Skip to main content

Calendar

Coho salmon swimming under greenish water.

Red Barn Event- Enchantments: What Comes Next?

Thursday, December 11, 2025
7:00 pm8:00 pm
HYBRID EVENT: WRI's Red Barn 347 Division Street, Leavenworth, WA 98826 or livestream via our YouTube Channel
Mat Lyons, executive director of TREAD, a nonprofit advocating sustainable outdoor recreation, tears down an abandoned campsite at Colchuck Lake on Thursday. (Nick Wagner / The Seattle Times)

Streaming link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmaKfMFofyc&list=PLjATQxBXvvgXSiC_qr24e5jmPS-LyJ5T9&index=34

No registration required, but RSVP to receive email reminders and updates about this event!

Doors open at 6:30pm for a community social with beer and wine available for purchase. The presentation will start at 7:00pm.

After a summer of overcrowding and understaffing in The Enchantments, the issue of day use management has reached an inflection point. Will this offseason present an opportunity to make changes along the Icicle Creek corridor, and if so, what will they entail? Hear from Seattle Times outdoors reporter Gregory Scruggs, who covered the issue closely this summer and traveled to Colorado to learn how another mountain town grappled with a similar challenge, along with Sarah Shaffer, Executive Director of Wenatchee Outdoors, who will share insights on the on-the-ground work with over 40 volunteers in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, packing out pounds of trash from the Enchantments Wilderness area, and Mat Lyons, Executive Director of TREAD, who has been working with Chelan County stakeholders on a proposal for alternative transportation options to Enchantments trailheads.

About the presenters:
Gregory Scruggs (he/him) is the outdoors reporter at The Seattle Times, where he writes about the intersection of recreation, land management and the outdoor industry in Washington. His coverage takes him deep into the Cascades and out on the Salish Sea. In 2022, he won the President’s Award in the newspaper category from the Outdoor Writers Association of America.

Sarah Shaffer (she/her) is the Executive Director of Wenatchee Outdoors, a nonprofit focused on engaging volunteers and the community in stewardship and recreation in North Central Washington. She will share insights from WenOut’s efforts in the Enchantments Wilderness, including volunteer stewardship projects in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service.

Mat Lyons (he/him) is the Executive Director of TREAD, a nonprofit that collaborate with all partners to drive sustainable outdoor recreation initiatives in North Central Washington.