*Adapted from The
Olympian, March 2, 2000: Mount St. Helens Visitor Center to close
*
The Mount St. Helens Visitor Center at Silver Lake, visited by a half million people annually, is indefinitely closed due to a budget shortfall, the U.S. Forest Service announced Wednesday, March 1. The decision to shut down the interpretive center comes as preparations continue for the 20th anniversary of the volcano's May 18, 1980, eruption.
The Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument has been one of the largest cash cows in the country under the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program. But fees collected last year, from $8 entrance passes for adults to one-time $15 climbing permits, weren't enough to sustain the national monument's three visitor centers this year. Total fee revenue slipped to $1.7 million, down from $2.3 million in 1998. Tom Knappenberger, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest spokesman, attributed the downturn to a wet and cloudy summer that caused low visitation and increased use of the National Park's Golden Passport discount program, which allows visitors to pay a one-time fee in return for access to all national parks and monuments.
The southwest Washington monument also has seen its share of taxpayer money dwindle. The monument received $750,000 from Congress last year, compared with $2.7 million in 1994, Knappenberger said. "We've been scraping for some time, at every corner, to see if we could keep these centers open and we haven't been able to do it," Knappenberger said.
The Silver Lake center's future is uncertain, as the Forest Center is looking to privatize operations, possibly through special-use permits and concessionaires, Knappenberger said.
Construction of the center was completed in 1987, with total facility costs at $7.1 million including the realignment of state Route 504.