Toward a National Park

Beginning in the 1890’s several groups attempted to create a national park or a national recreation area in the North Cascades.

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1892

First Proposal

The first proposal for a Lake Chelan National Park occurred in 1892 from some citizens in the region. Commercial interests ultimately ruled the roost and this proposal was defeated.

1897

Washington Forest Reserve Established

On February 22, 1897, President Grover Cleveland established the Washington Forest Reserve. This act essentially withdrew 150 million acres from the public domain and “embraced both slopes of the North Cascades, including land west of Mount Baker, from the Canadian border south to Lake Chelan, and extended federal control over most of the land which today comprises North Cascades National Park.”

1905

Land Transfer to Forest Service

In 1905, this land was administratively transferred to the Forest Service for management. The Forest Service created initial policies to regulate activities on these lands, with an early focus on industries using the resources available.

After the creation of Mount Rainier National Park, the newly minted National Park Service eyed other lands in Washington that could be worthy of National Park designation but ran into opposition from the Forest Service. These two agencies had different missions – one focused more on scenic preservation and development of facilities for people to access those areas, while the other focused on a multi-use mission of resource management, recreation, and wilderness preservation. The Forest Service did not take kindly to giving up acreage to the Park Service.

“There were political reasons as well. The notion of a park in the northern Cascades was opposed by the Forest Service. Since most new parks came from areas of exceptional scenery on national forests, the Park Service grew at the expense of the Forest Service, causing frequent disputes between the bureaus. There conflicts flowed naturally from differing conservation philosophies, the Forest Service representing the principles of utilitarian conservation, the Park
Service the principles of scenic preservation.” (Louter)

1916

Lake Chelan Park Push

In 1916, another push was made to consider a Lake Chelan National Park – this time with organizations such as the Spokane Chamber of Commerce taking a lead stating: "Another great national park in Washington will simply kindle additional interest in the hearts of Americans to visit the northwest during the summer time and will be a great aid in the entertainment of our rapidly growing army of tourist travelers." (Louter)

1926

Second Lake Chelan Push

In 1926, another proposal circulated for a Lake Chelan National Park. However, most citizens near Chelan opposed this proposal as they felt the Forest Service was doing a good job managing the area. At this same time, others were pushing the idea of a National Park around Mount Baker. The Forest Service took action and created a special recreation area around the Mountain. People in Wenatchee also pushed for the idea of a national park around Glacier Peak. These proposals pushed the Forest Service to further consider “wilderness preservation as a way to appease preservationists and fend off Park Service land grabs than as a standard management practice.” (Louter)

1937

Ice Peaks Proposal

In 1937, a commission recommended that “Ice Peaks National Park” be established covering a significant portion of the North Cascades including areas around Mt. Baker and Glacier Peak. Given the significant size of the proposed national park, commercial interests immediately rose in opposition.

“The park proposal ignited controversy almost immediately. Timber and mining interests, the Washington State Planning Council, local communities, and chambers of commerce from around the state clamored loudly against the proposal because they believed that the park would lock up the range's resources and unfairly limit their economic well-being, a particularly harsh reality during the depression.” (Louter)

This opposition, coupled with World War II halted conversations on the Ice Peak proposal. Following the war, interest in preservation of the area as a National Park started to grow again:

“As the historian Samuel P. Hays has suggested, World War II and its aftermath gave rise to a new generation of Americans who valued the natural world as an amenity of life rather than a commodity for the marketplace. In their minds, preserving the North Cascades as an unaltered wilderness was more important than any kind of natural resource development. Vast social changes in the postwar era underpinned this evolution of popular attitudes towards nature. Rising standards of living, increasing income levels, and growing numbers of Americans attaining higher levels of education helped foster these new environmental values; they were the foundation for the postwar environmental movement and the source of conflicts with the more traditional conservation values that stressed the efficient use of resources. As more middle-class Americans worried less about daily living needs, they expressed a greater concern about their quality of life, which was increasingly linked to the pursuit of the natural world beyond crowded and polluted cities.” (Luxemberg)

At the same time, the Forest Service eyed the resources available in the region and how the area might be managed to allow for additional extraction industries including a proposal in 1956 that would open significant areas around Glacier Peak for logging and potentially mining. This lit a fire under several groups interested in preservation including the Wilderness Society.

1959

Associations Form

“By early 1959, the National Parks Association, Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs, the Sierra Club,
North Cascades Conservation Council, the Mountaineers, and the Cascadians had endorsed a national
park for the North Cascades, generally, and requested that the Forest Service suspend its study and
invite the Park Service to study the range for its national park caliber.” (Louter)

1961

Logging Stops

In 1961, the Forest Service temporarily stopped additional logging in the area, but then released a
management policy document in 1962 indicating support for more logging. This further pushed
conservationists toward the idea of a national park for the region.

1964

Federal Wilderness Act

The Federal Wilderness Act was passed in 1964, and this offered potential protections to the area.
However, additional studies and public hearings were occurring during this time and there was
movement toward a National Park in the region. In 1966 a proposal emerged for a Small National Park,
and then a “series of recreation areas and wilderness areas managed by the Forest Service.”

1967

Declaration of Support

On January 30, 1967 in his annual state of the union address, Lyndon Johnson publicly declared his
support for a National Park in the North Cascades. In March, Washington’s two US senators introduced a
bill to do exactly this. Congress held hearings throughout the rest of the year and into 1968.

October 2, 1968

Birth of North Cascades National Park

Finally, the house and senate passed a bill and Johnson signed it into law on October 2, 1968.
For over 70 years, people debated whether a national park should exist in the North Cascades and finally
it became a reality.