After roughly a year of reviewing scenarios, a committee tasked with determining whether Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument should remain a U.S. Forest Service property or be turned over to the National Park Service has reached its conclusion: Keep the National Park Service away from the mountain.

While an economic report last fall touted the benefits of a "Mount St. Helens National Park," the committee made up of locals living around the volcano decided restrictions the Park Service might place on the destination would be too distasteful. Specifically, they voiced concerns about limits on hunting, fishing, and off-road vehicle travel.

Talk of transferring Mount St. Helens National Monument from the U.S. Forest Service to National Park Service arose back in July 2007 after the cash-strapped Forest Service announced it was going to close a visitor center in the monument, which the Forest Service has managed since it was designated in 1982.

The economic study, prepared for the Mount St. Helens Advisory Committee by the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Washington, said, in part, that as a national park the mountain would be better funded and have a higher national profile, thus attracting more visitors.

Under the NPS, Mount St. Helens is likely to enjoy more stable and potentially more bountiful funding. In addition, the prestige associated with designation as a National Park would attract a greater number of visitors. The economic benefits of such a designation would ripple through surrounding communities, and Washington State. Although redesignation may result in some minor use restrictions, these concerns can be mitigated, and any such loss almost certainly would be outweighed by the potential benefits.

The report goes on to add that the Park Service would be the best agency to see that the Mount St. Helens is protected geologically, ecologically, and culturally, while at the same time providing the public and scientists opportunities to "observe the natural recovery of a devastated environment."

"These purposes require both protection of the Mount St. Helens landscape, as well as development of access to the educational and recreational opportunities the mountain has to offer," wrote the authors. "We conclude in this Report that these dual goals would be best achieved if Congress placed Mount St. Helens under the management of the National Park Service . The NPS has the appropriate mandate, the appropriate funding mechanisms, and the appropriate management experience to properly balance the competing interests of use and preservation to meet the goals that Congress established and the promise that Mount St. Helens holds for future generations."

The advisory committee, meanwhile, believes the future of Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument could best be handled by the Forest Service if a new highway ran north from the monument to Randle, Washington; if the monument's budget was boosted, and; if overnight lodging was provided both at the now-closed Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center and elsewhere in the immediate vicinity.