Religion Desk
How do faith and values shape life in the Pacific Northwest? Join FāVS News producer Jason Jones for in-depth conversations with locals navigating questions of belief, ethics and community. From the Inland Northwest to across Washington state, Religion Desk explores the stories behind the headlines — one interview at a time.
Religion Desk
Holden Village Interview with Emma Maple
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Reporter Emma Maple joined the podcast for a brief interview about her recent article about Holden Village and their closure for the year because of recent landslides.
This is Jason Jones with Faves News. Last December, landslides hit the road to Holden Village, and the landslides knocked out the only road to it. Now they might be closed until 2027. Reporter Emma Maple joins us from Faves News to share her story about Holden Village. Welcome, Emma.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_00Emma, what is Holden Village and and what exactly happened?
SPEAKER_01So Holden Village is probably best described as a summer camp retreat center. It's kind of very rurally located. So the only way to get there is you have to take a boat across Lake Shellan, and from there you'll be on a Forest Service Road for about 30 to 40 minutes before you get to the village. Back in December, when Washington was going through a lot of storms and floods, Holden Village was definitely impacted. So some of the flooding caused landslides on that one road that led to the access of Holden Village. No one's exactly sure how much damage exists because people had to be evacuated. So not a ton of people are up there right now. The landslides can't really be evaluated until winter is over because it's also an active avalanche area.
SPEAKER_00From what I understand, some former workers and volunteers tried to fix the road themselves.
SPEAKER_01So completely unauthorized by Holden Village. A few people with very well-meaning attentions went into Holden Village and attempted to do some repairs, probably trying to get it open so people wouldn't be without that resource. But it is a Forest Service Road, so they have to wait for the federal government to fix it and they shouldn't be doing authorized repairs on their own.
SPEAKER_00What are they doing to keep the place going while it's closed?
SPEAKER_01A small skeleton crew is up there just making sure that maintenance is being completed. And Holden Village is also attempting to hold some virtual events so that the community of Holden Village can stay united even while the physical location isn't open.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Emma.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_00This is Jason Jones with Faves News.