Mt. Si's New Haircut Sucks

Logging operators with a sense for PR understand you want to hide the ugliness and destruction that is a clear cut from the most accessible view points. You'd think this applies to Mt. Si, the most visible and the first mountain you see heading east from the city on I-90.

We were baffled to discover that the extremely visible ridge running north from Mt. Si is sporting two horrendous clear cuts, visible to every commuter and resident of the Snoqualmie Valley. While logging has its place in our regional economy, in recent years the understanding that clear cutting is bad for almost every aspect of the community--with the exception of the few who profit from it--has become increasingly understood, through feedback delivered in the form of the huge financial toll of winter flooding.

Good science is increasingly supporting the notion that clear cutting causes flooding because it reduces a slope's ability to maintain its integrity (i.e, through soil erosion), in addition to the toll on fish runs and the larger environmental impact. See the Cowlitz River and Chehalis every December if you need a better visual.

Mt. Si’s clearcuts should be an insult to the property owners living in its shadow. While people are living in the valley, a handful of business minds are jeopardizing the larger community’s safety and property value so they can cheaply harvest something that doesn’t replenish itself for generations. We realize logging isn’t going away, but so close to an increasingly populated suburban sprawl is a potential recipe for disaster. Not to mention we just don’t like clear cutting’s ugly face. So there.