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Home / Washington Business - May/June 2006 / Forest Learning Center |
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Forest Learning Center |
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Written On: May/June 2006 |
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Written By: by Shawn Sullivan |
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Thirty-three miles east of Castle Rock, up a winding stretch of Highway 504, Weyerhaeuser’s Charles W. Bingham Forest Learning Center is the last free stop before entering the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. It began as a proposed rest area for the Washington State Department of Transportation, but ended up as one of the best environmental educational resources in the nation.
"The state had a grant to build a new highway that traveled across 11 miles of Weyerhaeuser land," Forest Learning Center Director Dick Ford said. "We were interested in the partnership, and started working with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to build the center."
In one of the largest land transactions made on Mt. St. Helens since the eruption, Weyerhaeuser and the Elk Foundation also purchased a large piece of the valley within the blast zone to manage an elk area for the state.
"Rocky Mountain built viewing areas around the center and provided scopes to give visitors the chance to watch the elk," Ford said. Elk watching is one of the reasons the center receives more than 250,000 visitors every year. "That — and we are free," Ford said. "A lot of our repeat visitors come back because we are free." Free parking at a national monument is a driving factor that Weyerhaeuser will not give up anytime soon.
Mt. St. Helens observers can take advantage of the center's volcano themed playground, one of several picnic benches, or utilize one of several telescopes to watch elk. The center also has a small gift shop that sells items similar to those found at fee-charging sites at the monument.
Another reason people keep coming back is the cleanliness of the facilities and the friendliness of the staff. In 2000, the center received an award for being the second best rest area in the United States, and most staff members volunteer their time because of their personal love of the volcano.
In order to ensure the center pleases every person who visits, it provides a comment card to everyone passing through its doors. "We are the only ones at Mt. St. Helens to give visitors the chance to provide comments — and they are almost always positive," Ford said.
Most of the comments commend the center on being clean and nice to guests, but the strongest comments always include "a significant amount of appreciation for the signs we put on the road," Ford said.
Weyerhaeuser places signs with the date the company planted the trees, and the date when the company will harvest them, along highways and roads adjacent to its tree farms. The signs are a part of Weyerhaeuser's education of the public on its tree-farming practices.
"Before people know that we planted all of the trees in the area, they'd say 'isn't it great to see what nature has done,'" Ford said. "They are surprised when they enter the center and discover that we planted almost all of the trees growing in the area." A huge disparity exists between the natural recovery zone and Weyerhaeuser's tree farms. Sections of the monument designated for natural recovery will take another 75 years before being able to sustain medium- to large-sized vegetation like conifers.
"The center is designed to educate people on two very important things," Ford said. "First, private forests are managed for sustainability, and second, we are involved with science-based management and have the ability to change as new environmental information comes available."
Through Mt. St. Helens, Weyerhaeuser learned the necessity of maintaining a healthy environment for every life form in its farms — something expressed in detail at the center. Shortly after the eruption, Weyerhaeuser hired several scientists to study the area prior to planting trees. "We tested the area and learned we had to dig through the ash in order for regeneration to occur," Ford said. Ford was in charge of Weyerhaeuser's Mt. St. Helens tree farm when the volcano erupted in 1981. "We started removing ash and felled trees at the safest part and worked towards the mountain," Ford said. "We had to wait until the salvage operation was completed before we began planting trees."
The center uses a variety of multimedia and interactive exhibits to educate people on forest and environmental sustainability.
"The exhibit starts before the eruption and takes people through the destruction of the blast through the rebuilding and harvesting," Ford said. "We want people to see how we are more interested in the protection of other resources than our trees." The center elaborates on how a tree's survival depends on the sustainability of the surrounding environment.
The tour ends with a master plan for the future of Washington's forests. "We end with a commitment that we will be caring for the environment for the next 100 years," Ford said.
In recent years, several schools have started visiting the center each year. "Last year, more than 100 schools visited the center to receive our curriculum on environmental sustainability," Ford said. The Forest Learning Center also made the curriculum available to any school that requests it. "We developed a class that relies on all the senses," Ford said. "We stay away from just reading, we want students to touch smell and feel what it means to keep something for the future."
The center also donates a considerable amount of forests products to Habitat for Humanity. "Part of our commitment to environmental protection includes a $1 million donation from within the blast zone to Habitat for Humanity as a benefit to the human habitat," Ford said.
The center operates on a seasonal basis, typically from mid-May until the middle of October — depending on the beginning of snow season. It opens at 10 a.m. and is staffed by more than 50 volunteers.
Weyerhaeuser completely remodeled the Charles W. Bingham Forest Learning Center less than six years ago and plans to sustain it as effectively as their tree farms. "We want people to know that our company has been around for more than 100 years," Ford said. "We want people to know that we also plan to be here for the next 100."
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