U.S. Forest Service

Hi-Tech Rockfall contractors remove a hazard tree on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, before resuming scaling operations. Unstable rock, loosened during the Eagle Creek fire, is being scaled along the Historic Columbia River Highway for safety. Additional work includes the installation of a rockfall barrier behind Multnomah Falls Lodge.





By Allan Brettman

The Oregonian | OregonLive



A circular, wood deck viewing platform at the top of Multnomah Falls is believed to have survived the Eagle Creek fire, a U.S. Forest Service official said Saturday.



"We've not gotten up there to assess the condition," said Rachel Pawlitz, spokeswoman for the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, which is part of the Forest Service, "but from aerial flights, it looks like the structure is intact."

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U.S. Forest Service

Hi-Tech Rockfall contractors remove a hazard tree on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, before resuming scaling operations. Unstable rock, loosened during the Eagle Creek fire, is being scaled along the Historic Columbia River Highway for safety. Additional work includes the installation of a rockfall barrier behind Multnomah Falls Lodge.





However, the Forest Service will not know for certain until a visual inspection is made of the platform, which juts into the falls at its 620-foot-high top. The wood deck is perhaps 14 feet in diameter and rimmed by a metal railing on the side closest to the falls and a rock wall near the entrance.

Pawlitz said Forest Service workers have not made the trek to the top after the fire near the lodge was extinguished primarily because rockfall and other debris block the trail leading from Multnomah Falls Lodge.

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U.S. Forest Service

A great blue heron enjoys Multnomah Creek on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017. Coho salmon are still spawning in Multnomah Creek after the Eagle Creek fire, the U.S. Forest Service says.







Pawlitz said on Friday the lodge may open in December. However, the trail leading from the lodge will remain closed with no projected opening date.



Excessive rockfall and other debris, loosed by the fire, has collapsed a cyclone retention fence across the trail near the lodge. That debris must be cleared and a new fence constructed, Pawlitz said, part of the $500,000 the Forest Service expects to spend restoring the Multnomah Falls area.

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U.S. Forest Service

Workers pressure wash the front of Multnomah Falls Lodge on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, one of the steps toward its eventual re-opening.





Pawlitz said on Friday that the inside and outside of the lodge is being cleaned. The lodge is being prepared for the reopening in cooperation with the lodge concessionaire, Multnomah Falls Co. Inc.



The lodge was built by the city of Portland "to capitalize on the booming tourist trade through the Columbia River Gorge which was opened to automobile travel July 6, 1915," according to the 1981 application for its (successful) inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. The Tudor-style lodge, 33 miles east of Portland, was designed by the prolific Portland architect A.E. Doyle; it was built by Waale-Shattuck Co. for $40,000 – the equivalent today of approximately $560,000.

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U.S. Forest Service

A large burned-out tree trunk and an excessive amount of rock have collapsed the cyclone fence across a trail above Multnomah Falls Lodge. The debris, shown on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, must be cleared and another protective fence constructed before the trail, leading to the Benson Bridge, which spans the falls at its base.





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U.S. Forest Service

Multnomah Falls was flowing at high volume on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, because of recent rainfall, the U.S. Forest Service says. The Forest Service, based on recommendations from its Burned Area Emergency Response (BEAR) team, is taking steps to mitigate rock fall landslides including rock scaling along historic highway and the construction of a fence to catch falling material to protect the lodge area.





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U.S. Forest Service

The Tanner Creek Watershed, shown here in this Oct. 31, 2017, photo, was among the areas that burned the hottest in the Eagle Creek fire, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Wildfires can burn through organic materials in soils, releasing waxy substances that coat soil particles—basically 'shrink-wrapping' the soil and giving it a water repellent property, the Forest Service says. Eagle Creek Fire burned through vegetation on slopes in several Gorge watersheds, which further destabilized soil and rocks and made them more susceptible to erosion or sliding during heavy rains.





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U.S. Forest Service

Joe Hannon and Bill Schneider of the National Weather Service in Portland set up a remote weather station in the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area on Oct. 31, 2017. Remote Automated Weather Systems (RAWS) like this one are portable versions of more permanent systems that are used by National Weather Service forecasters, U.S. Forest Service and other land management agencies in remote locations during and after wildfires, to enhance forecasting. The Tanner Creek station will measure temperature, humidity, wind direction, wind speed and rainfall – enhancing the ability of the National Weather Service in Portland to issue forecasts, watches and warnings for communities in the Interstate 84 travel corridor.





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U.S. Forest Service

Ferns were sprouting Oct. 31, 2017, across a hillside in the Tanner Creek area, not long after the Eagle Creek fire raged through the area.





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U.S. Forest Service

The Angels Rest Trail, shown here on Oct. 8, 2017, is closed because of rockfall and slide dangers resulting from the Eagle Creek fire.





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U.S. Forest Service

This sprouting fern was photographed Oct. 30, 2017 in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, not long after the Eagle Creek fire swept through.



