A landslide covered Little River Road west of Port Angeles on December 10, 2025. Earth Law Center says it came from the Aldwell clearcut—an area where geotechnical experts warned the state years ago that slope failure was likely. Legacy media hasn’t reported it. The facts raise a bigger question: why some environmental damage sparks outrage, while other known hazards are quietly allowed to worsen.

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A Landslide Nobody Seems to Be Talking About

On the night of December 10, a landslide slid off the Aldwell clearcut and onto Little River Road. Photos from the scene show a significant slope failure directly above a public access corridor used year-round by locals and visitors.

What’s notable isn’t just the slide itself—but how little attention it’s received. Despite the road being covered by debris, there has been no meaningful coverage from local legacy media outlets.

Earth Law Center, however, says this was not a surprise.

The Warning Came Years Ago

Back in 2022, Earth Law Center commissioned an independent geotechnical report focused on the Aldwell area. That report was submitted to the Washington Department of Natural Resources and raised clear concerns about slope instability.

The report warned that mapped and unmapped landslides, combined with groundwater recharge areas, could send rock and sediment downhill—into a county road and a fish-bearing tributary of the Elwha River.

Local geotechnical engineer Glen Wade of North Shore Geo, based in Port Angeles, submitted multiple comments to DNR reinforcing those concerns. According to Earth Law Center, those warnings were largely brushed aside.

Public Concerns Were Raised—and Then Ignored

This wasn’t just a technical issue raised by consultants. Members of the public and elected officials spoke up, but none of that changed the outcome.

The response from DNR, as described by Earth Law Center, was essentially: it was too late to stop the sale, and there was no need to worry about impacts to water flow.

Logging went forward in March 2023.

Less than three years later, the landslide predicted in the geotechnical report happened.

Who’s Speaking Out

Earth Law Center’s contacts on this issue include Elizabeth Dunne, who has appeared in previous CC Watchdog reporting related to forest policy and environmental litigation.

Another is Wendy Rae Johnson, currently the Auditor for the Clallam Conservation District, who publicly describes herself as a soil advocate and climate solutions educator.

Their concern over the Aldwell landslide is understandable. But it also highlights a growing inconsistency in how environmental harm is addressed locally.

Why Some Environmental Damage Gets a Pass

If slope instability and watershed protection are urgent issues, other areas in Clallam County deserve the same level of concern.

Behind Country Aire in Port Angeles, homeless encampments have been allowed to expand for years on a steep bluff where vegetation has been stripped away. That bluff sits below homes. The slope is unstable. The risk is obvious.

Up Tumwater Creek, an environmental catastrophe continues to grow. Encampments line the banks. Garbage, debris, and human waste are ending up in the creek—much of it tied to harm-reduction distribution. Tumwater Creek is salmon-bearing.

There are no drone photo releases. No urgent press statements. No calls for immediate intervention.

Why?

Where Is the Conservation District?

The Clallam Conservation District now has guaranteed funding—roughly $2 million over the next decade—through a parcel fee imposed without a public vote.

If salmon recovery and soil health are priorities, why isn’t Tumwater Creek a top-tier restoration project?

There are volunteers already doing cleanup work there. Many would welcome collaboration with Earth Law Center or the CCD on real, on-the-ground solutions.

Environment or Political Weapon

This tension mirrors a broader critique from the Washington Policy Center: too often, environmental issues are used as political leverage rather than treated as practical problems that need fixing.

Some activists exaggerate risks to justify expensive policies that burden taxpayers. Others dismiss real environmental concerns entirely because they’ve lost trust in government programs that fail to deliver results.

Both approaches undermine public confidence—and the environment itself.

“Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.” — Thomas Sowell

The Question That Matters

The Aldwell landslide deserves scrutiny. So does the decision-making process that allowed it to happen.

But so do the environmental hazards officials and advocates have allowed to persist closer to home.

If environmental stewardship is about outcomes—not politics—it can’t be selective.

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