Protecting Headwaters on Mt. Hood

Proposed mountain bike routes threaten further erosion to an already fragile landscape.NEDC and other local environmental groups are working hard to protect Mt. Hood’s fragile alpine habitat where the Forest Service has failed to ensure such protections and continues to fail to implement effective restoration.  

Crag Law Center filed suit on Thursday, May 16 on behalf of Bark, Friends of Mount Hood, NEDC and The Sierra Club.  The suit challenges the Forest Service’s approval of Timberline’s Master Development Plan, modified to provide for the construction of 17 miles of downhill bike routes with multiple stream crossings.  The development would, among other things, increase sediment loads to headwaters of trout and salmon habitat, disturb wildlife that depends on high alpine meadows, and disrupt quiet summertime recreation near the Lodge such as hiking and wildflower viewing.  You can find more background information on Crag’s site.

Development would add sediment to Still Creek.