Thread: WA Mags (and everyone else) - Let's Get The Suiattle Road Repaired! Act by 4/20

The Suiattle River Road provides, or used to provide, access to a lot of very cool terrain near Glacier Peak. It was damaged by floods over 8 years ago and even more of it was closed over 5 years ago. The Federal Highway Administration has been studying the various options for this road and has completed a comprehensive Environmental Assessment and come up with three options:

A - do nothing and let the road continue to deteriorate, severely limiting access to several campgrounds and 7 trailheads along the closed section.

B - fully repair the road including reroutes in several areas to limit the chance of further damage and restore wetlands.

C- partial repair, leaving the last 4 miles of road closed thus limiting access to the 4 trailheads beyond that point.

There are extremist enviro groups coming out in favor of option A. These groups represent a minority among all the people who enjoy the outdoors yet they often get their way because they're organized and active and take the time to go to meetings and get their comments in during public comment periods like this one whereas the majority of people may not even know about this stuff.

The public comment period for this project ends 4/20. We need to show the feds that these groups are indeed a minority and DO NOT represent the wishes of the vast majority of people who recreate on our public lands. Take just a few minutes to send a letter in support of option B by 4/20.

There is a page over at the Northwest Hikers website that gives more information about this project including a link to the complete EA that shows that option B will NOT DAMAGE THE ENVIRONMENT and will in fact restore some wetland areas that were damaged by the initial road building.

This page also has the e-mail address to send your comments to as well as a sample letter you can use to save some time. You do not have to be a member of that website or register to view this page and access the information.

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewt...=791569#791569

Please stand up for access to our public lands. These extremist groups seem to think that access is evil and that preserving the environment means keeping people out at all costs. It's time we stood up to them. Some of you may recall what happened with the Middle Fork Snoqualmie road because the majority did not stand up and make itself heard. That road would still be open today if we had acted. Let's not let the same thing happen here.

Sent an email. Thanks for the heads up

Bumping.

Ski to Be - THANKS!!!

C'mon folks, let's not lose this access forever.

More information about option B vs. option C: Option B is fully funded and the repairs to the Downey Creek bridge will actually improve Salmon habitat. Option C does not provide for the creation of a road-end parking area and there is no funding for such. Option C does not fund converting the last 4 miles of road to trail or remediating the damage the road has done to wetlands. There are people pushing for option C because it is a poison pill - it will kill this project by requiring more studies, more planning and reviews, and open up the potential for more lawsuits.

Why should you care? Because we have been steadily losing access to our public lands due to the vociferous barking of a couple small groups who want to see de-facto wilderness created in areas that have been multiple use since the '40s and '50s or even longer. By getting the roads closed permanently they deny all of the legitimate uses of these areas that roads provide, so that they can have their very own backyard wilderness areas.

There's lots of wilderness area in this state for people to enjoy if that's what they want to do, but there's less and less access to areas like the Suiattle because major roads have been getting closed steadily for the last decade.

The Suiattle is the last low elevation main stem road providing access to Glacier Peak at any kind of reasonable distance. There's a ton of great ski terrain up there, not to mention the hiking and climbing terrain in the summer. The road is now closed 12 miles before the previous road end, tacking 24 unnecessary miles of road walk onto any trip to Glacier Peak via this route. There are 7 trailheads and 2 campgrounds beyond the current closure. Even if option C was somehow modified and funded to provide a road end/trailhead parking area at the Green Mountain trailhead, the two campgrounds would still be inaccessible to cars and there are still 4 trailheads beyond that point.

Would you like to be able to drive to the end of the Suiattle road again, and would you like to see people able to legitimately access this area by car for a multitude of uses again? Those are the only questions here. If your answer is yes, take 5 or 10 minutes, follow the link above and send a letter supporting option B.

I'm not talking about building new roads, I'm not even talking about keeping every stupid old logging road open. I'm simply advocating we not lose this one major road that provides reasonable access to so much good stuff.

email sent...hopefully it'll get fixed and make my plan to ski glacier peak a little easier!

Lets get this done! I've been waiting years for this road to open back up.

email sent.

email sent. Be aware that the model letter at Chainsaw's linked site has some flaws. I used it as a basis but modified it so that it's more grammatically correct. Nobody wants you to blindly send in the model letter and look like an idiot. I also added back-country skiing as one of the activities that the road provides access for.

Regarding: Suiattle River Road Project
WA FS ERFO 071-2023
Environmental Assessment

Dear Ms. Steele –

I am in support of Alternative B or at a very minimum, Alternative C for the Suiattle River Road. This road should be repaired to the Suiattle Trailhead to allow public access to public lands. The Suiattle River Road has historically served as access to 7 trailheads and 2 car-camp sites which are critical for hikers, backpackers, climbers, family car campers, kayakers, equestrians, pleasure-drivers, hunters, berry pickers, back-country skiers, photographers, mushroom pickers, fishermen and those seeking the simple enjoyment of being outdoors in a pristine wilderness area. As this area belongs to the public, providing public access should be a priority in the decision to repair/rebuild this road.

