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Visitor center at volcano to close

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. – The Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center near this southwest Washington volcano will close permanently on Nov. 5, Gifford Pinchot National Forest officials said Friday.

The closure is designed to “meet the goal of delivering visitor services across the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument,” according to a news release.

In addition, the Forest Service will transfer its Mount St. Helens Visitor Center at Silver Lake to the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. Gifford Pinchot officials said that transfer would be the culmination of a “more than six-year partnership between the two agencies.”

Coldwater Ridge and the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center at Silver Lake are two of five Mount St. Helens visitor centers along State Route 504 leading into the National Volcanic Monument.

“The cost of operation and maintenance of these facilities and services continues to increase,” monument manager Tom Mulder said. “We have successfully partnered with Washington State Parks and Recreation, ensuring that visitors enjoy the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center at Silver Lake, and we have refocused our visitor center resources on Johnston Ridge Observatory.”

Johnston Ridge Observatory, the closest viewpoint, lies five miles north of the volcano’s crater. It is named for geologist David Johnston, who died there in the massive May 18, 1980, blast. That eruption blew 1,300 feet off the top of the peak and killed 57 people.

Coldwater Ridge is the next closest visitor center, about 8 1/2 miles away.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., responded to the news by saying it’s time to look at transferring the monument to the national park system.

“This plan shows that the Forest Service is not taking its responsibility to protect our natural heritage at Mount St. Helens seriously,” Cantwell said in a statement. “We need a real plan to improve opportunities for visitors, not cut them back. It’s time we looked at transferring Mount St. Helens from the Forest Service to the Park Service.”