BTF-
The Deforest Creek Slide (aka Deer Creek slide) occurred during the winter of 1983/84. This event was more of an erosion event than what would be considered to be a "slide". A debris torrent (old logging debris a major component) flowed down Deforest Creek and opened up the toe of the bank. Since the hill side was mostly layered sands and gravels with water piping through the sand lens the exposed hill side "calved" much like a glacier moving upslope. The water flowing out the sand layers would cause the sand to erode away and the layers above would collapse keeping the eroding face more or less vertical. The result is a very impressive (or depressing) scar in the hill side.

It has been estimated that more than a million yards of material flowed into Deer Creek from just this one source. In the 18 months that the "slide" was most active it was estimated that 1,000 yards of material was entering the creek daily. To picture how much material this consider that a 1,000 yards is the same of 100 dump truck loads of material entering the Creek at a single point each and every day. The really depressing stat is that the Deforest Creek was the source of only about 1/2 of the eroding material entering Deer Creek during the 1980s and 90s.

The slide is isolated behind locked gates. However it can be seen from a Forest service road. If one access the upper Deer Creek basin through Seagleson Pass (north and west from Darrington) and continue west you encounter several spots to view the slide from a distance.

Regarding past logging practices - The damage caused to many of our watersheds by excessive logging rates and poor land management decisions means that most of the watersheds will not recover in our life times. It will take decades or even centuries for them to heal. In the trashed basins any continued logging (even with more beign prescriptions) will delay the recovery time. It is akin to picking at scabs keeping the wound a raw sore - which in my opinion is exactly would the current Forest and Fish Laws are doing for many of our basins.

Tight Lines
Smalma