Complex by Nature—
North Cascades
National Park Service
Complex

People lobbied to make the ruggedly beautiful North Cascades a National Park even before the service's founding in 1916. Joining the National Park Service, with its mission to manage lands to "leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations," would ensure that the mountains, glaciers and forests remained natural and undeveloped. This was realized in 1968 when Congress established the North Cascades National Park Service Complex.

As part of the National Park System with its 388 areas, the North Cascades is managed for the preservation of its abundant natural and historical resources with an allowance for appropriate recreational use and public education. This park is an unusual case because by 1968 three dams had already been built on the Skagit River within what became the complex, and there were 3 towns within its borders.

Therefore, Congress established the park as 3 areas of the National Park System: North Cascades National Park itself, almost entirely part of the Stephen Mather Wilderness, and two national recreation areas: Ross Lake, including the 3 reservoirs behind the Skagit River dams, and Lake Chelan, with the northern 4 miles of the lake and the Stehekin River watershed including the community of Stehekin. Historic structures such as the Golden West Visitor Center and features like Buckner Orchard add complexity to sensitive management of this area.

The National Recreation Areas allow for some uses not typically found in National Parks such as hunting and some other uses of renewable resources. A major portion of each of the recreation areas is also part of the Stephen Mather Wilderness, which Congress designated in 1988.

Today, the management goals of the complex are as diverse as its landscapes. From research to educational outreach, trail maintenance to monitoring impacts on wilderness, the National Park Service is striving to meet changing public interests while working within the National Park Service's conservation and education mission.

Improved Facilities and Conservation Work Funded by Fee Dollars

There are no entrance fees at North Cascades National Park, but fees are collected for camping and using the docks on Lake Chelan. A percentage of National Park Pass and other fees are also available to the park. Among the projects being completed with fee revenues this year:

• Replacing the Golden West Visitor Center audiovisual program
• Surveying and revegetating wilderness camps
• Public Land Corps maintenance and rehabilitation of several park trails, including Cascade Pass
• Repair of Lake Chelan docks.

Forest Service Views
"the greatest good for the greatest number over the longest time"
Gifford Pinchot First Chief of the Forest Service

For over a century the Forest Service has been on the front line of conservation and natural resource management. Today, the agency mission "Caring For The Land and Serving People" is an exciting mix of collaboration between the Forest Service and its many partners; other Federal and State agencies, local communities, private and tribal landowners, university research centers and international organizations.

While visiting this area and the neighboring North Cascades National Park Service Complex you can become part of this group effort by using the resources and recreating in a responsible way. You are also invited to express your views to Forest Service managers to help them balance the uses of the National Forest in the best interests of the forest and the public.

Congress established the Forest Service in 1905 to sustain quality water and timber for the Nation's benefit. Over the years, resources managed by the Forest Service expanded to include wilderness, forage, wildlife, minerals, recreation, and many other uses. The agency strives to maintain these assets under the best combination possible in order to benefit the American people while ensuring the productivity of the land and protection of the quality of the environment.

Here in the Pacific Northwest these magnificent public lands present opportunities for you to explore many scenic and historical points of interest. Mountain tops rise from sea level to over 10, 000 feet, with forested slopes and rich watersheds spreading out below. While visiting these public lands you can experience for yourselves the intrinsic values that continue to warrant making conservation of natural resources a national priority.

Take some time to enjoy these special places and use this newspaper and other visitor information resources to help guide your activities in a safe and rewarding way.

Visiting the Mt. Baker Ranger District

Lying east of the I-5 corridor, Forest lands are easily accessed by several major State Highways. Starting up north you can take a drive on the Mt. Baker Scenic Byway (SR542). This route starts at the town of Glacier, winds along the North Fork Nooksack River, and climbs to an elevation of 5,140 feet at its destination, Artist Point, legendary for spectacular views of Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan.

You can also follow State Route 20 east into the heart of the Cascade Range. A side trip up the Baker Lake Road, 18 miles east of Sedro-Woolley, leads into the Baker Lake Basin hosting campgrounds, water based summer recreation and a bountiful trail system on the southeast side of Mt. Baker in the Mt. Baker National Recreation Area.

Mt. Baker

State Route 20 eventually travels into neighboring North Cascades National Park and over Washington Pass to the east side of the mountains.

The 125 mile Skagit Wild and Scenic River system, made up of segments of the Skagit, Cascade, Sauk, and Suiattle Rivers, provides important wildlife habitat and recreation. The Skagit is home to one of the largest winter populations of bald eagles in the U.S and produces nearly one third of all salmon in Puget Sound.

In 1984, over 121,000 acres of forest were added to the National Wilderness System as the Mt. Baker and Noisy-Diobsud Wilderness Areas. These wild places have few, if any, man-made developments and are established for your enjoyment and preservation of the landscape for generations to come.

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http://www.nps.gov/noca/challenger/ch2.htm
Date: 1-May-2006