by Chris Maykut, Water & Salmon Committee and Yakima Task Force
The 9th annual Bumping Lake Outing took place on a beautiful Fall weekend (September 14-15) along the shores and deep into the ancient forests of this far-flung destination past Goose Prairie, WA and next to the William O. Douglas Wilderness. Fifteen Sierra Club members, including many new-timers, congregated at the Nutley Cabin, a 1930’s-era log cabin that is on the National Register of Historical Places.
That cabin, along with 1000 acres of never-logged forest, a popular USFS campground, and trails, including USFS Trail No. 791, are all set to be inundated and destroyed by a massive, new billion-dollar dam project proposed for Yakima irrigators by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Washington State Department of Ecology. This effort has been strongly opposed by the Sierra Club and dozens of other conservation groups since it was most recently proposed in 2011.
Outings Leader, Phyllis Farrell of the South Sound Group, led a stalwart group on a 10-mile round trip hike to the “Mother Tree,” a 500-700 year-old tree at the south end of the lake on Saturday. Sunday’s outing was to an ancient and biodiverse grove that Justice William O. Douglas referred to as “The Sanctuary,” with a large diversity of very large east and west Cascades conifers. In between, all were regaled by David Ortman’s presentation of the detailed 100-year history of the dam fights at Bumping, and a lively guitar-led folk singing session deep into the evening. Elaine Packard gave a brief history of the Columbia Basin Project and the Office of Columbia River.
New ideas for effective opposition were hatched through conversations and idea-sharing. Some ideas included revamping the Bumping Lake website, engaging with experts on endangered bull trout and the loss of habitat, and commissioning an ancient forest expert to do a detailed study of what is at risk with this dam project. We also sent postcards to Senators Murray and Cantwell, Governor Inslee, and U.S. Representative Shrier to express our opposition to the dam project. Much take-home background material on the Yakima Integrated Plan was also distributed.
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