He hunted and fished at Mount St. Helens when he was a kid and logged its forest as a young man. But now Bob Janisch of Castle Rock isn't happy with the way the national monument is managed.
"It's just a bunch of geologists' and biologists' private playground," he said recently, biding his time selling cedar planters he made from old growth salvaged from the blast zone.
As the 30th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens approaches, the controversy over its management is intensifying. "I wish it was a national park. I think more people might see it," Janisch said, adding that he felt the national park designation might be good for local jobs and tourism.
Janisch was selling his planters at the Cinedome in Castle Rock. The once-iconic theater used to show the eruption of Mount St. Helens on an Imax movie screen to audiences from around the world. It is now an Apostolic church and the site of an occasional local flea market.
Dean J. Koepfler, staff photographer
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