Flood of Federal Stimulus Funds could Materialize on National Forests Next Season

Hiking on the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie can be an exercise in perseverance.  Years of federal budget neglect, combined with our ever-seesawing Pacific Northwest weather have turned some of the finest hikes in Washington into endurance challenges.  But federal funds have been flowing into the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie from the economic stimulus bill passed earlier this year, as well as other federal sources.  Those dollars stand to benefit hikers by maintaining and repairing many of the Forest’s most popular trails.

The Mount Baker-Snoqualmie has queued up a very impressive list of trails that they’re going to address with federal funds this year.  Included in the projects that have already started or are about to begin are:

• Adding a footlog over Red Creek on the North Fork Sauk River Trail, as well as repairing washed-out sections uptrail,
• Repairing the White Chuck Bench Trail,
• Planning for repairs to the West Fork Foss River Trail,
• Completing work on the new bridge on the Ice Caves Trail,
• Maintaining the Skookum Flats this fall, and
• Conducting repairs on the Baker Lake Trail.
  

These are just the tip of the iceberg.  The Forest is focusing money on a number of other projects, many of which will be started this summer and completed next summer.

The most recent payouts from the stimulus program will hit the ground next summer.  Totaling about $1.25 million for the Mount Baker Snoqualmie, this round of stimulus monies were arranged into facilities and trail pots directed at specific Ranger Districts and geographical areas.  District Rangers and line staff have some discretion as to where those funds will be spent, but, based on conversations with Forest staff, we expect that many of the most important trails on the Forest will see some stimulus-funded work.  That said, this is a very recent development, so Mount Baker-Snoqualmie District Rangers and trails staff have not yet had time to drill down into the specific projects that will be funded in each area.

The challenge for land managers is to navigate planning for these projects in order to get them ready for execution in the next couple of seasons.  A rapid influx of funds to an agency that’s been starved means that a great deal of work needs to happen just to hit the ground running.  We’ll be tracking how these monies are being spent over the next two seasons. For a geographic breakdown on stimulus fund disbursements, go here.