New task force to aid Wash. mudslide victims

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Nikki Stinson (left) and her son Montana (right) tidy up boots and clothing used by volunteers helping those affected by the recent devastating mudslide, March 29.

Washington State University is assembling a task force comprised of faculty and staff to orchestrate recovery efforts in response to last month’s mudslide northeast of Seattle.

Curt Moulton, director of WSU’s Snohomish County Extension office, is leading the recovery operation. He said it will take several years for the communities of Oso and Darrington to fully recuperate. However, Moulton remains optimistic that WSU can help those affected by the mudslide get back on their feet.  

“There’s a lot of energy and a lot of hope,” he said. “As a university, we have a lot to contribute when a community is knocked down like this one has been.”

Economic recovery is one term Moulton used to describe the type of work WSU plans on doing in the Snohomish County region. Moulton said the goal would be to combine WSU’s research on aviation biofuel alternatives with endeavors toward revitalizing the shaken communities. The biofuel will help reduce the carbon footprint of planes and helicopters involved in rescue operations.

“It’s using softwood and byproducts to produce fuels directly for aviation,” Moulton said. “We’re also looking at using hardwood.”

WSU students will have the opportunity to aid in the recovery efforts through an internship program beginning this summer. The internships will provide students the ability to work on the grounds of Snohomish County where the mudslide occurred and assist recovery agencies in any possible way.

“We’re going to make those available first to the 92 WSU students who are from that area and have been affected by the slide, then to the general student population,” said Mike Gaffney, director of the WSU Division of Governmental Studies and Services and the Office of Emergency Management.

Gaffney is collaborating with ASWSU to organize student-funded weekend trips for people interested in working on service projects located throughout the Oso-Darrington area. Gaffney anticipates the volunteer trips to begin this upcoming fall semester.

Although the proposed student-recovery plans are in their preliminary stages, Gaffney said this will develop into a chance for everyone to make a difference.

“This is an opportunity to move it up a level or two and do something really meaningful,” he said. “If WSU can make a difference for the people in those communities and help them move toward whatever their future is going to look like in a better way, that’s a really good thing for WSU to be doing.”  

Devon Seymour, a junior political science and French major, is taking the position as WSU’s SR530 slide recovery team student liaison.

Serving currently as the ASWSU director of academic affairs, Seymour said she is helping organize a fall fundraiser banquet dedicated to raising money for students who live in Oso and Darrington whose tuition was waived on April 2 by President Elson S. Floyd.

“The tuition waiver doesn’t take into account the cost of travel, rent and some of the basic necessities that get overlooked, but are still some things that students need help with,” Seymour said. “A lot of the banquet funds will go to that.”

Seymour is also involved in the community engagement aspect of the fall weekend service trip in Snohomish County.  

“We’re hoping to have a couple of charter buses full of students to go in and do environmental restoration and community volunteer work for a full weekend,” she said.

WSU is waiting until the impacted region requests assistance, Seymour said, adding that there is already a large number of boots on the ground helping. However, it is likely that the current level of support will decline in the coming months.

“As the publicity dies down and as things return to what is normal for the rest of the region, that help is going to go away,” Seymour said. “Part of this weekend is to fill that gap and get a lot of work done in a shorter amount of time.”