By Max Broennle | FāVS News Reporter
For generations of Lutherans, Holden Village has been a place of spiritual renewal deep in the North Cascades — what one longtime volunteer calls “one of the thin spots in the world where you rub up against both the secular and the sacred at the same time.”
That decades-old tradition of spiritual connection now hangs in the balance after flooding and mudslides forced the evacuation of all staff on Dec. 13, blocking the remote retreat center’s only road access and shuttering operations for now. The leadership team is currently formulating plans on how to safely return.
“I basically fell in love with the place,” said Pastor John Hergert, a retired pastor who has been visiting and volunteering at Holden Village since the mid-1990s. He first visited for a Synod Council meeting and was struck by the beauty of the North Cascades and the welcoming community fostering spiritual growth.
Thirty-nine staff members and three children were initially evacuated by helicopter after the Dec. 13 flooding. A skeleton crew of 11 remained to secure the site for winter, but all have since been evacuated. The village’s leadership is now formulating plans for a safe return, prioritizing staff and volunteer wellbeing, according to a Dec. 27 Facebook post.
For co-director Elise Peterson, the immediate crisis brought practical challenges: finding housing and employment for displaced staff, and calculating financial losses from a canceled winter guest season.
“Very quickly we were able to find temporary housing for all of our displaced staff,” Peterson said. “The larger Holden community reached out almost immediately with offers of housing and other support.”
The climate connection
This isn’t Holden’s first evacuation. Hergert was volunteering in 2015 when the Wolverine fire forced staff to disperse — an event he now sees as connected to the current crisis.
“In my opinion, the mudslides are an indirect result of the fire,” Hergert said. “The fire, of course, removes so much of the underbrush, which was needed, but trees were damaged and then avalanche shoots became more and more of a problem.”
The December floods that hit Holden also devastated communities across the Pacific Northwest. King County issued emergency evacuations as floodwaters rushed into neighborhoods, according to Axios Seattle.
Scientists attribute the record-breaking floods and mudslides to an increase in atmospheric rivers — areas of the atmosphere that transport large amounts of water from tropical climates to drier ones like the West Coast — intensified by climate change, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“As human-caused climate change continues to warm the planet, the number of days that the western U.S. will experience atmospheric rivers is projected to increase,” the USDA’s Climate Hub said. “Atmospheric rivers are also expected to be bigger and more hazardous on average.”
After spending six months in Shishmaref, Alaska, Hergert gave a presentation at Holden Village about the connections between remote communities and climate change.
“I think that we’re one of those places where we see what the future might bring for all of us,” Hergert said. “Because we’re at a precarious position, we feel those effects faster than the general population does. We are a red flag warning, in my opinion.”
Looking ahead
Peterson said Holden Village faces significant challenges during the closure.
“Finding short term or longer term employment for staff is a big priority,” she said. “We also don’t fully know what the financial repercussions of this closure will be, but we’ll likely face some big revenue losses until we can reopen.”
The retreat center is accepting donations online and by mail, with information available on its website.
Despite the uncertainty, Peterson remains hopeful about Holden’s future.
“I have so much hope in the resilience of this community,” she said. “Holden Village is a beautiful place, but an even more beautiful community. We have come together before to weather difficult storms, and I have so much hope and faith that we will come together again.”
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