Tourists flowing into area to view volcano

By Christopher Schwarzen
Seattle Times staff reporter

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CASTLE ROCK, Cowlitz County — Waitress Sandy Gibson slides a plate of blueberry pancakes and hot syrup across the table while a pair of locals sip their morning coffee at the Rose Tree Restaurant.

It's almost 7 a.m., still too early for the morning breakfast crowd. But Gibson, looking up at the clock behind the counter, knows it's coming.

Since Mount St. Helens came back to life almost two weeks ago, Cowlitz County has been blitzed with tourists hoping to catch the latest eruption. The extra off-season business isn't unwelcome in this economically challenged area.

Rental cars are gassing up at local service stations, then stopping at local gift shops. Motels from Toutle to Kelso to Longview are no longer vacant. And restaurants' seats are filling up fast.

"Usually this time of year, it's just our loyal local people eating here," Gibson said Thursday morning. "They've been pretty patient with the crowds."

Cowlitz County, whose economy relies on natural-resource and manufacturing jobs, has opened its arms to the latest volcanic activity and the business it has brought. As Mark Plotkin, director of the county's visitor and community-services department, sees it, nobody stands to lose.

"This is a great economic boon for the tourism market," Plotkin said. "We want to encourage visits."

Cowlitz County was hit hard during the recession, said Corey Balkan, vice president of the Cowlitz Economic Development Council. The county's unemployment rate, 7.9 percent in August, still is higher than the statewide average.

That means it can use every job, every penny it can earn, Balkan said.

At the Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center in Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, the U.S. Forest Service has pulled in extra employees and kept on seasonal helpers to handle the crowds the volcano has drawn.
 
Jeff Davies, who helps operate a Portland tour-bus company called EcoTours of Oregon, munched on a burger at the center one day this week. He had brought 15 tourists and their cash with him.

"I've had 25 percent more calls for Mount St. Helens' tours [since the activity started]," he said.

Davies said he includes all the local gift shops on his itinerary. Every trinket his customers buy means more sales-tax dollars for Cowlitz County.

Mount St. Helens' latest burst of activity could have an economic downside. Weyerhaeuser, the county's largest landowner, with more than 435,000 acres, has suspended logging on its lands within a 12-mile radius of the crater.

The company also has placed that property off-limits to hunters, who typically fill the woods this time of year, spending money in grocery stores, bars and sports shops.

Should the eruption forecast worsen, Weyerhaeuser could widen its no-activity ring.

It would not be the first time that Mount St. Helens has been bad for business. Balkan, the economic-development official, said the volcano and its history of earthquakes have deterred some potential employers from locating here.

"I see a lot of industrial companies looking at how seismic activities will impact their equipment," he said.

But Plotkin, the county official, says the national and international media coverage the area has received lately is free advertising worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

"With the 25th anniversary of the 1980 eruption coming next year, this couldn't have been a better timing," he said.

Christopher Schwarzen: 425-783-0577 or cschwarzen@seattletimes.com