a scenario where NF-2870 washes out and then is never repaired
Yes, this is something the FS is likely to do. They have ignored the Tyler boulders for months and would prefer to do nothing to maintain the roads in the upper drainage. I've spoken with two different roads people with ONF; both talked in double-speak and the road hazards remain.
I believe it was sometime in late 2021 and the ONF floated a brief abstract for public input on closing the upper Dungeness. Perhaps others can remember the specifics.
The abandonment of the Dungeness began quite some time ago when they abandoned the East Crossing campground, rather than repair it, and have slowly been pulling back access as the roads decay. A reminder of the Lower Dungeness (the old one) trailhead and parking area is but one example. Obviously the loss of federal timber dollars has had a huge impact on this area but that has been flogged endlessly in other threads.
It never happens overnight but rather over a few decades. I'm sure the same is going on in most every national forest and district.
Sleds and St. Helens have gone together since they first brought snowmobiles to the PNW. Remember, the original summit was on private land (weyerhaeuser) and the mountain and Spirit Lake was surrounded with private holdings.
From "Burlington Northern and the Legacy of Mount St. Helens" in The Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 74 (3): 116–123
"Burlington Northern, as co-owner of Mount St. Helens with the federal government, was especially concerned about the future of the peak, [...] Extending from the lip of the crater down the slopes opposite the blast area, arcing 90 degrees from due south to due west, lay the remainder of the square mile that originally had formed part of the [Northern Pacific Railroad's 1864] land grant. Clearly, this portion of the mountain had no commercial use but great value as the nucleus of the national park or monument already proposed by environmental groups. In recognition of the popularity of these proposals, Burlington Northern in 1982 restored the area to the federal government."
From "REPORT:Eruptions of Mount St. Helens: Past, Present, and Future" a U.S. Geological Survey Special Interest Publication, 1990. Robert I. Tilling, Lyn Topinka, and Donald A. Swanson
"Ironically, in 1980 the section of land containing the summit crater was owned by the Burlington Northern Railroad; it has since been acquired by USFS by land exchanges."
A lifetime of anecdotes heard and read from veterans of B-N and Weyerhauser indicate many felt something akin to ownership, even if it was a bit murky on paper.
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