Local advocates seek solutions to overcrowding, degradation in Enchantments

LEAVENWORTH — Local advocacy for protection of the Enchantments is ramping up as the popular hiking destination struggles with severe overcrowding, visitor safety, and environmental degradation.

“It's such a fragile landscape, especially when we get up into the alpine. Those impacts last a really long time,” said advocate and retired Forest Service employee Suzanne Cable.

On Oct. 22, local partners gathered at the Snowy Owl Theater for a community discussion around the challenges facing the Wilderness area and what is being done to protect it, such as the formation of the Enchantments Alliance.

The alliance is a new collaborative bringing partners together to expand capacity and resources in order to protect the Enchantments for future generations. It aims to work alongside the Forest Service.

“The idea is to start bringing people together to have discussions,” said Jeff Ostenson, director at North 40 Productions. “There's a lot of things we can do to make the experience a lot better and the impacts a lot lower.”

Ostenson listed education and volunteer support as examples, such as providing a dumpster for trash collected on the trails. Ostenson is also currently working on a documentary film project to raise awareness about the situation, entitled “The Dis-Enchantments.”

Two days later, a handful of community members marched from Leavenworth City Hall to the Forest Service office, carrying a wheelbarrow full of trash collected at Colchuck Lake the day prior. The idea, demonstrators said, was to not only raise public awareness, but to encourage the Forest Service to make a decision on how to improve management.

“Anything that's implemented now to control the number of users is better than the current situation,” said Cable.

In an email to Ward Media, the agency said the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest is currently evaluating both short and long-term solutions to address visitor-use challenges, noting its work with local partners to evaluate options, update management strategies and seek funding.

The Forest Service said it was continuing to use public information, education and outreach efforts to inform the public about Wilderness Management and Leave No Trace Ethics. However, it recognized that traditional management strategies like visitor education and minor infrastructure modifications were no longer sufficient to protect wilderness character.

“As a heavily trafficked "backyard wilderness" located near the densely populated Puget Sound region, its fragile ecosystems have faced unprecedented strain,” the Forest Service said.

The Forest Service had a joint Alpine Lakes Wilderness Recreation Allocation Study conducted last year to create a data-driven framework for management decisions regarding the Enchantments.

Collecting 501 surveys from visitors across the Stuart Lake, Snow Lakes and Eightmile trails, the study found that 56.6% of respondents did not feel that limiting day-use was needed.

If land managers were to limit day-use, the study recommended prioritizing Stuart and Eightmile trailheads and using a combination of online advance reservations and a first-come, first-served permit system. The study also recommended pursuing the use of public transportation to access the trailheads, of which visitors were generally supportive.

The Forest Service said that it is currently exploring potential changes to current management, such as stricter access limits for both day and overnight use, as well as changes to trailhead access and parking.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media