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← Mission 05 · Spirit Lake outflow
MTJP CORPS · MORE THAN JUST PARKS ·05
Mission 05 · Gifford Pinchot National Forest, WA

Spirit Lake outflow

Gifford Pinchot National Forest

The agency files it as “Spirit Lake Outflow Safety Improvement Project”

Timing

The agency stopped taking comments on September 8. What you find still counts: it backs the formal objections from people who did comment, it goes to the lawyers on the fight, and it is the story.

The sentence we think is wrong

“the approximately 250-foot walk to the tunnel outlet requires crossing a waterfall stream where South Fork Coldwater Creek joins with tunnel outflow. A small trail bridge is in place”

The agency wrote that in its own document, under Section 1.2.2, Existing Spirit Lake Outflow Tunnel. Nobody has been out to check it. A dated photograph either backs it up or ends it.

How you settle it

Park at the small administrative lot off Highway 504 and walk the short path, about 250 feet, to the Spirit Lake tunnel outlet. Photograph the little footbridge over the falling stream where South Fork Coldwater Creek meets the tunnel flow. A photo showing the footbridge in place and its condition, or showing no bridge at that crossing, settles it.

The decision

The Gifford Pinchot National Forest has prepared a final environmental impact statement and draft record of decision for the Spirit Lake Outflow Safety Improvement Project. The project and a project-specific Northwest Forest Plan Amendment are subject to the pre-decisional objection process under 36 CFR 218, while programmatic forest plan amendments to the Gifford Pinchot Forest Plan are subject t

Read the whole thing, and write to the agency about it

How to record it so it counts

  1. 01Photograph the crossing from the road, then from upstream and from downstream.
  2. 02At a culvert, photograph the outlet from downstream so the drop from the pipe to the water shows. Put a pole or a person beside it for scale.
  3. 03Photograph the water: is it flowing, standing, or dry. Note the time.
  4. 04Photograph any fish, fish sign, or aquatic life you can see. Don’t enter the water to chase it.
  5. 05Write down what you saw and how the crossing looked to you.
What would count
  • The drop from the pipe to the water, with something for scale. A pipe left hanging above the water is one a fish cannot swim up, and that is a fact on its own.
  • Up and downstream, dated. Flow is the claim most often wrong.
All of it, with the phone settings, in the field guide
Are you going?

Say yes or no. It tells the next person whether anyone has this ground covered, and it is the only way we know a request was answered rather than just read. You can change your mind any time, and nobody follows up.

Join, then say you’re going

Nobody has answered yet

Before you go
  1. Public land only. Plenty of land inside a national forest or park boundary is privately owned, and that is not yours to walk on. A gate or a closure sign means stop. Check the rules for the specific place you are going, because they differ.
  2. Don’t touch survey stakes, flagging, equipment or anything a crew left. Photograph it; leave it.
  3. Don’t approach crews, contractors or agency staff about the project. Don’t interfere with any operation.
  4. Wildlife at a distance. No drones in wilderness or anywhere they’re prohibited. Stay off closed roads and trails.
  5. If you’re not sure, don’t. Weather, terrain, water, fire and people are your call, and yours alone.

More Than Just Parks doesn’t direct where you go or what you do. Terms.