A personal view of Mount Rainier and climate change

Cleve Pinnix chats with visitors at the
Grove of the Patriarchs in 2008.

Cleve Pinnix has been associated with Mount Rainier for a long time. He's served as a park ranger, a volunteer, and a board member for Washington's National Park Fund. He's hiked and backpacked all over the Mountain.

The Mountain is the thread that runs through the course of our lives. We’ve never lost that sense of awe, looking from tidewater to see the summit shining nearly three vertical miles into the sky.

Recently, he wrote an Op Ed for The Bellingham Herald, responding to the recent special report in The Olympian and The News Tribune called "Losing Paradise." His personal perspective, over half a century of experience with Mount Rainier, is unique and thought-provoking. Among other things, he answers the question "what can I do?"

The question since reading the newspaper’s report has been: “What can we do?” Mourn the loss of access to the most precious place in our lives? Accept that the changes in the park are irreversible? We think not. We believe there are ways to work for positive change.

Read more in The Bellingham Herald at http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2015/01/28/4099513/a-personal-view-of-mt-rainier.html.