06/03/2009

By ERIK ROBINSON  / Associated Press

Advocates of turning Mount St. Helens into a national park aren't ready to give up on the idea, despite an advisory committee's recommendation to keep it with the U.S. Forest Service.

Mark Smith, the longtime owner of the EcoPark Resort west of the volcano and one of 14 members of the advisory committee, joined fellow committee member Mark Plotkin in standing against the committee's recommendation.

"I didn't feel that the committee should have been making a decision on who should be managing the monument," Smith said. "We were supposed to do a vision of what we want to see. That vision most looks like a national park."

The committee hasn't yet delivered its final report to U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and Reps. Brian Baird and Norm Dicks.

When it does, the state's congressional delegation can expect to hear a "minority report" from Smith and Plotkin. The pair generally endorsed the committee's specific recommendations, but Smith said he has no confidence in the Forest Service's ability to carry out the vision.

Plotkin, tourism director for Cowlitz County, has highlighted the funding disparity between Mount St. Helens and national parks. The recreation program at Mount St. Helens amounts to about $500,000 annually. By comparison, California's Lassen Volcanic National Park, which is similar in visitation and acreage to Mount St. Helens, operates on a budget nine times the size — $4.5 million.

Mount St. Helens has struggled for years with chronic budgetary shortfalls.

In 2000, the Washington Parks and Recreation Commission stepped in to manage the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center at Silver Lake.

Then, in late 2007, the Forest Service permanently closed the Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center after just 14 years. Cantwell initially suggested turning the entire 110,000-acre national volcanic monument over to the National Park Service, but then backed off to allow the advisory committee a chance to offer its vision for the future.

Advocates of the national park proposal say the advisory committee's recommendation may not be the final word.

"You never say never," said Sean Smith, regional director of the National Parks Conservation Association in Seattle. "In many instances, the creation of new national parks took several years. While we obviously have supported the idea that it should be a national park, we're willing to continue working with the communities and stay engaged in the process."

Mark Smith, whose family operated a lodge on Spirit Lake before it was buried by the eruption of May 18, 1980, has been a longtime critic of the Forest Service's management of the site. He resents the agency's hands-off mentality toward allowing new recreational activities, faulting the Forest Service for treating much of it as a giant test tube for scientists.

Even so, he said he came onto the advisory committee opposed to the idea of turning it into a national park especially if it meant reducing the ability to hunt elk or deer.

"Like a lot of folks, I was worried about the access issue," he said. "I did a lot of soul-searching. After 29 years of U.S. Forest Service management and hearing it's all locked up for science, I felt it was time for a change."

Mark Smith acknowledged many of the local people who testified before the committee were opposed to turning it over to the National Park Service. Congress needs to take a broader view of what's best for the monument over the long-term, he said.

"Last time I checked, it's a federal monument," he said. "People all over the country pay for it."

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Information from: The Columbian, http://www.columbian.com