Since 2005, the Cascade Forest Conservancy, formerly known as the Gifford Pinchot Task Force, has advocated against a proposed mine in the Green River Basin, which runs through parts of Lewis and Skamania counties near Mount St. Helens.
This week, a decision by the Washington Department of Ecology further solidifies the conservation group’s “No Place for a Mine” campaign.
Ecology, for the first time in state history, designated three rivers, the Green, Napeequa and Cascade rivers, as “outstanding resource waters,” according to a news release from the Cascade Forest Conservancy.
For two years, a coalition of more than 240 tribes and local stakeholder organizations have supported the proposed designations, according to Tom Uniack of Washington Wild, a conservation advocacy group.
The decision grants waters of “exceptional ecological and recreational value” a high level of protection under the Clean Water Act of 1972, the news release states.
“Protecting Washington’s pristine waters benefits all Washingtonians and is critical for the state’s salmon and steelhead,” said Molly Whitney, Cascade Forest Conservancy’s executive director, in the release, later adding, “The Green River is a totally unique waterway because it flows from the foothills of Mount St. Helens through some of the only old-growth forests in the area to survive the 1980 eruption.”
Whitney said the designation will confer on the upper stretches and tributaries of the Green River and would bolster the organization's efforts to prevent mining in the area, “making it safer for wildlife and downstream communities by preventing new sources of pollution.”
The Green River, a main tributary of the North Fork Toutle River in the Cowlitz River Basin, has rebounded since the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, stated a separate, joint news release from Washington Wild. It is a state-designated gene bank for wild steelhead, “and provides excellent and important spawning habitat for endangered salmon,” the release said.
Its nearby recreational opportunities include the Green River Horse Camp, the Goat Mountain Trail and the Green River Trail.
To read more about the organization’s campaign, visit https://www.cascadeforest.org/our-work/mount-saint-helens-no-place-for-a-mine.
