What good does it do to spend federal money in particular places? Let's explore the impact of federal spending in one awesome place, Mount Hood, just above the Columbia River, an hour or so east of Portland, and the highest point in Oregon. It's also the site of three federal stimulus programs: two in the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps, and the third in 2009, as part of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act. So far, the foresight of FDR has given us skiing in August, a 40 mile trail circling a volcano, and -- of course -- Jack Nicholson running amok with an axe.
Here's an interesting trailer for a heartwarming family movie about a boy searching for his dad while the dad searches for his soul:
But what does a horror movie have to do with federal stimulus efforts? The film used the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood for all exterior shots of the lodge (at 1:02 in the video above), although the real Timberline Lodge does not have a hedge maze, or indeed any level ground to speak of. It was built by the WPA between 1936 and 1938, and declared a national historic site in 1977. The style is what I call "National Park Architecture, circa 1930s" (duh! -- it's authentic national park architecture actually built in the 1930s): lots of rough hewn exposed logs (all found onsite) and exposed rocks (also found onsite), with hand-crafted detailed animal carvings in the stair banisters, stained glass, artworks, and murals everywhere. The lobby still resonates with the pride that the crafters put into the place, and you walk around and think: Jobs gave these people reasons to be proud.
FDR's remarks at the dedication speech in 1937 emphasized extractive industries rather than natural beauty:
This Timberline Lodge marks a venture that was made possible by W.P.A., emergency relief work, in order that we may test the workability of recreational facilities installed by the Government itself and operated under its complete control.
Here, to Mount Hood, will come thousands and thousands of visitors in the coming years. Looking east toward eastern Oregon with its great livestock raising areas, these visitors are going to visualize the relationship between the cattle ranches and the summer ranges in the forests. Looking westward and northward toward Portland and the Columbia River, with their great lumber and other wood using industries, they will understand the part which National Forest timber will play in the support of this important element of northwestern prosperity.
Maybe I'm being harsh by today's more environmentally aware standards, or maybe that's what he had to say to get the project past the teabaggers of his day. In any case, FDR's vision has paid off, perhaps not exactly the way he described it, but the Timberline Lodge is by now a well functioning destination.
Another Depression-era federal agency, the Civilian Conservation Corps, built the Timberline Trail. This 40 mile long trail circles the mountain. Normally it's a three to five day exploration. Eleven of those forty miles overlap with the Pacific Crest Trail. A number of spur trails permit you to sample the Timberline Trail; as with other trails around a mountain, you can choose from a steep ascent or a level-ish out-and-back trail.
Remember a few weeks ago when we were all excited because President Obama signed a landmark wilderness bill? That bill included a major victory for the Oregon Wilderness Campaign because it added a patchwork of land to the Mt. Hood wilderness area, mostly on Mt. Hood's lower, more biologically diverse slopes, along the Roaring River, and portions of the Columbia River cliff faces along Highway 84. Here's a pdf map showing 127,000 acres of new dark green wilderness and 80 miles' worth of bright blue wild and scenic river additions to this beautiful area. Apparently the 2009 law is extremely complicated, so local Forest Service rangers will wait for directions from Washington, and nothing much will get done for as long as five years. Further, as Norbrook's diary, You Didn't Take Care of What You Had, has recently pointed out, presidents need to set aside money for maintenance as much as acquisition.
What would the Mt. Hood area look like without federal funds? There would be no trail; there's no money to be made in trail building, and Pacific Crest Trail hikers would instead navigate through a thicket of easements. The lodge might not have been built during the 1930s, when private money wasn't investing, but it would have eventually been built, because there would be intense financial pressure to do so. The area might look a lot more like Vail or Aspen, cultivating an exclusive atmosphere, with more focus on the lucrative sports (skiing) and less on the freebies, and with real estate and lodging prices to match. Oregon environmentalists would have fought a lot harder to preserve a lot less. It would, in short, be a very different place.
For those, like me, who think that a national park/forest/river is an outdoor gym, the Mt. Hood area is heaven. You can windsurf or kiteboard the Columbia River. You can raft the smaller rivers. You can run a marathon downhill from Timberline Lodge to Timothy Lake. You can ski all year round (I have seen busloads of skiers in August). You can fish, hike, mountain bike, and camp. You can climb the mountain, and I hope that if you do, you are well prepared for bad weather. People come here all year round to spend quality outdoors time, which they would not find if the area had been overdeveloped. When they visit, they also spend money in the towns and in local wineries (I have semi-fond memories of a vintage 1985-ish bottle of blueberry wine), microbreweries, and organic farms.
So, to the teabaggers who think that federal spending is a waste of money, and to the global-warming-deniers who think that federal environmental regulations stifle economic growth, I give you Mount Hood, Oregon!
This diary series celebrates adventures in the wild places of the earth, whether it's a national park or your own backyard, whether you're on foot, bike, raft, or anything else that involves breaking a sweat. Contributions are most welcome! Also worth exploring are the Get Fit Challenge on Saturday mornings, where KKMama discussed motivation, and Fitness Mondays, where AnnieJo discussed her Cosmic Convergence reasons for starting to run.