Mt St Helens Institute

General discussions on hiking in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest
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K.Wagner
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Mt St Helens Institute

Post by K.Wagner » August 5th, 2017, 6:35 am

Just a general question.......

Has anyone ever encountered any volunteers from MSHI, while hiking around Mt St Helens? (either as a trail crew, or as volunteer rangers)

Has anyone ever seen evidence of "improvements" that might have been done by MSHI volunteers?

Has anyone ever seen a MSHI led youth group?
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kepPNW
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Re: Mt St Helens Institute

Post by kepPNW » August 5th, 2017, 8:20 am

Twice I've run into Andy (volunteering as "volcano steward"), and quite enjoyed his company, along the rim. Most recently, last Monday. He's told me he climbs weekly, and often spends more than eight hours up there. Super nice guy.
  • Image
    July 31, 2017
Peder and I also witnessed a caravan of rich folks being ferried down the Truman Trail from Windy Ridge, before they were escorted into the crater. Definitely not a youth group. Poor dears couldn't walk the extra two miles, apparently.

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K.Wagner
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Re: Mt St Helens Institute

Post by K.Wagner » August 5th, 2017, 8:56 am

Yes, I have seen those caravans also. MSHI is still running vehicles out there for the crater tour, even though the 99 Road is closed to the rest of us less fortunate folk.
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Webfoot
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Re: Mt St Helens Institute

Post by Webfoot » August 5th, 2017, 11:33 am

kepPNW wrote:Poor dears couldn't walk the extra two miles, apparently.
Sadly, I can't. I'm going to have to come up with the $$$ if I ever want to see that area in person.

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jdemott
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Re: Mt St Helens Institute

Post by jdemott » August 5th, 2017, 12:34 pm

This thread got me curious, so I went to the website for the Mount St Helens Institute. The website has a link to their annual report which lists many of the volunteer activities they conduct. It looks like the biggest activities are providing volunteer staffing at the visitor centers and offering youth education about the volcano, much of it in classroom. The annual report states they do trail maintenance in partnership with Washington Trails Association (no details about what the partnership entails) and states they were responsible for the Devils Elbow bypass. I was out at Mt St Helens last week and met a WTA trail crew who mentioned they had worked on the bypass, but I guess that's not inconsistent if it was a partnership project.

The hikes into the crater are super expensive, $675, so it looks like those fees are a big fund raiser for them. The hikes are still fairly strenuous even with the privileged access--10-12 hours, 3000 feet EG.

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K.Wagner
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Re: Mt St Helens Institute

Post by K.Wagner » August 5th, 2017, 7:43 pm

The MSHI website is the reason I started the thread. Guess I am trying to get some 1st hand verification of their statements.
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Water
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Re: Mt St Helens Institute

Post by Water » August 6th, 2017, 5:42 pm

i can only provide frothy indignation.

What would you like to know about the org? The (relatively) new exec director would meet and talk with you about their programs. They actually clarified some of the verbiage to be more transparent about the permit fees in response to mine (and others of course) displeasure with it making it sound like most of the money they harvest from the public goes back into maintaining the trail (patently false). Anyways, Ray, is a nice guy. And frankly he is only operating within the bounds that the forest service sets for him. I can't and won't ever expect him or anyone else in a leadership position at MSHI to advocate for a reduction in the access and 'opportunities' they have working with the FS.

The real person to go at/after/discuss this is Ted...i'll have to get the business card. The FS is the one that perpetrates the travesty that MSHI gets away with.
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Don Nelsen
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Re: Mt St Helens Institute

Post by Don Nelsen » August 6th, 2017, 5:59 pm

I can add that I rode my bike the first 10 1/2 miles of the 99 road a couple of weeks ago and from what I saw there is no reason for the closure except to make this private park more private for the well-healed guests of the MSHI. The 99 road is NOT any worse than the even more traveled 25 road and many others as well. There are a few spots that have cracks and slumps in the pavement but those were there last year and the year before, etc. Only one spot had a crack wide enough to call it a problem and that could be fixed with the usual "Band-Aid" approach of shoveling a little asphalt in as has been done for years. There is some evidence of a few new asphalt patches and evidence of a few winter deadfalls having been moved out of the roadway but that's it. I believe the public is being excluded in order to make this a private area for the MSHI. The excuse that the road gets a lot of traffic and the public needs to be off of it until "repairs" are made is completely bogus. If that were so, nearly every road in the county would be closed.

My humble opinion,

dn
Last edited by Don Nelsen on August 6th, 2017, 7:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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K.Wagner
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Re: Mt St Helens Institute

Post by K.Wagner » August 6th, 2017, 6:04 pm

Water,

Thanks for the input. I think that we are, if not on the same page, at least we are in the same chapter. I will look at the MSHI site closer and see if I can mine a couple of names.
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Re: Mt St Helens Institute

Post by Water » August 6th, 2017, 7:33 pm

http://www.thenewstribune.com/outdoors/ ... 70707.html

Tedd Huffman was the name I was looking for.

I can speak at length about the project process to open the crater view climb. Basically the FS did all the leg work, Environment impact etc, had it open to a public comment period. I submitted comments and asked to be put on the working group, they messed that up and said they didn't get emails from me, and had sent ones they didn't. Then they decided it was an administrative process that didn't require public input, but that it could be given.

The reason I wished to comment is because the way the project was phrased was such that mshi could maintain exclusive crater view climb access in perpetuity. It was so vague and open ended.
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