Senators, experts propose bill for avalanche protection program

WASHINGTON – Avalanche fatalities are on the rise, and if the current trend continues, avalanches could surpass tornadoes as the nation’s most deadly natural hazard, David Hamre, avalanche expert for the Alaska Railroad, told a U.S. Senate panel Tuesday.

The government spends billions of dollars to contend with tornadoes – to repair damage, reimburse victims, forecast, warn, and build shelters – but spends relatively little on avalanches.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, joined with senators from other western states to propose a bill that could lead to more funding for avalanche forecasting and mitigation. The bill would establish a national avalanche protection program and authorize grants.

The bill, in its current form, does not specify how much the government should spend on avalanches or where the money should be directed. Stevens and Hamre testified in favor of the bill before a subcommittee of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Avalanches killed 143 people between 1996 and 2002, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Colorado, a beacon for backcountry skiers and snowboarders, used to lead the nation in avalanche deaths, followed by either Utah or Alaska. But Alaska, with 24 percent of the fatalities, surpassed Colorado during that six-year time and Montana overtook Utah. The Forest Service attributes the shift to a rise in snowmobile fatalities.

The vast majority of avalanche deaths occur on public lands, and of those, about 90 percent are on National Forest System lands. Six percent occur in National Parks.

In Alaska, many fatalities also occur on state land, although Turnagain Pass, the site of an enormous slide that killed six snowmobilers in 1999, is part of the Chugach National Forest.

Representatives of the Forest Service and the Park Service both proposed the avalanche program should be run by the Forest Service, rather than the Interior Department, as Stevens’ bill proposes. They also objected to administering new avalanche grants.

“At a time when we are trying to reduce (maintenance) backlogs .  .  . we cannot afford to take on the new funding responsibilities under this grants program,” testified Janet Snyder Matthews, an associate director of the National Park Service.

But Anchorage, Alaska avalanche expert Jill Fredston was encouraged by the possibility of new avalanche grants.

“After every accident, everybody says, ‘Oh jeez, why isn’t there an Alaska forecast center?” she said by telephone from her home. “If (money) is actually put toward the problem, we could do some serious things.”