5/28/09 meeting: The Future of North Cascades NP

I received an email invitation to the following event but I may not be able to attend. I asked David Graves if it would be okay for me to post this information on TAY and he said it was okay. He added:

"It needs to be clear that if they plan to attend they must RSVP. If I get lots of responses I will have to limit the number at some point, but I think we could have more than 40 at the event."

Here is the information:
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The Future of North Cascades National Park

The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) is co-hosting a continuation of a discussion on global climate change and how it will affect our national parks, especially North Cascades National Park.  This discussion will focus on possible solutions to changes in the accessibility of the park.  Our previous meetings in Olympic National Park on March 31st and Mount Rainier National Park on April 23rd brought together 75 community leaders to discuss this issue.  We hope to include ideas from those who care about North Cascades National Park also.

The floods and windstorms of 2007 were just the latest storm events to ravage Washington's public lands.  Given the high likelihood that future storms will cause similar damage, NPCA facilitated a panel discussion on September 3, 2008, to explore how the federal government can best sustain long term access to places such as North Cascades National Park that make sense from an economic and ecological standpoint.  We would now like to focus on solutions from those who know these areas best--members of the gateway communities of these parks.

This event is co-hosted by the organizations from the Washington Parks and Forest Coalition, which include National Parks Conservation Association, Washington Trails Association, the Student Conservation Association, and the National Park Service.

This event will be held:
Thursday, May 28, 2009
North Cascades Environmental Learning Center
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Confirmed attendees include:

Bill Gaines - Forest Wildlife Ecologist, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest
Chip Jenkins - Superintendent, North Cascades National Park Complex
Elizabeth Lunney - Executive Director, Washington Trails Association
Jim Haley - Local resident
Leesa Wright - Public Policy Associate, The Mountaineers
Peter Jackson - Board of Governors, Jackson Foundation
Polly Dyer - Member, North Cascades Conservation Council
Shawn Bills - Northwest Washington< Director, U.S. Senator Patty Murray

This is an informal discussion to be led be a facilitator.  In preparing for this evening, we would like you to consider some of the following questions:

• Looking toward the future, what solutions are out there for dealing with changes in weather patterns and its affect on national parks, particularly in terms of access, whether it be roads, trails, or other ways of enjoying our national parks?


• How can we sustain the connection between our communities and our national parks?


• What are possible solutions to maintaining access that are both sustainable from an ecological and economic standpoint?


• What barriers do you see or have you encountered that prevents access and enjoyment of public lands?


• Are there instances where access should be denied or is access of paramount importance in management of the public's land?


• When or under what circumstances should roads, buildings and other structures be built, or not?


• What other options besides roads and campgrounds could be used to sustain the public's enjoyment of our public lands, i.e., shuttle busses, light rail, hut systems, etc.?

Please RSVP by Friday, May 22nd, to David Graves at dgraves@npca.org or (206) 903-1444, x25.  Finally, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

I can't get away on the 28th, but I would love to hear from anyone who does make it. There are some very interesting and important topics on the agenda.

The mention of a hut system really piqued my interest as I think it would be great to have one. Kevin Steffa suggested Ruby Mountain in the NCNP, so this might be a great chance to see how the Park would feel about the idea.

I attended the meeting that was held in Port Angeles for Olympic National Park in late March. It was well attended by a very diverse group of individuals and organizations that held widely differing views on each of the agenda topics.
The meeting was well organized and the facilitator did an excellent job of keeping the group on task. If you have views or ideas relating to the agenda topics, it is a great opportunity to share them.