The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is seeking approval from the National Park Service (NPS) to install 12 monitoring stations—eight within Wilderness—in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington for detecting lahars. Your help is needed by July 9 to protect Mount Rainier from years of unwarranted helicopter incursions and unnecessary permanent structures that will mar this spectacular Wilderness.

USGS proposes in its faulty Lahar Detection System Environmental Assessment (EA) to develop eight new monitoring stations within the Mt. Rainier Wilderness for seismic and GPS monitoring and for continuous volcanic gas monitoring. USGS intends to use these stations for decades and has no end date for them. But the stations are the type of structures and installations prohibited by the 1964 Wilderness Act. And helicopter flights and landings would be used to service the stations for decades and probably in perpetuity, another violation of the Wilderness Act.

The permanent installations and regular helicopter traffic would degrade the wilderness conditions in the Mount Rainier Wilderness and the experiences of those who visit. Are we willing to sacrifice the Mt. Rainier Wilderness to permanent structures and interminable helicopter traffic for a bit more seismic information? The Wilderness Act says no, and those who support the Act and the Mount Rainier Wilderness should, too.

The EA acknowledges that the lahar monitoring stations and aircraft landings are inconsistent with preserving wilderness character. And, even if the equipment could detect an imminent eruption of Mount Rainier, there is no plan laid out on if or how wilderness visitors would be notified. 

The EA fails in other ways too. It should have fully considered alternatives, such as the use of packable, temporary equipment, as well as sites outside of the Wilderness.

The NPS has unfortunately abdicated its responsibility to preserve the wilderness character of the Mount Rainier Wilderness by simply dismissing the impacts to Wilderness as acceptable since the project is for scientific research. This is certainly an improper reading of the 1964 Wilderness Act, and would also seemingly allow almost anything in Wilderness if done as part of some scientific research.

Wilderness Watch supports scientific research in Wilderness that does not degrade wilderness conditions or violate the 1964 Wilderness Act. Unfortunately, the proposed project does both.

Please go to the NPS planning website listed below to submit your public comment. Feel free to copy and paste our suggested talking points, but please use your own words where possible.

https://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm.cfm?documentID=112776

• The National Park Service (NPS) must protect the Mount Rainier Wilderness by rejecting the USGS request and adopting the "No Action Alternative" for the Lahar Detection System Environmental Assessment (EA).
• Years of unwarranted helicopter incursions and unnecessary permanent structures would degrade the wilderness conditions in the spectacular Mount Rainier Wilderness and the experiences of those who visit. The EA acknowledges that the lahar monitoring stations and aircraft landing are inconsistent with preserving wilderness character.
• The NPS is charged with preserving the Wilderness, not mitigating damage from actions approved or taken by the NPS. This speaks to the need to find alternatives outside of Wilderness and for the NPS to use restraint and follow the letter and spirit of the law in Wilderness.
• Full consideration should have been given to alternatives that would not violate the Wilderness Act—such as the use of portable, temporary equipment, as well as sites outside of the Wilderness. The EA should have also looked at removing existing monitoring sites in the Wilderness.
• The seismic, GPS, and continuous volcanic gas monitoring are the type of structures and installations prohibited by the 1964 Wilderness Act. Helicopter flights and landings used to service the stations for decades and probably in perpetuity are another violation of the Wilderness Act.
• Both the Wilderness Act and NPS policies “encourage wilderness users to prepare for, and encounter the wilderness on its own terms, striving to provide ‘primitive and unconfined’ recreation opportunities, complete with the risks that arise from wildlife, weather conditions, etc. NPS wilderness management policies do not support the provision of facilities in wilderness specifically to eliminate these risks.” Aside from this, there is no indication in the EA that a volcanic warning system will actually increase the safety of persons within the Wilderness. Even if the newly installed equipment detected an imminent eruption of Mount Rainier, the EA does not disclose a plan for contacting wilderness visitors or explain how that might be accomplished.
• I support scientific research in Wilderness that does not degrade wilderness conditions or violate the 1964 Wilderness Act, but the proposed project does both. NPS cannot abdicate its responsibility to preserve the wilderness character of the Mount Rainier Wilderness by simply dismissing the impacts to Wilderness as acceptable since the project is for scientific research. This is an improper reading of the Wilderness Act, and would also seemingly allow almost anything in Wilderness if done for scientific research.

Help us protect Mount Rainier and Wilderness around the country. All first-time donations matched by a generous donor in Alaska!

Photo: Jim Culp via Flickr 

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