Forest Service Mt.Baker-Snoqualmie

The Forest Service is closing Canyon Creek Road (Forest Service Road 31) two miles east of Glacier where it intersects with Mt. Baker Highway (Highway 542) weekdays starting June 21 for two months. Closing Canyon Creek Road also blocks access to the spurs, Forest Service roads 3120, 3130, 3140, 3160 and 3170.

The Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center warns of extremely high avalanche danger this weekend in the Cascades and Olympic mountains.

Wildland firefighters have a tough job: they work 16 hours a day, enduring hot, smoky, dusty conditions with little sleep, digging line, hauling hose and setting backfires day after day for up to two weeks at a stretch. As summer starts, so does the beginning of fire season and last week 10 students spent a week in Darrington, Wash., learning how to fight fires at Guard School. They finished Sunday, and next week the Mt. Baker Initial Attack crew will be on their way to Alaska, Arizona or anywhere where there is a forest fire, or even a national disaster.

Forest Service interpretive walks teach about old growth forests and mountain ecosystems starting June 19 through Labor Day. Three programs take participants on guided short hikes in the Snoqualmie Pass area off of Interstate 90. Call 425-434-6111 to make a reservation.

The Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest requests the public review and comment on a plan to learn how to best restore old growth and riparian forest characteristics in the Finney Adaptive Management Area. The area is located southeast of Darrington in the Skagit and Stillaguamish watersheds. The Northwest Forest Plan selected the Finney as one of 10 areas in Washington, Oregon, and California to pursue experimental forestry. This project will determine up to five topics for research to evaluate alternative approaches to create old growth and riparian forest conditions in younger stands.

Volunteers are needed to teach day hikers, backpackers and climbers on the three busiest Mt. Baker area trail systems: Heliotrope Ridge, Park Butte/Railroad Grade and Heather Meadows.

Padilla Bay Earth week celebration of migratory birds - Getting people outside to experience nature up-close requires a bit of ingenuity, determination, and a dose of estuary soup. And although the day started in typical Seattle fashion, rainy and overcast, more than a 100 people visited the first Migratory Bird Festival at Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in April.

The Forest Service seeks public comment April 15 through June 1 on a proposal to clean up hazardous waste at old mine and milling sites on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The sites are Monte Cristo Mining Area, located at the headwaters of the South Fork Sauk River, approximately 28 air-miles east-southeast of Granite Falls; Sunset Mine and Mill, at Trout Creek about five miles northeast of Index, North Fork Skykomish watershed; and, Kromona Mine and Mill, on the Middle Fork of the South Fork Sultan River, about 10 miles northeast of Sultan, Skykomish River watershed.

Stevens Pass Ski Resort will start construction on a new mountain bike park and water treatment system this summer. The Forest Service announced the decision approving the proposed plan April 13. The resort will also build a new water treatment system.

Weather conditions are keeping workers from finishing repairs on Sloan Creek Road, forest road 49, until April 23. The Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest had closed the road April 5-9. Sloan Creek Road is 16 miles south of Darrington off of Mountain Loop Highway at mile post 37. Road construction blocks access to Sloan Creek/North Fork Sauk, Lost Creek Ridge, Bald Eagle, Sloan Climber's Route, North Fork Sauk Falls and Harold Engles trails.

Weather conditions are keeping workers from finishing repairs on Sloan Creek Road, forest road 49, until April 16. The Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest had closed the road April 5-9. Sloan Creek Road is 16 miles south of Darrington off of Mountain Loop Highway at mile post 37. Road construction blocks access to Sloan Creek/North Fork Sauk, Lost Creek Ridge, Bald Eagle, Sloan Climber's Route, North Fork Sauk Falls and Harold Engles trails.

Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest is seeking public comment starting today until April 30 on multiple projects on the Darrington Ranger District, located in Snohomish and Skagit Counties, encompassing the Stillaguamish and Sauk River drainage’s. The comments should identify issues that the environmental analysis should address.

Beginning April 5 officials are closing South Sultan River Road 6122, also known as Jeanne Ring Road, approximately 17 miles northeast of Sultan, Wash., and a third of a mile southeast of Culmback Dam. The Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and Snohomish County Public Utility District are closing the road for a year to prevent road erosion, which will protect water quality in the municipal watershed.

The Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest is closing Sloan Creek Road, forest road 49, April 5-9 to replace culverts and repair damage. Sloan Creek Road is 16 miles south of Darrington off of Mountain Loop Highway at mile post 37. Road construction will block access to Sloan Creek/North Fork Sauk, Lost Creek Ridge, Bald Eagle, Sloan Climber's Route, North Fork Sauk Falls, and Harold Engles trails. Call Darrington Ranger District for updates weekdays at 360-436-1155, or Verlot Public Service Center weekends at 360-691-7791.

The public is invited to submit project proposals that will benefit the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest by April 26. The submitted projects will be considered for 2010 and 2011 grants. Funding is made available through Title II funds under the reauthorized Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (Public Law 110-343.)

Crews are moving equipment into place now and will soon shift a quarter-mile of Mount Baker Highway (SR 542) away from the Nooksack River near east Church Mountain Road, four miles east of Glacier. The work will close Church Mountain Road (Forest Service Road 3040) March 17 through April 22. The Forest Service road provides access to the Church Mountain Trailhead. Hikers can still access to the trailhead from Forest Service Road 3035 by hiking 1.25 miles east along the power lines to Church Mountain Road.

Sections of Mountain Loop Highway will close 7 a.m. Monday through noon Friday beginning March 8 until the end of April. It will open on weekends. Workers will close various locations from mile post 42, south of White Chuck Bench Overlook, to mile post 35, south of Bedal Creek Bridge. The closure the week of March 8 on the north side of Mountain Loop Highway will block access from Darrington to forest road 49 and Sloan Creek Trailhead, which leads to Glacier Peak Wilderness. Call Darrington Ranger District for updates weekdays at 360-436-1155, or Verlot Public Service Center weekends at 360-691-7791.

Almost 25 mostly little boys anxiously squirmed in their seats, barely able to contain their energy while they waited to hear the wildlife biologist answer their question: “Do they attack you?” Not daunted, Don Gay flashed a grin as he said no; the swans haven’t attacked him, not so far. They momentarily quieted while considering this, and then several hands shot up to ask the next question. The kids were waiting at the Kulshan Creek neighborhood community center for the bus that would take them to view migratory swans at the Port Susan Bay Preserve, an estuary managed by Nature Conservancy where the Stillaguamish River combines with the Port Susan Bay. Gay described the Trumpeter Swans and shore birds they were going to see and explained why they migrate.