Spirit Lake reflects its surrounding hills as seen from Forest Road 99 in May 2015.
A newly formed committee tasked with creating a framework for the long-term management of the Spirit Lake tunnel and Toutle River will hold its first public meetings June 21-22 in Kelso.
The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens loaded Spirit Lake with volcanic debris and choked it with downed timber to the point that the natural outflow of the lake was blocked off. In order to prevent a catastrophic failure of that natural dam, a 1.5 mile tunnel was constructed in order to provide an outlet for the lake water. An uncontrolled discharge of the lake water would have put at least 50,000 area residents downriver in harm's way.
The U.S. Forest Service recently tasked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to consider the priorities of the federal government, state government, tribes, local authorities and other entities as they try to develop a long-term plan for managing the waterways.
The 10-member committee will meet on June 21 at the Red Lion Conference Center, 510 Kelso Drive, Kelso. Tuesday’s meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. and run through 4:30 p.m. An agenda for the meeting can be found online at http://dels.nas.edu/Upcoming-Event/Meeting-Long-term-Management/DELS-BESR-15-03/8692. A field trip will be held on June 22.
To register, contact Courtney Gibbs via email at cgibbs@nas.edu.
