September Event Previews  

Celebrate the return of the salmon at the Issaquah Salmon Days Festival.

Photo courtesy of Salmon Days Festival

Issaquah Salmon Days Festival       
    Face it: We were born to be wild. Celebrate your natural side – and the annual return of the salmon – at the 36th annual Issaquah Salmon Days Festival Oct. 7-8. Build up an appetite for the annual Kiwanis Salmon Bake by joining the festival’s golf tournament, the Salmon Days 10K and 5K Rotary Run, an orienteering challenge and more. Plus, peruse more than 300 local artists’ booths, sample tempting cuisine from around the world, and experience the rande Parade – all while honoring the salmon.

   Brought to you by the Greater Issaquah Chamber of Commerce, the Salmon Days Festival will run 10 a.m.-6.m. Saturday and Sunday. Admission to the festival is free, but most competitive events require an entry fee.

For more information, visit www.salmondays.org/home.

Rainier Mountain Festival     
    Whether you’re a seasoned mountaineer or new to the sport, the Rainier Mountain Festival promises to offer thrills and chills for all.

    The festival, set for Sept. 16-17, will be staged at the Rainier Basecamp near Ashford, Wash. Camping in the area is abundant and admission is free.

   Highlights include the Post Monsoon equipment sale with over a quarter million dollars of new and used mountaineering clothing and equipment, alpine games with cash prizes, and a chance to rub shoulders with mountaineering legends Ed Viesturs and Jim and Lou Whittaker.
Buy a raffle ticket for a chance to win $10,000 worth of gear; proceeds benefit the Washington National Park Fund. Saturday will feature a salmon feast as well as live music in the evening. On Sunday, participate in a 5-mile trail run in the foothills of Mount Rainier. Kids will enjoy a free rock wall, ice climbing demos and an inflatable bounce house.

For more information, visit www.rainiermountainfest.com.

—Rachel Wright

Great Oregon SOLV Fall Beach Cleanup
    The 23rd annual Great Oregon Fall Beach Cleanup Sept. 16 will help clear
the coastline of unsightly and harmful debris. Starting at 10 a.m., volunteers will
meet at one of 40 locations along the coastline to pick up trash along the shores of the Pacific.
Last year, more than 3,000 volunteers cleaned the entire 362 miles of Oregon’s Coast and gathered an estimated 29.3 tons of trash. Some of the more interesting items collected included a refrigerator, a 30-square-foot piece of carpet, barbed wire, a magic wand, a box of Cuban cigars and a harmonica. Perhaps you will find your own treasure, or simply make a difference by showing some state pride and preserving Oregon’s coastline.

To find out how you can participate, visit www.solv.org.

—Rachel Wright

House Bill creates new Mount Hood Wilderness

   A monumental bill passed the House of Representatives last month, designating 77,216 acres of forestland on Mount Hood as wilderness and allotting $800,000 annual spending for trails and recreation.
    On July 19 the Mount Hood Stewardship and Legacy Act (H.R. 5025), sponsored by Congressmen Greg Walden (R-OR) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), passed unanimously through the House Resources Committee. The bill will reach the Senate later this year, and if passed into law, will become the first new wilderness on Mount Hood since 1984.
   “This is the culmination of three years of a very public and bipartisan process to resolve a 30-year conflict in the Upper Hood River Valley,” Walden, a Hood River Republican, told the Associated Press.
    One of the bill’s toughest resistors, Mount Hood Meadows Ski Resort, was awarded a land swap of 120 acres of federal land in Government Camp in exchange for about 770 acres at Cooper Spur.
The National Wilderness Preservation System was created by Congress in 1964 so that an “increasing population...does not occupy and modify all areas within the United States...leaving no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural condition.” There are 663 wilderness areas in the United States covering almost 106 million acres.

For more information, see http://blumenauer.house.gov/mthood.shtml and www.wilderness.net/.

—Becky Brun