North Central Washington ◆ Northwest
The Wenatchee World
Thursday, February 12, 2015
A3
Presidents’ Day
World file photo/Mike Bonnicksen
Dan Omdal, a forest pathologist from Department of Natural Resources, cuts open the bark of a
tree at Lake Wenatchee State Park in August 2010 to check for root rot, while Andrew Feilding,
Eastern Region resource steward for Washington State Parks Department, watches.
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Roots rotting at Lake
Wenatchee State Park
BY MICHELLE MCNIEL
World staff writer
LAKE WENATCHEE — Root rot has
returned to Lake Wenatchee State Park,
which has lost many of its stately trees in
recent years to disease and natural disasters.
The north portion of the state park will
close Tuesday for the removal of about
130 trees believed to be infected with root
fungus, said Ranger Rick Halstead.
Cross-country skiing and snowshoe trails
will be closed for two to three weeks while
the work is done. Trails are still open in the
south park and nearby Kahler Glen Golf
Course, where Halstead said snow conditions are much better.
The 489-acre park along Lake Wenatchee
has been transformed over the last four
years from densely forested to having large
areas of open space.
The park was evacuated and much of the
camping space was closed for months in
2010 and about 1,000 trees were cut down
after it was discovered they were infected
with three root fungi. The root rot was
detected in grand fir, Douglas fir and pine
stands throughout the park.
All large-diameter grand firs were
removed from camping areas.
Two years later, thousands of trees in the
park toppled following a winter storm that
dumped heavy wet snow followed by strong
winds.
Halstead said the work this month will be
small compared to the earlier tree issues.
The tree cutting will take about three
weeks, and cleanup should be completed by
Memorial Day.
“It’s a healthier forest for all the work we’ve
done,” he said. “Over the last four to five years,
we’ve gleaned a lot of unhealthy trees out of
our park.”
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Michelle McNiel: 664-7152
[email protected]
Detective worried about missing teen
BY DEE RIGGS
World staff writer
they’re talking to somebody
and, in this case — nothing,”
the East Wenatchee detective
EAST WENATCHEE —
said. “Kids these days, and
The case of a missing
society as a whole,
14-year-old East
are addicted to social
Wenatchee girl has
media and Yadira is
Detective Darin
not doing that.”
Darnell stumped and
Darnell said
worried.
Yadira, a former
Yadira MaciasQuincy resident, had
Tapia, 14, was last
run away from home
seen by her family
in the past and may
Dec. 11 when a family Yadira
have gone away this
member dropped
time with a 25-yearMacias-Tapia
East Wenatchee teen old boyfriend,
her off at Eastmont
has been missing
Junior High School.
but the lack of
since Dec. 11
To Darnell’s knowlany contact with
edge, no one has
family and friends
heard from her since.
is alarming. He is
“Kids just don’t do that;
asking anyone who may have
even when they run away,
heard from Yadira or know
Briefly
News from around NCW
and the Northwest
OKANOGAN
Groups appeal ATV decision
Two conservation groups
are asking the state Court of
Appeals to overturn a decision
allowing Okanogan County
to open 400 miles of roads to
all-terrain vehicles.
The Methow Valley
Citizens’ Council and Conservation Northwest filed the
appeal Tuesday.
Two years ago, Okanogan
County commissioners passed
ordinances opening virtually
all county roads to ATV use,
including those with speed
limits over 35 mph.
They rescinded both
ordinances after the same
two groups sued, then went
through the state Environmental Policy Act checklist before
reopening just the roads with
the slower speed limits.
The Citizens’ Council and
Conservation Northwest
challenged the ordinance in
Okanogan County Superior
Court, arguing that the
environmental review failed
to consider the likely impact
of added illegal riding on
public and private land by
opening the roads. It also
said the county failed to
consider safety issues from
ATVs sharing roads with
other vehicles.
Last month, Superior
Court Judge Henry Rawson
rejected their challenge.
her whereabouts to call the
RiverCom dispatch center at
663-9911 or the police department at 884-9511.
“In my 25-year career,
I’ve never had a 14-year-old
kid just disappear with no
communication with anybody,
and it disturbs me,” Darnell
said.
The whereabouts of
Yadira’s boyfriend, Jose M.
Visca Cauchichil, a migrant
farmworker from Quincy, are
also unknown, Darnell said.
He added that Yadira’s family
had been trying to terminate
her relationship with the
boyfriend.
Dee Riggs: 664-7147
[email protected]
SEATTLE
Port of Seattle inks 2-year
lease for Shell oil fleet
The Port of Seattle on
Monday signed a lease that
allows short-term moorage
PATEROS
and vessel operations for
a Shell oil fleet assembled
Police chase ends in
to conduct exploration off
two-car, injury accident
Alaska’s North Slope.
The lease with Foss
A police chase on Highway
Maritime is expected to pay
97 near Pateros ended when
the port $13.17 million over two
the man being pursued
years. It covers 50 acres of the
crashed into another vehicle,
156-acre Terminal 5, according
injuring himself and one
to a message Wednesday from
other person.
port CEO Theodore Fick to
Miguel A. Soloria, 24,
Patti Goldman of EarthJustice,
of Fresno was treated for
which represents environmeninjuries at Three Rivers
tal groups opposed to the port
Hospital in Brewster. His
being used a support base for
condition was not available
Shell exploration.
this morning. A State Patrol
Goldman said Wednesday
report said that charges
the environmental groups
against him were pending.
are “very disappointed” and
The report did not say why
officers were chasing Soloria. will review their options. In a
letter to the port last month,
The driver of the second
car, Liliana Jimenez Ramirez, a coalition of environmental
26, of Chelan, was treated and groups asserted that the port
released at Confluence Health was legally bound to assess
the harm that could befall
in Wenatchee.
Puget Sound from the lease.
The accident happened at
the intersection of highways 97 Goldman said last month
and 153, according to the State the groups would consider a
Patrol report. Soloria’s car was lawsuit over the lease.
In his letter, Fick said the
northbound on Highway 97
lease doesn’t represent a
when it went out of control,
change from how the terminal
struck a bridge support, then
was used by a previous tenant,
struck Jimenez’s car. Both
vehicles came to rest blocking so it would comply with state
law and port regulations.
Highway 97.
— K.C. Mehaffey, World staff
— Dee Riggs, World staff
— The Seattle Times
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