[cartman]

[Snowbrushy]

Obliterate it from Green TH. The backpacker in me see's a future 50 Miler there. It's a part of the Leave no Trace philosophy. Obliterate is a FS term which most day trippers and weekend warriors can't imagine. Obliterate the entire road from Green for the future backpackers. Obliterate.

[JimK]

Thank you to all folks who sent in comments favoring Alternative B.

[Kim Brown]

I'm in favor of Alternative B

[Snowbrushy]

Kim, you study this stuff. What was the original, historical intent of this road? Was it for fire suppression? We have other ways to do that now. I hope that you get the whole road returned, but not for why you may think. Now we still have some skin in the game to negotiate for saving the Green Mountain lookout on appeal. It could be a win/win outcome.

[Kim Brown]

You know more than I do then! Last I heard they're doing something with a legislative mechanism,not an appeal. But at any rate; what does one have to do with the other regarding the suit? ( it could be that the original funding for GMLO repair was tied to access -no road, no funding - that happens sometimes; but that's not the issue now). From what I have read in various autobiographies & history books - and the timeline (see link below), the historical purpose of the road was for recreation (CCC built Buck Cr campground in 1933), fire suppression (it was extremely dry the first half of the 1900s) and resource management. Fire lookout Andy Holland received routine backpacking visitors at Miner's Ridge is 1929, so recreation there isn't novel. Tribal rights are at issue as well. Recreation is a part of the USFS Mission Statement - recreation is now on the front burner of management; they didn't do this on a whim to make people angry - they did it because the public demanded management to better serve recreation than it had done in the past. Because of that demand, recreation is now among the first points on that Mission Statement.. More on the history of the road.

[Snowbrushy]

Thank you for the history. Obviously in the beginning there was just a trail there instead of a vehicle road. Why not again? Prehistoric and Historic Before a road existed, the Suiattle River drainage was a cross-mountain range travel route for native peoples who used both canoe and trail on their passage up what is today known as the Suiattle River.

[Kim Brown]

I'm not a native peoples living hundreds of years ago. I'm a regular ole person wanting to see Downey Creek, Sulphur Mtn, etc. several times a year because it's an awesome place. We don't really need more lowland river walks if it means nixing the Suiattle Road. If I want a lowland hike with mature trees, I have always enjoyed Downey Cr and Milk Cr. But there are others in the area, too; Boulder River, Old Sauk, Whitechuck Bench, Beaver Lake - all of which are accessble year 'round. N Fk Sauk is often out of reach due to road washouts, but when it's up and running, I like that as well.

[Snowbrushy]

[Kim Brown]

The whole damn planet was just a bunch of trails in yon days of yore, why not remove highway 530, I-5, and road leading there from Shoreline and Wallingford? I just want to hike the trails on weekends when I feel like it, without huge amounts of time off from work. The road as it was, got me to real old growth trails, and high mountain meadows multiple times per year.

[Schroder]

Take your argument over to this thread where it belongs.