DECEPTION PASS STATE PARK — Several area state parks are reeling from the mid-January windstorm that pummeled Western Washington.
If Deception Pass State Park hopes to keep to the schedule of opening Cranberry Lake Campground’s Forest Loop in April, chain saws and wood chippers will have to spit out sawdust at a frantic pace.
That loop, as well as other sections of the park — including Bowman Bay — sustained extensive damage following the Jan. 12 storm.
“It’s going to take lot of work,” park Manager Jason Armstrong said. “There are a lot of trees down and we had several structures damaged. We also lost a power station and a water main. Right now, there is no water at West Beach.”
It’s a similar situation at Rockport State Park where Senior Park Aide Don Smith said there is a lot of cleaning up to be done.
“The park was hammered,” he said. “It’s really bad. Lots of big trees came down and the day-use area is knee deep in branches. There are hundreds of trees down.”
While Smith awaits a plan to clear debris, Armstrong’s staff can’t hesitate. The state’s busiest park has a deadline, and missing it means disrupting the plans of those who have camping reservations for early spring.
“We are very busy,” Armstrong said Friday as he ventured through the Forest Loop. “We have a lot of work to do.”
Massive trees came down in the storm, crushing anything in their path, including picnic tables and restrooms. Enormous root balls were wrenched from the soil.
Tree rounds weighing upward of 300 pounds apiece littered the area Friday.
Many trees that weren’t toppled shed branches — many as long as buses — leaving the area paved in a carpet of green.
Making their way Friday into the Forest Loop were trucks driven by those taking advantage of the offer of five cords of you-cut-and-transport wood for $25.
“That really helps us out,” Armstrong said. “It gets it out of here. But there is still a lot more to go.”
The money from selling downed trees as firewood gets returned to the state’s timber account because the state park cannot sell wood.
Armstrong said the park has four options when it comes to dealing with downed trees. They can remain where they fall if they don’t infringe on aspects of the park or if removal is just too difficult.
“Second is offering firewood permits,” Armstrong said. “Third, this park can use the wood or it can be used at other parks. Fourth, it can be sent to a commercial mill.”
The commercial option is often difficult due to the size of the trees as well as the old-growth timber not being of a high enough grade.
The timber from many trees will be used within the park.
“It’s just the best option, repurposing the wood right here in the park,” Armstrong said. “We have 175 Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) picnic benches in the park and most are in tough shape. To buy the wood necessary to replace them would be extremely expensive.”
The more desirable timber — such as cedar — will be used by the park for such things as split-rail fencing and repairing such things as doors and window frames on CCC-era buildings.
“We’ll hand-split the fencing,” Armstrong said. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s definitely worth it.
“We’ll send some of the cedar to be milled by a local man about two miles from here. We’ll use that in making picnic benches and things like that. We can get between four and six picnic tables out of a 17-foot-long log.”
Less desirable trees such as large, rotted Douglas fir will be used for such things as campsite dividers and roadway boundaries.
“Campers this summer who thought they had made reservations for a shaded site might be in for a surprise,” Armstrong said. “They are going to be like, ‘Oh, my lord, we are right out in the sun.”
Those visiting Bowman Bay after the storm were greeted by numerous trees in various states of disarray. A massive old-growth cedar not only sent huge splinters in every direction and had its limbs buried into the ground, but also brought several other trees down with it.
On a positive note, a massive and well-known bald eagle’s nest that has inhabited a tree at Forest Loop campsite No. 25 survived.
“The nest made it,” Armstrong said. “Obviously, those eagles know which trees to pick and which not to.”
Meanwhile, at Rockport, how to go about cleaning up is still in the works.
“So the plan is to hopefully get a couple of crews out, one working on trails and the other cutting up those big trees and the rest simply picking up, stacking and raking branches and things,” Smith said.
