Play video
Video Reports
Donating money
•Adna Grange No. 417: c/o Doris Lund, treasurer, 432 S.W. 19th St., Chehalis, WA 98532; call 360-748-8595 for more information.
•Baw-Faw Grange No. 34: c/o Ed Jones, 142 Jones Road, Curtis, WA 98538; call Ed and Norine Jones at 360-245-3247 for more information.
•Boistfort Valley Community Foundation at BVCF: c/o Lewis County Fire Dept. No. 13, P.O. Box 16, Curtis, WA 98538.
•Help 4 Hard Times: Call Anna or Paul Brown at 360-273-0790 or go to http://help4hardtimes.org.
•United Way of Lewis County: Call executive director Debbie Campbell at 360-748-8100 or mail to 450 N.W. Pacific Ave., Chehalis, WA 98532.
•The Washington State Farm Bureau has a relief fund for farmers in Thurston, Lewis, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties, as well as other flood-affected areas. To donate, call 800-331-3276. For more information, go to www.wsfb.com. To donate, mail checks, made payable to the bureau, to WFB, P.O. Box 8690, Lacey, WA 98509.
Donating food
•The Washington Army National Guard is collecting food through Monday. Lacey has a drop-off site at 8221 Martin Way S.E.
Donating time
•Lewis County Retired Senior Volunteer Program: Go to www.volunteer.ws and click on "Volunteer Now" to give information about when and how you want to help. If you don't have access to a computer, call the Salvation Army at 360-736-4339.
•Drywall, shoveling: People are sought who can install insulation and/or drywall and even mud. Call the command centers in Doty at 360-903-3789 or Boistfort Valley at 360-245-3207.
•The Volunteer Center of Lewis, Mason and Thurston Counties is coordinating a cleanup Jan. 21 at Rainbow Falls State Park in Chehalis.
FEMA individual and households aid
Grays Harbor County
•Registrations for aid: 3,214
•Total approved: 1,744
•Amount approved: $1,158,713.36
Lewis County
•Registrations for aid: 2,290
•Total approved: 1,755
•Amount approved: $8,907,644.02
Mason County
•Registrations for aid: 510
•Total approved: 366
•Amount approved: $859,948.06
Thurston County
•Registrations for aid: 260
•Total approved: 199
•Amount approved: $433,401.45
Crisis counseling for flood victims
To get help dealing with the aftermath of flooding and storm-related problems, call 800-850-8775.
These community mental-health crisis lines also are available for people seeking services and counseling:
•Lewis County: 800-559-6696
•Grays Harbor County: 800-685-6556
•Mason County: 800-627-2211
•Thurston County: 800-627-2211
Damage reporting in Mason County
The Mason County Department of Community Development asks that anyone whose property has sustained storm damage contact the county. Staff members can determine whether building or land-use/environmental permits are required for repairs.
The required permit-application fees may be reduced or waived until Feb. 1.
For more information, call 360-427-9670 or 360-275-4467, Ext. 207.
The Olympian
Clear-cutting, nature blamed for landslides
Logging officials defend practices
By John Dodge | The Olympian
The massive landslides that choked the upper Chehalis River Valley with floodwater and woody debris in early December were blamed on both Mother Nature and clear-cut logging at a spirited state Senate committee meeting Thursday.
Environmentalists and scientists argued that excessive logging on steep slopes triggered many of the landslides that swept through Southwest Washington in the midst of December's major storm.
"As a geologist, I see no surprises here," University of Washington professor David Montgomery told members of the Senate Natural Resources, Ocean & Recreation Committee.
"When you clear-cut potentially unstable slopes, you increase the risk of landslides up to tenfold," he said.
Timber industry officials defended logging practices in the Willapa and Chehalis River basins, blaming the mass wasting of soil and trees on a freakish amount of snow, rain and wind over a three-day period.
"We found landslides on steep slopes, gentle ground, clear-cuts and mature forestland," said Kevin Godbout, director of external affairs for Weyerhaeuser Co. "The driving mechanism was extreme weather."
Weyerhaeuser recorded 14 to 20 inches of rain over 48 hours at some high-elevation weather stations in the teeth of the storm, as well as winds topping 100 miles per hour in some places.
Much of the debate Thursday centered on whether the Forests & Fish logging rules, approved by the Legislature in 1999 and since codified by the state Department of Natural Resources, provide enough protection of public safety and natural resources when it comes to logging on steep hillsides.
"Without rule changes, clear-cut-caused landslides will occur again and again," testified Karl Forsgaard, attorney for the Seattle-based Washington Forest Law Center.
He and others with environmental concerns called on the 2008 Legislature to pass a bill making it tougher to log on steep slopes in uplands above flood-prone areas.
Weyerhaeuser officials and others from the industry rejected the idea of a new forestry rule. The way to deal with the issue is to study what happened on forestland in the Southwest Washington storm zone, then modify the rules, if necessary, to reduce landslide risk, they said.
"We need to determine if the geologic review we're already doing is enough," Weyerhaeuser scientist Robert Bilby told legislators. "We'll do that in 2008."
Most Viewed Articles
Join the Reader Network
Do you want The Olympian to keep you in mind when we canvass the community for opinions?
Click here and sign up with our Reader Network to offer your view.
