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Schroder
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PostSun May 31, 2015 10:36 am 
I've read via a subscription service that this will be a permanent closure of the campground at South Whidbey State Park and the park will become day-use only, rather than cut down all the affected trees. Diseased trees force closure of campground on Whidbey Island

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PostSun May 31, 2015 11:46 am 
exactly what ONP did at July Creek CG years ago - just mentioned in another thread this morning. solution: cut the trees down. plant new trees.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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Slugman
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PostSun May 31, 2015 11:56 am 
Link says closed for this season. Can't just cut all the trees down, need to find the sick ones, not just devastate everything for no reason. No one wants to camp in a giant clear cut.

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NacMacFeegle
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PostSun May 31, 2015 2:05 pm 
Personally I wouldn't have a problem camping in a campground full of "dangerous" trees as long as there wasn't a big storm in the forecast. However, if its a choice between shutting a campground down and chopping down all the trees I'd rather it was shut down; no one wants to camp in a clearcut!

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PostSun May 31, 2015 4:24 pm 
It not a matter of people having a problem camping there. If a tree falls and kills someone they get sued for $100 million.

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Schroder
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PostSun May 31, 2015 5:51 pm 
Quote:
The days of overnight camping at South Whidbey State Park are likely over for good. Virginia Painter, spokeswoman for the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, confirmed Tuesday that a site plan to be conducted later this year will specifically examine how to transition the campgrounds to a day-use facility only.

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Kim Brown
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PostSun May 31, 2015 5:57 pm 
The closed Rockport SP to camping for the same reason; toppling trees. I wonder how that giant cedar at campsite #12 is doing at Mineral Creek campground on the Mid Fk Cascade River Road - it was leaning precariously a decade ago (or more).

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PostSun May 31, 2015 6:19 pm 
MyFootHurts wrote:
It not a matter of people having a problem camping there. If a tree falls and kills someone they get sued for $100 million.
Lets say 8 mil. Plenty of people who say they would camp there and don't care about the risk. Then when it happens to their family.........
Quote:
The decision came after park staff who were preparing for the upcoming season found several large Douglas fir trees in the campground had snapped and fallen across campsites.
Trivia: Leaving the campground open for day use isn't a safe solution either. Just politically expedient.

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treeswarper
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PostSun May 31, 2015 6:33 pm 
I guess trees only fall at night. biggrin.gif

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PostSun May 31, 2015 6:35 pm 
Drinky Crow wrote:
Link says closed for this season. Can't just cut all the trees down, need to find the sick ones, not just devastate everything for no reason. No one wants to camp in a giant clear cut.
That depends. There are types of root rot that will spread and infect trees that are nearby. A common treatment is to cut the infected trees and then go 50 feet out in either direction from an infected tree and hope you have gotten the infection under control Then a species that is more resistant is planted and your clearcut will be reforested in a few years. Meanwhile, sun lovers will have a place to camp.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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PostSun May 31, 2015 9:32 pm 
NacMacFeegle wrote:
Personally I wouldn't have a problem camping in a campground full of "dangerous" trees as long as there wasn't a big storm in the forecast. However, if its a choice between shutting a campground down and chopping down all the trees I'd rather it was shut down; no one wants to camp in a clearcut!
Nobody on this board would mind if you camped under a bunch of big, dead trees either. hockeygrin.gif

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PostSun May 31, 2015 9:35 pm 
treeswarper wrote:
That depends. There are types of root rot that will spread and infect trees that are nearby. A common treatment is to cut the infected trees and then go 50 feet out in either direction from an infected tree and hope you have gotten the infection under control Then a species that is more resistant is planted and your clearcut will be reforested in a few years. Meanwhile, sun lovers will have a place to camp.
One of the most beautiful campground barriers (to me anyway) is trained (hedged) salal. If cultivated, it puts on lots of growth year over year and chokes out weeds.

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PostMon Jun 01, 2015 11:09 am 
how many closed to overnight use campgrounds due to "hazard trees" have been listed on this page? Whidbey, July Creek, Kopachuck, Rockport.... any more? So are we replacing these overnight campgrounds with new overnight campgrounds for future generations? Or do we just continue to close overnight campgrounds as these issues arise? Not only a piss-poor management strategy, but it also defies all common sense and reality:
Billoutwest wrote:
Leaving the campground open for day use isn't a safe solution either. Just politically expedient.
treeswarper wrote:
I guess trees only fall at night.
Cut the goddam trees down. Reopen the campgrounds. Doug firs in Western Washington are 20 feet tall in ten years. Or put in spruce or something else (resistant to laminated root rot and the other nasties.) Simple. closing the campgrounds is almost as stupid as these idiots

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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treeswarper
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PostMon Jun 01, 2015 11:44 am 
I'm one of the people now who like to go places--state parks, and use them overnight. Now I see why I HAVE to make reservations and how it will be harder and harder to find a spot should these closures take place. I can also see where they don't want to be on TV (again) while some airhead TV reporter talks about "chopping' down the trees in a beloved campground and the folks who get the time on the TV are the neighbors who know nothing about trees but don't want their trees "chopped" down. I agree with cutting the trees. Sell them for timber first, if there is still a mill that can take them, and make a bit of money for the state treasury. Let the Big Leaf Maples fill in. There'll be shade in 10 years.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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NacMacFeegle
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PostMon Jun 01, 2015 1:57 pm 
It takes many hundreds of years for the trees in question to reach their current size. These are living things that were ancient when Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific Ocean. Even a sick tree may well stand for decades, and even after its demise remain to provide habitat for a vast wealth of wildlife They are impossible to replace, and after years of slaughtering virgin forests there are few such trees remaining to us. What right have we brief creatures to casually murder them so that we may occasionally camp nearby? A few closed campgrounds do us no harm; sure it decreases the camping capacity of some areas by a few dozen sites, but in the wider scheme of things this is but a drop in the bucket compared to the real culprit for campsite scarcity: overpopulation.

Read my hiking related stories and more at http://illuminationsfromtheattic.blogspot.com/
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