Programs - Past, Present, and Potential

Events
 

The Enchantments: What Comes Next?
The Alpine Lakes Foundation has sponsored or co-sponsored two recent events featuring Mat Lyons, executive director of Wenatchee-based TREAD, and Gregory Scruggs, Seattle Times environmental reporter, addressing the critical problems in the Enchantments and possible solutions for them. A December 2025 event took place at the downtown Seattle REI store, and on March 24, 2026, the Wenatchee River Institute hosted an event that also included representatives of the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce, Wenatchee Outdoors, and the Leavenworth Mountaineers Association. Forest Service cutbacks and unregulated day use have created a crisis in the Enchantments, where too many people and no official presence are seriously damaging this popular but fragile area in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Volunteer groups have struggled to fill the vacuum. Some staffing increases are now expected this summer, but longer term solutions remain in the discussion stage.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, and the Foundation will continue to look for opportunities to highlight the challenges in the Enchantments and elsewhere in the Wilderness, and to support volunteer efforts to address them.

Past
 

- Alpine Lakes Wilderness map – Fund most costs to produce map that was a major source of revenue for Alpine Lakes Protection Society (ALPS).

- Icicle Network website (https://iciclenetwork.com) – launched in 2017. This website continues to provide current information about proposed dams and water use in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness' Icicle drainage.

- Icicle - Provided comments on water issues, especially proposals to replace the dam and change the reservoir at Eightmile Lake.

- Research – Helped fund legal research on Icicle water and wilderness issues.

- Old Growth - Helped finance production of working maps to identify old growth forests in the western Cascades, including the Alpine Lakes.

- Wild and Scenic - Submitted comments on management of Wild and Scenic segment of Middle Fork Snoqualmie River.

- State Park - Endorsed purchase of private land and addition to Olallie State Park in Mt. Washington area.

Recent
 

- Support Wenatchee Outdoors with equipment and supplies for their 2025 Enchantments volunteer stewardship program, as part of our effort to address heavy impacts in the Enchantments due to severe Forest Service cutbacks.

- Support Conservation Northwest's 2025 Wildlife Ambassador program, which provided in-person outreach at trailheads in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest -- mainly in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. This program informed the public about wildlife, best practices during wildlife encounters, and ways to minimize human impact.

- Support Washington Trails Association 2025 Trailhead Ambassador program, which provided in-person outreach at popular trailheads mainly in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Trained volunteers helped hikers identify trail issues, reminded them about wildlife encounters, protecting natural resources, and Leave No Trace, and were available to seek aid in an emergency.

- Contribute to expenses of a Girl Scout and her troop replacing pit toilet at Lake Mary in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

- Two year grant to Chelan High School outdoor program to buy gear for loan to students who could not otherwise afford it and to help cover their travel for outdoor activities in the Alpine Lakes and North Cascades.

- Fund production of map showing land ownership changes in the Alpine Lakes.

Current
 

- Fund restoration of the Hatchery Creek Trail located just west of Leavenworth in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. The Hatchery Creek trail goes through an area that burned in 2014 and has become nearly impassable and is at risk of being lost. This is a critical window of time in which to recover this once-popular trail, restoring meaningful public access and helping disperse recreational use in the area -- including easing some of the pressure of overuse on the nearby Enchantments. The Forest Service lacks capacity to do this high priority trail work itself, but the Alpine Lakes Foundation obtained a $20,000 Norm Winn Memorial Conservation Grant from the Keta Legacy Foundation, which we have agreed to match 100%, as well as contributing additional funds. We have committed to provide these monies to the Washington Trail Association, which will use a combination of its trained staffer "pro" crews and volunteer workers to get significant trail restoration work done, with the enthusiastic support of the local Forest Service staff.

This project will help mark this year's 50th anniversary of the passage of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness bill with a meaningful contribution to the balance of public access and appreciation with conservation and protection.

The Alpine Lakes Foundation greatly appreciates the Keta Legacy Foundation and its Norm Winn Memorial Conservation Grant to us to make the Hatchery Creek trail restoration project possible. More about the Keta Legacy Foundation, a Washington public benefit corporation, can be found at https://ketalegacy.org

- Help fund Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust 2026 Trailhead Ambassador program at popular trailheads in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, mainly on the Cle Elum ranger district. Trailhead ambassadors are unpaid volunteers, with paid staff training and supporting them, who greet users at popular trailheads and educate users about safety, protecting resources, wildlife, trail information, and the like. They help minimize damage to public lands and resources -- particularly critical in this time of severe Forest Service cutbacks.

- Fund field trips in the Cascades by a geology class at Cascade High School in Leavenworth.

- Provide additional funding to the diverse, 150+ student outdoor program at Chelan High School for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years.

Potential
 

- Support on-going and new programs to address issues in the Enchantments.

- Support further efforts to minimize harmful effects of Forest Service cutbacks on the Alpine Lakes.

- Youth programs, including outdoor education, visits, and Scout projects. We are especially committed to programs that provide under-served youth with outdoor experiences and an appreciation of wilderness.

Many of these Recent and Current programs are funded on a matching basis – with the Foundation matching on a dollar-for-dollar basis amounts others give to us for these programs.

On request, we can provide more information about each program. Contributors can earmark donations for one or more specific programs or have their donation apply to all projects that still lack full funding. Every dollar donated for any program will be applied to that program; we are an all-volunteer foundation and we keep no portion of any contributions for administrative or other purposes.