Page 3 of the EA identifies the Suiattle River Road as a “high need road” by The 2003 Forest-wide Roads Analysis for recreational purposes. With the loss of the White Chuck Road and trail in 2003, and the loss of the Suiattle River road beyond its current closure at milepost 12, the North Fork Sauk trail is becoming over-used by equestrians, hunters, climbers, and backpackers. The parking lot there is no longer sufficient and the degradation of backcountry camps are testament to the impact of the closure of the Suiattle River Road. If the Suiattle River Road is not repaired/rebuilt, continued heavy use of the North Fork Sauk trail will degrade the wilderness experience that people hope to enjoy when they enter Glacier Peak Wilderness.

While Alternative C does provide some access to 2 trailheads and one car campground, it does not include fixing the Downey Creek crossing, which is good for fish and the tribes. Therefore, it is less desirable than the repair to the Suiattle Trailhead. However, in light of current budget constraints, Alternative C would at least provide a starting point toward a full restoration/reconstruction of the road going forward. Alternative A would not only disallow access but, if in the future it were determined to reopen access, the costs to taxpayers would certainly be substantially greater. Therefore, for those two reasons, Alternative A should be the lowest scored option.

Please consider the views of the public in general going forward with this project. While I recognize that organized environmental groups will advocate for the shut-down of public lands to the public, the ‘greater good’ of our citizenry to have access to public lands should prevail in your decision process. Thank you for your consideration of this request as you deliberate the future of the Suiatlle River Road project.

Best Regards,

GoldMember - Thx; sent yours.
Chainsaw - thx for the heads up.
-MC

An important point to note: Funding for option B is in place.

There is no reason to consider option C because of a lack of funds. Option C has some big drawbacks.

The Pilchuck Audubon Society and NCCC are the two noisy groups pushing for option C because they know darned well it's not very feasible.

They object to the cutting down of trees to re-route the road as provided in option B but then out of the other side of their mouth they advocate building a new parking area at the proposed new road end which would necessitate cutting down a lot of trees. Furthermore, it's not possible to build a big parking area at the road end proposed in option C, there's just no room for it, so it would have to be built further back up the road another mile or so.

The existing parking lot at the end of the Suiattle road is huge and paved. Why abandon this and build another one? Doing so would have more negative environmental impact than simply restoring access.

Thanks for the support everyone!

Having provided assistance to a federal agency on multiple public comment processes, and also wanting to ski Glacier Peak one of these years (maybe even this one, but we've said that before...), don't just copy someone else's letter!
Yes, the public comments are tallied up, but nearly identical copies receive far less consideration than something original. You don't have to be eloquent (although avoiding typos and grammar errors certainly helps), but just write something in your own voice, in your own words (organized into complete sentences!), starting from scratch.

My chainsaw is bigger than all of yours, I'm a heli logger. Can I help.

Originally Posted by vdRONdripper

My chainsaw is bigger than all of yours, I'm a heli logger. Can I help.

You might be able to help tear down the unpermitted rebuilt fire lookout on the "top" of Green Mountain.

email sent

Alternative B email sent, with slightly stronger opinion..

Bump

Get in those comments in support of Alternative B

Public comment closes April 20. Act now

BUMP

If you want your opinion heard, take a few minutes to send an email today!

emailed the letter
love the PNW
hope to get back there soon

Thanks for the support!

One more day.

Even a very short "I am an outdoor recreationist and I support Option B - full restoration of the Suiattle road to the end" will be helpful.

just sent a simple but original letter in favor of B. Thx for the heads up Chainsaw

Last day to send a comment. It doesn't have to be fancy; please chime in with support for Option B.

wfl.suiattleriverroad@dot.gov

Just received this email:

Public Notice of Availability
of the
Suiattle Road Project

Amended Environmental Assessment


The Western Federal Lands Highway Division of the Federal Highway Administration, in partnership with the Mount Baker -Snoqualmie National Forest propose to repair flood washout sites on the Suiattle River Road, and have developed an Amended Environmental Assessment as a response to the comments raised during the March 2012 release of the Suiattle River Road Environmental Assessment. The Amended Environmental Assessment can be viewed or obtained online at:

http://www.wfl.fhwa.dot.gov/projects/wa/suiattle/ and http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/mbs/suiattlerd26.

From this date you will have the opportunity to review and comment on the Suiattle River Road Amended Environmental Assessment. The comment period will end September 10, 2012.

Comments may be sent by email to wfl.suiattleriverroad@dot.gov or by mail to the address below postmarked by September 10, 2012.

From what i read, that sounds like a win.

Good move, stoked.

Looks like they'll take two or three years to get the repair work done.