Mt. Hood Solutions Summit and Mushroom Hike

Dear Barker,

If you’ve read the paper lately then you might think that the only big news on Mt. Hood is the two forest fires now being rained out. Unfortunately the Oregonian got its facts wrong on the Dollar Lake Fire. Check out this month’s Bark Bites for great resources on Mt. Hood fires, but not until you view Bark's very own Lori Ann Burd on KGW News discussing an exciting Mt. Hood road decommissioning project. Finally, if you want to be a part of the discussion about our water resources, registration is now open for the Mt. Hood Solutions Summit!

See you at the Summit,
Alex P Brown, Executive Director

PS- Bark's new Mt. Hood mural is finally complete! Please celebrate with us Saturday, October 8th, 4pm-7pm! Find more details here.


Bark-Out: Announcing the 2011 Mt. Hood Solutions Summit!
Bark-About: Annual Mushroom Hike visits the Jazz Timber Sale
Giving Tree: Bark talks restoration with KGW News
Bark Tales: Will you be a volunteer at our Solutions Summit?
Bark Bites: Clearing the air over the Dollar Lake Fire


Bark-Out
Register now for the 2011 Mt. Hood Solutions Summit

Click here to register for this one-day conference to address the management of Mt. Hood’s water resources!

Are you a water manager? A water conservationist? A water consumer? A water recreationist? An educator? A student? A policy maker? A visitor to Mt. Hood National Forest? Do you have concerns about the impact of climate change to our water resources? Do you want to know what is being done to protect critical fish habitat in Mt. Hood? Or curious to know how Mt. Hood's water is managed? If so, we want you to participate in the Solutions Summit!

The 2011 Mt. Hood Solutions Summit will include discussion of the important work of watershed councils, the challenges facing water providers, an overview of water management programs and priorities in Mt. Hood National Forest, the status of road decommissioning efforts, riparian area treatments, proposed water management recommendations, and most importantly a chance to bring your voice to the table to share your concerns and ideas for water management.

Click here to register for the 2011 Mt. Hood Solutions Summit and to learn more.


Bark-About
Annual Mushroom Hike
Sunday, October 9^th, 9am-5pm

Join us for our annual hike with Mushroom Mark to learn about the role fungus plays in our forests and to forage some edibles along the way. This year we’ll return to the Collawash Watershed where 2,000 acres of forest (including mushrooms) are threatened by the proposed Jazz Timber Sale. This hike is not to be missed!

Come prepared to walk up to three miles off trail on this month's hike. Please bring lunch, water, and sturdy boots. If you plan to mushroom hunt along the way, please bring your own knife, basket, and paper bags to collect your finds. The weather is very unpredictable this time of year, so please be prepared for various weather conditions.

Bark-Abouts are led on the second Sunday of every month and are free to the public. Click here for more information about this month’s hike.


Giving Tree
Restore Mt. Hood Campaign highlight – decommissioning roads

While many support Bark because of our tenacious and effective strategies opposing projects like Nestlé’s proposed bottled water plant, Bark's Restore Mt. Hood Campaign is changing the face of Mt. Hood and the Forest Service nation-wide. By working with Congress and the Forest Service to direct money toward restoration and recreation, Bark is helping Mt. Hood’s environment recover from decades of abuse and improve conditions for future visitors…including you!

For every member dollar Bark has received this year, we have helped secure THREE dollars for restoration in Mt. Hood National Forest! Please support Bark today!


Bark Tales
How can you help to make our Mt. Hood Solutions Summit a success?

The 2011 Mt. Hood Solutions Summit will be a great place for people to understand and engage in the management of water resources from Mt. Hood, but we need volunteers to make it a smooth and successful event. Can you help us with our volunteer needs at this event? We are looking for volunteers to fill these roles:

Greeters
Check-in table attendants
Lunch buffet attendants
Break-out session facilitators
Set-up/break-down crew
‘Gatherers’ to help us re-convene after break-out sessions and lunch

If you are able to volunteer for all or part of the Summit on Wednesday, November 2^nd please contact us. If you aren’t available on November 2^nd, but still want to help, you can give us a hand by spreading the word about the event this month. Contact us if you’d like to help promote the 2011 Mt. Hood Solutions Summit!


Bark Bites
The Oregonian gets it wrong on the Dollar Lake Fire

Many of you have heard about the Dollar Lake Fire, a fire that recently burned on the north side of Mt. Hood in the Mt. Hood Wilderness. Some media reports have indicated that a road freshly decommissioned due to the 2009 Mt. Hood Wilderness Bill caused a delay in firefighter response to the fire. However, no roads were decommissioned as part of the 2009 Wilderness Bill. The road referenced was slated for decommissioning years before the area was declared wilderness because it was an unneeded road that damaged streams and aquatic habitat.

No one really knows how access to this road could have affected management of the fire, but we do know that Mt. Hood’s 3,000+ miles of unneeded roads dump tons of sediment into endangered fish habitat and drinking water sources every year. The Forest Service has been doing great work to decommission roads and reduce the impacts of this legacy of logging. It is critical that these efforts be untainted by the misconception that ecologically detrimental roads are needed for fire management. Our watersheds can’t afford to have misinformation stymie good efforts by the Forest Service to protect our rivers from the constant damage of logging road run-off.

Inciweb is a great resource for information, photos, and status updates on fires in Mt. Hood National Forest.