Former director laments closure

COLDWATER RIDGE, Wash. – Just 14 years ago, a gleaming new visitor center here attracted dignitaries by the busload.

Heralded as a worthy gateway for Mount St. Helens, the $11.5 million Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center featured state-of-the-art displays just eight miles from the volcano’s crater.

Two members of Congress joined the chief of the U.S. Forest Service and hundreds of guests who crowded into the atrium, down the hall and out the front door. Cars jammed all 350 parking spaces, and they lined a half-mile of the newly reconstructed Spirit Lake Memorial Highway.

On an overcast day last week, Ted Stubblefield stood in the visitor center’s empty atrium and recalled those better times.

Stubblefield, who retired eight years ago as the supervisor of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and now lives in the Ridgefield area, served as master of ceremonies for the grand opening on May 15, 1993. He’s disappointed that the Forest Service, now strapped for cash, has chosen to permanently close the center after the last visitor leaves on Nov. 5.

“It’s such an incredible spot,” he said, gazing out toward the cloud-shrouded volcano. “I feel privileged and honored to have spent some time here.”

Stubblefield laments the closure as another symptom of a throwaway society, arguing that the state’s congressional delegation hasn’t done enough to protect the public’s investment. He contends that if it was important enough for Congress to establish the 110,000-acre national volcanic monument, as it did in 1982, it deserves a stable source of funding every year.

Once considered world-class, Coldwater is now showing signs of age.

Monument Manager Tom Mulder, who in April announced the Forest Service’s decision to permanently close Coldwater Ridge, said the agency intends to focus on a lower-key approach rather than “wowing people with infrastructure and visitor centers.”

With four other centers along the highway, agency officials contend that trying to keep Coldwater open in a tight budget amounts to throwing good money after bad.

“Between Johnston Ridge and Coldwater Ridge, we have more visitor center capacity than the public can reasonably use,” said Mark Rey, the undersecretary of agriculture who oversees the Forest Service.

Asked about Rey’s and Mulder’s comments, Stubblefield looked askance: What would you expect them to say?

“This isn’t a surprise that there are this many facilities up here,” he said. “It was planned that way.”