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Show Western Hesoyrcs WRAP-UP Mt. St. Helens management plan ByHeleneC. Monberg Washington-Now it's time to start ntingthe unique geologic features Si resulted from the Mt. St. Helens oicanic eruption in Washington on Jjay 18, 1980, according to the U.S. Forest Service. It's also time to start rehabilitating the surrounding area following the worst natural catastrophe in American history, the Forest Service recommends. recom-mends. So altho the once-beautiful cone-like Mt St. Helens is still rumbling and belching from time to time, the Forest Service, with the help of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), on Feb. 4 issued a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on a Mt. St. Helens land management plan for the affected area including the counties of Cowlitz, Lewis and Skamanis in Southwestern Washington. About 12 percent of the mountain blew off, devastating more than 150 square miles within the Gif ford Pinchot National Forest and surrounding territory in the wake of the Mt. St. Helens explosion. It emitted huge volumes of gases, pumice, mud flows and ash that initially covered the Pacific Northwest and sent a large ash cloud up 63,000 feet into the atmosphere which drifted around the world. Here's how the Forest Service assessed the damage from the eruption I in a Feb. 4 briefing backgrounder: i "Thirty-four persons were killed and 28 others are still missing and presumed dead. An area of over 150,000 acres ! including National Forest (61,000), , private (77,000 acres), and state (12,000 ' acres) lands was destroyed or severely ;l damaged. Many new lakes were for-med; for-med; numerous existing lakes were ' severely damaged or destroyed. J "Over 3,400 miles of (water) ,. drainages were damaged or destroyed, ,,' bridges were lost, and roads obliterated. Over 2,000 deer, elk and ; other wildlife were destroyed and their habitat virtually eliminated. Mud flows j and pyroclastic materials (dislodged by blast, fire, heat and gases) along j, with tons of debris caused by the ex- i plosion partially blocked the Columbia , River stopping the passage of large .' shipping. Anadromous fisheries were heavily damaged. (:, "Over three billion board feet of j timber was destroyed or damaged. 11 Administrative facilities, "campgrounds tl and resorts were destroyed, and ex- tensive damage or destruction oc- 12 curred to buildings, personal property and facilities on private lands in the area," the Forest Service said. Preliminary estimates of loss and f damage are in the billions of dollars. WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT? ii As lead agency on protecting and el rehabilitating the affected area, the r Forest Service has come up with two ;' new land designations of allocations. i Not officially but unofficially. They are i: called interpretive areas and research opportunity areas, and both will get full ,,, protection from the Forest Service. It ,, identifies an "interpretive area" as (. "less restrictive than wilderness but provides extensive protection for ' , unique geological features" created by , the Mt. St. Helens blast. y Tom Roederer, director of policy i- analysis for the Forest Service, told 1 WRW on Feb. 10 such a designation i could be put into effect more quickly 3' than wilderness, which can only be i: created by Coneress. and it would f: provide more flexibility to the land p managers. With the aid of the Pacific Northwest f Forest Range and Experiment Station at Portland, USGS scientists and other researchers, the Forest Service has $ identified a number of research' op-J op-J portunity areas for which it plans 3 Protection within the affected area, Roederer said. In its draft EIS released Feb. 4, the i Forest Service came up with 8 alter-s alter-s native plans to manage the 268,910 iicres that it had included in acreage to m managed in the Mt. St. Helens area . ,. 11 provided for a 60-day public review and comment period. On the basis of the public comment, the Forest Service draft the final EIS, which will be Published this summer, according to forest Supervisor Robert D. Tokarc-, Tokarc-, of Gif ford Pinchot National Forest, v. ho is in charge of putting the two t lis s together. f(Ublic hearings in communities ' aitected by the blast are scheduled for " next month. All persons who are wrested in commenting on the draft , management plan are urged to (' a'nd their comments to Mt. St. Helens 1 nn"ig Team, Gifford Pinchot Rational Forest, 500 West 12th Street, ; 'tancuver, Wash., 98660. The deadline ; B April 2. The Forest Service plans to sUrt i1 Plementing the Mt. St. Helens nagement plan by the beginning of 'nenew fiscal year on Oct. 1, 1981. "derer told WRW on Feb. 10. Its $mnoITed alternave would cost about sj 2 millln over a 20-year period, he i?ier lhe Preferred alternative rTrl ,Ut in the draft EIS, about 74 mad! the affected area would be t nm,,1"10 an interpretive area to p " t 28 geologic features, and 10 research opportunity areas would also receive protection. Most of the downed and damaged timber would be salvaged, except in the interpretive . area. A 45 percent reduction in the annual timber cut is projected, from 35.3 million board feet per year to 19.3 million. The Forest Service would acquire by easement or in fee 29,690 acres of state and private land within the interpretive area for management under a cooperative agreement. Two public visitor centers would be built in safe areas to accommodate annually about 183,000 visitor days. Little rehabilitation would go on in the 89,560 acre interpretive area, so erosion and siltation rates would be somewhat higher and recovery of fisheries and wildlife resources would be somewhat slower than projected in some of the other alternatives. The alternatives are based on the assumptions that Mt. St. Helens is not going to erupt again in the near future with a major blast like the May 18, 1980 explosion. What if it doesn't settle down? Roederer was asked. He replied, "We would do only part of the work, such as stream clearing and stabilization, pulling debris out of the headwaters, some road building, some seeding to stop erosion, and some salvage and insect control work to prevent fire and keep insects from getting out of control." The grasses which would be seeded would be selected to provide feed for wildlife as well as to stop erosion, he said. Congressional briefings are now in progress to explain the management plan. "There is general agreement something must be done," Roederer told WRW on Feb. 10. |