Mt. Fitzherbert
News Reports
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Could Mount St. Helens turn into national park?
2007-Nov-27 12:50
from The Seattle Times
The idea of turning Mount St. Helens into Washington's fourth national park isn't dead yet.
U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, who remains noncommittal about the idea, recently agreed with Democratic U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell to form an advisory committee to look into it. Because the 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument is within Baird's congressional district, his acquiescence is a political necessity if it were to be turned into a national park.
"It's worth exploring what the pros and cons would be," Baird, a Democrat, said Monday.
On a preliminary ledger sheet, opponents worry the biggest "con" would be a curtailment of access to hunters, fishermen and snowmobilers with the loss of U.S. Forest Service oversight. The biggest "pro" would be money.