Pratt River Environmental Assessment Released

The Snoqualmie Ranger District, just outside of North Bend, boasts a tremendously beautiful valley--the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River.  In the past, illegal dumping, shooting and meth production have bedeviled this lovely area.  But thanks to the efforts of many organizations, the Middle Fork is being revived as a spectacular, close-in hiking, equestrian and mountain biking opportunity.  Congressman Reichert of the 8th Congressional District, has even proposed expanding the Alpine Lakes Wilderness into parts of the Middle Fork Valley, legislation that WTA is pleased to support.  Now, a long-neglected trail in the valley may be revived.

Hiking the Pratt River Trail currently requires a frequently-dangerous ford of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie.  An old trail leading from the Middle Fork Trail to the Pratt--eliminating the ford--is so heavily brushed in as to be unhikeable.  Much of the trail can still be found.  But for the majority of hikers, reaching the Pratt River Trail is out of the question, due to the sheer challenge of brush-hiking and navigation.  The Snoqualmie Ranger District is conducting an Environmental Assessment (EA) to gather gather public input and analyze the impacts of rebuilding and partially relocating the Lower Pratt River Trail, which leads from the Middle Fork Trail to the confluence of the Pratt and the Middle Fork, where the main Pratt River Trail connects. 

The District would like to construct the trail to hiker and horse standards, pulling the route up from the river so that it largely skirts the riparian zone of the Middle Fork.  Some small-scale clearing of brush would take place, but old growth would not be affected.  WTA has been a supporter of reviving this trail, and from our read of the EA, it appears that the District has taken pains to plan the reroute and reconstruction in a way that does not harm the environment of the valley.

For more information on the proposal and how to comment, click on the link above.  If you have any questions or thoughts about Lower Pratt River relocation and reconstruction, please don't hesitate to share them with us.  You can contact me at jonathan@wta.org.