election isrequired for the next three-yearterm, which will be 2003-2006.(Yes, we know. This is a bit late.)

Trustees Jim Chapman andKevin Geraghty are running for re-election.

Rita Burns has moved toShelton, WA, and will not run foranother term. She helped put theAlpine together and got it mailed.We want to express our greatthanks and best wishes to Rita.Former president Bill Beyers hasagreed to run for her position.

Don Parks� election as our newpresident makes him an automaticmember of the board, so he is notrunning again. The Trustees willfill his position later and haveprovided a place for you to suggestsomeone. If you yourself areinterested or would like to attendone of our meetings, please contactDon at 425-883-0646 ordlparks@jps.net.

Outgoing president Rick McGuireautomatically moves into theImmediate Past President positionformerly held by Len Gardner,who is now enjoying the sunnyclimes of Southern California.

Here are brief biographies of thecandidates.

BILL BEYERS, Seattle

Professor of Geography at the Univer-sity of Washington. Bill was an ALPSTrustee/Officer from ca. 1972-1983 andALPS President 1974-76. He wasactive in the campaign to pass thelegislation enacted in 1976 thatestablished the Alpine Lakes Wilder-ness and Management Unit. Bill leftthe ALPS Board in the early 1980�s,feeling that membership should rotate.More recently he helped prepare a fiscalimpact analysis that was critical togetting the Kittitas County Commis-sioners� support for The CascadesConservation Partnership�s landacquisition project. Bill also led theteam that brought the 3rd edition ofthe Alpine Lakes map to production.

JIM CHAPMAN, Edmonds,

Retired engineer, ALPS Trustee/officersince 1973. President, 1978-80 and1989-92. Jim worked on several landexchanges, including two withLongview Fibre and the I-90 exchangewith Plum Creek. He lobbied Congressfor money to buy parcels on IcicleRidge, along the Icicle River and in theSilver Creek watershed. He has beenALPS� representative to The CascadesConservation Partnership.

KEVIN GERAGHTY, Seattle

Replaced the late Henry Steinhardt in2002. Kevin is currently developing anew website for ALPS. He has beenespecially active in west-side issuesincluding wilderness designation androad and trail system planning.

Please mark the ballot below, foldit and tape it closed. Mail to theaddress on the backside of thissheet.

BILL BEYERS

JIM CHAPMAN

KEVIN GERAGHTY

_________________________

(Suggested New Trustee)

Trustees Election Ballot

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DON PARKS, PRESIDENT

ALPINE LAKES PROTECTION SOCIETY

P. O. BOX 27646

SEATTLE WA 98165

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plus other land just south of LakeEaston. This will cut the property�smarket value about in half.

The lands could still be logged.The parcel near Swamp Lake, alsoreferred to as �Amabilis North�, is akey piece of the wildlife corridorand provides excellent cross-country skiing. The Partnershipand Trust for Public Land areworking together on a complextransaction to protect it by findingone or more conservation buyers.

The owners of the property havealready platted four lots on twelveadjacent acres and could subdivideadditional lands unless a buyer isfound.

HCPLast summer, the Interior Depart-

ment approved a second HabitatConservation Program grant of$1,849,720 for the Yakima Riverwildlife corridor. Prime candidatesfor protection will be lands nearCabin Creek that are owned byseveral parties, including AmericanForest Resources (the new name forUS Timberland).

The grant is conditioned onnonfederal groups or agenciesbuying other land worth about one-third of the grant value, in the samearea. The Partnership has securedmost of that amount and is workingto fulfill the grant terms. The landswill be managed by WashingtonState Parks or the Department ofFish and Wildlife.

The Partnership has also submit-ted a third and final application for$1.76 million to buy more land westof Cabin Creek. The state Depart-ment of Natural Resources wouldprovide the one-third local matchby transferring trust land in thesame area to the Dept. of Fish andWildlife.

Moolock LakesOn December 10, the state�s

Department of Natural Resourcespurchased another Partnershiptarget, a 597-acre parcel commonlyknown as Moolock Lakes. Locatedjust northeast of Mt. Si, it will beadded to the Mt. Si Natural Re-sources Conservation Area.

Purchased from Crown LakesLLC for $4,250,000, it is a ridgelineparcel located primarily in theNorth Fork Snoqualmie watershed.About 30 acres in the southeastcorner drop into the Middle ForkSnoqualmie watershed. It includesthree lakes (Moolock, Nadeau, andSMC) and features views of Seattleand the Olympics.

DNR and the Cascade LandConservancy worked together tonegotiate the purchase. The highprice tag was due to the develop-ment potential for lakefront estates.

Crown Lakes LLC reserved theright to continue removing talus

rock on the Middle Fork side of theridgeline for 30 years. It will bevisually isolated from the rest of thesection.

Purchase money came from thestate-funded Washington Wildlifeand Recreation Program.

Please HelpWhile The Partnership is winding

down its efforts, you can still givemoney to help it lobby and buymore land this year.

Contact The Partnership at 206-675-9747 orwww.cascadespartners.org.

See if your employer will matchyour gift. If you�re a Boeing em-ployee or retiree, send your gift tothe Cascade Land Conservancy(www.cascadeland.org, 206-292-5907) and designate it for TheCascades Conservation Partnership.

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Serpentine slopes east of Cle Elum River Valley.

JIM

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8 ALPINEPRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER

alpsalpine lakes protection societyPO Box 27646Seattle WA 98165

Presort StandardU.S. Postage

PAIDSeattle, WA

Permit #1244

ALPS Officers & Trustees: 2000-2003 2001-2004 2002-2005

President: Rick McGuire Rita Burns Mike Pierson Art Day

Vice President: John Villa Jim Chapman Dick vanHaagen Hal Lindstrom

Membership: Natalie Williams Kevin Geraghty Mike Town Thom Peters

Treasurer: Frank Swart Don Parks Natalie Williams Liz Tanke

The old cabin at Pete Lake.

The newsletter of theAlpine Lakes ProtectionSociety (ALPS). ALPS isdedicated to protection ofthe Alpine Lakes area inWashington’s Cascades.

Editor: Art DayLayout: Pat Hutson

For membershipinformation, contact

Natalie Williams5627 47th Ave. SWSeattle, WA 98136dlparks@jps.netJO

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