Campfire ban imposed at lake

Effective this month, the neighboring Detroit Ranger District of the Willamette National Forest has imposed a campfire ban at Marion Lake in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, northwest of Sisters.

As part of a wilderness area, Marion Lake is accessible only by trail. From the east side, the lake is most commonly accessed from the Bear Valley or Jack Lake trailheads west of Camp Sherman.

At an elevation of 4,100 feet in a wilderness, the area is hardly a public thoroughfare, but civilization has still managed to encroach on the 360-acre lake.

Marion Lake is one of the last protected large lakes in the high Cascades, but it's also one of those popular places that people are loving to death.

After decades of heavy traffic by hikers and campers, wilderness campfires have resulted in the near total consumption of the woody debris, snags, downed limbs and other vegetation near campsites.

In an effort to reduce fire-related impacts such as abandoned and escaped campfires, garbage in campfire rings, and the loss of lakeside vegetation, Forest Service officials determined that a campfire ban was necessary to help preserve the area.

The campfire ban also extends to 18-acre Lake Ann and Marion and Gatch Falls, which are located near the Marion Lake outlet.

All areas within a quarter mile of the lakes and falls are affected.

Visitors may continue to use portable camp stoves for cooking or lanterns for light, but campfires are no longer permitted.

Notice of the campfire ban will be posted at trailheads and at various points around the lakes. Violators will be subject to stiff fines.

It is hoped that the ban will restore the natural growth of vegetation and accumulation of woody debris and snags to meet Forest Plan goals for the Willamette National Forest.

It is hoped that the ban will also reduce the amount of garbage that wilderness managers need to pick up and pack out.

When the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness was first conceived in 1964, the Marion Lake area was omitted due to heavy use and pre-existing facilities, which included a Forest Service guard station, a boathouse, docks, rustic cabins and campground facilities.

By the time the wilderness area was formally established in 1968, however, the lake area was included because of its "significant wilderness qualities."

In 1971, the Forest Service removed the permanent structures at Marion Lake, and a special order in 1985 stopped the practice of bringing in boats and other heavy items using bicycles and carts.

Thereafter, the area slowly began returning to a semi-primitive state.

The easiest access to the area is a 2.5-mile hike from the Marion Lake Trailhead, and Abe Quihuis, wilderness leader for the Detroit Ranger District, has been informing visitors about the upcoming campfire ban for more than two years.

"We've tried educating people who go there in the hopes that they would recognize the problem and use patterns would change," he said.

According to Quihuis, many visitors accept or at least understand the reason for the campfire ban.

During the 2002 summer season, researchers polled over 300 wilderness users.

Of those, 22 percent gave the ban a thumbs up, 64 percent were neutral, 7 percent opposed the ban, and 7 percent did not respond.

Quihuis hopes that visitors will begin to see Marion Lake as a true wilderness area, and said that further restrictions may be necessary if problems continue.

Sanitation in the area has also been a problem. Although two pit toilets are located near the lake, the toilets are often filled with trash, and toilets have been vandalized for use as firewood.

Unburied human waste and toilet paper have littered the area, raising the specter that a "pack-it-out" waste system might have to be imposed.

Quihuis says that the human waste problem could easily be solved with a little effort.

"If users would bring some sort of small garden trowel in their pack and bury their waste, we would not have to go to other extreme measures," he said.

With the below-average snowpack already dwindling, wilderness areas may be accessible earlier than usual.

As a result, Forest Service officials are anxious to alert the public to the situation at Marion Lake.