Gold Basin campground faces slide threat, with ‘potential for loss of life’ (MtBaker-Snoqualmie NF)

[uppityperson]

I posted this in GD then realized it would be better in WA since we are most likely to go there. This is really creepy.

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023555183_mudslidecampgroundxml.html

TIMES WATCHDOG: Gold Basin Campground, the largest in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, is at risk of a devastating landslide, sitting at the base of a hill with eerie similarities to the one near Oso that collapsed in March in the same river basin.

Gold Basin Campground is the largest in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, able to hold more than 800 campers on grounds that include an amphitheater, playfield, salmon-fry viewing area and half-mile boardwalk.

The campground — scheduled to open for the season Thursday — is also at risk of a devastating landslide, sitting at the base of a hill with eerie similarities to the Steelhead Haven slope that collapsed in March, about 15 miles away.

Slides have been documented at Gold Basin hill going back to the 1940s. Since 1954 there have been proposals to either move or close Gold Basin Campground, including one in the last few years to eliminate a portion of the site closest to the river, according to records obtained by The Seattle Times. But the U.S. Forest Service, which owns the campground and the surrounding land, has refused to go along.

“Because this campground is too popular,” a manager with the state’s Recreation and Conservation Office wrote in an internal email last month, about two weeks after the mudslide at Steelhead Haven....(much more 2 link)

Gold Basin sits at a low bend of the South Fork of the Stillaguamish River across from a hill that rises about 700 feet and has a history of slides going back decades.

[uppityperson]

1. UPDATE, keeping it closed for now

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023600830_campgroundxml.html

(clip)

“Opening the campground will be delayed until the safety evaluation is complete,” Forbes said.

The Gold Basin hill has a lengthy history of landslides, and scientists reviewing the area have at times recommended shuttering all or part of the campground for good. Tracy Drury, an environmental engineer hired by the Stillaguamish Tribe, wrote in a 2001 report that slides on the hill “can be enormous in size,” with run-out distances approaching half a mile.

“If this occurred when the campground is heavily occupied, the potential for loss of life and property would be high,” Drury wrote. The facility can host more than 800 campers at a time.

Despite the history of warnings, the Forest Service had balked at suggestions that the campground be relocated or closed. Forbes previously noted that the agency has invested heavily in the campground’s facilities — which include an amphitheater, playfield and half-mile boardwalk — and that the site’s popularity translates into revenue for the federal government. Forbes said last week that he hadn’t seen a compelling reason to justify getting rid of the campground.....