The Study Area

Mount Adams is located in southern Washington State, astride the boundary of Skamania and Yakima Counties, 31 miles north of the Columbia River at White Salmon. Mount Rainier is about 47 miles north-northwest and Mount St. Helens lies 31 miles to the west of the mountain. To the south, 56 miles away in Oregon, lies Mount Hood. The summit of Mount Adams is 12,276 feet in elevation and is centered upon 46° 12.16'N, 121° 29.44'W.

The area surveyed in this study includes the Mount Adams Wilderness Area and adjacent land above an elevation of 4,000 feet. This contour was chosen for several reasons, the most important of which is the fact that it very closely comports with the geologic "footprint" of the mountain. As noted by geologists Wes Hildreth and Judy Fierstein (Hildreth and Fierstein, 1995): "… the Mount Adams volcanic field, as here depicted appears to have a certain coherence and integrity [with respect to Quaternary era volcanic activity]. Our eastern boundary is the canyon of the Klickitat River, a long-lived barrier never crossed by Adams-derived lavas…." Further, "North of the map area, a cluster of Quaternary basaltic centers in the Walupt Lake area separates Mount Adams from the Goat Rocks stratovolcano."

The 4,000-foot line, therefore, neatly follows the Klickitat River Canyon on the east, the ridgeline at Walupt Lake on the north, includes Council Lake on the northwest, and hews closely to Forest Service Road 23 on the west. Further west, geologically older rivers and ridges lie between Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens. The line on the south is harder to fix. Much of this terrain consists of a debris flow that lacks many distinguishing features, and below 4,000 feet, most land is both in private ownership and has been extensively logged.

Basically, from any point within the study area, one might walk straight uphill to the summit of Mount Adams. From a consideration of geology, topography, and land use, therefore, we infer an ecological integrity to this footprint. Thus defined, the study area encompasses approximately 208,000 acres, less than the 235,612 acres within Mount Rainier National Park.

Administration of the land within the study area is divided between the U.S. Forest Service and the Yakama Nation. On the west side is the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, which includes the Mount Adams Wilderness Area, established in 1964 and comprising 47,280 acres. On the east, the Yakama Nation provides public access to the approximately 17,000 acres of the Mount Adams Recreational Area, including land once known as "Tract D." Here, roads, trails and campgrounds are available to visitors, providing access to the famous Bird Creek Meadows, as well as Hellroaring Meadows, the Ridge of Wonders, Bench Lake, and Bird Lake, plus the southeastern pertain of Mount Adams itself. The remainder of the study area within the Yakama Nation is open only to enrolled tribal members and those with permission of the Yakama Tribal Council.

A very small portion of the study area, on the southeast and within two air miles of Bench Lake, is administered by the Washington Department of Natural Resources. This includes a remarkable collecting location, the "DNR quarry" close to the source of Dairy Creek.

Mount Adams and the study area lie east of the Cascade Crest, which roughly parallels Road 23 on the west side of the mountain and Road 2329 on the north. Its slopes drain to the Columbia River. On the north, Muddy Fork, Killen Creek, and Adams Creek drain to the Cispus River, which meets the Cowlitz River and then the Columbia at Longview. On the west, the Lewis River, with tributaries that include Riley Creek, Falls Creek and waters from Swampy Meadows, meets the Columbia near Woodland. On the south, Trout Lake Creek picks up flow from Grand Meadow before meeting the White Salmon River. The White Salmon also gathers water from Cascade Creek, Morrison Creek, and Gotchen Creek, ultimately joining the Columbia at the town of White Salmon. Finally, on the eastside, Bird Creek, Hellroaring Creek, Big Muddy Creek and Clearwater Creek all join the Klickitat River, which meets the Columbia at Lyle.