Oso Slide Memorial as my parents and I visited it on Sunday the 3rd of May 2020 is the temporary memorial dedicated to the mud/landslide that took place along SR 530 in Oso, Washington on the 22nd of March 2014. There is a more permanent memorial in the works that has a tentative deadline of 2025. You can read more about it on the memorial's website.
I remember this slide when it happened. I was taking coursework in sedimentology and stratigraphy as part of the requirements for my degree in Geology and Geophysics when the slide occurred. As part of our curriculum we learned about river and stream flow and how it affects the surrounding landscape/soil. On one of our exams we were tested on why the slide had occurred. Broken down, the two major factors leading to the slide were heavy rainfall and bank destabilization. A reduction in the number of trees in the area removed tree root systems that helped stabilize the bank/hill. Heavy rainfall meant heavier water flow in the neighboring river. Increased water flow led to more water eroding the dirt/soil along the banks of the river destabilizing the slope from below. Combine that with destabilization higher in the slope from a decrease in the number of trees and swoosh went the land.
This course I was taking at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa in Honolulu. The impact of the landslide was immediate both in the surrounding community of Oso as I learned at this memorial and more widespread in the geological community. I was happy to finally make it out to this memorial as it was an event I heard and learned about at the time.
The temporary memorial is beautiful. It honors the victims who lost their lives during the slide as well as those who survived and those who helped in response to the event. I loved the 43 trees planted, each one decorated in memory of an individual who died in the slide. The placards provided useful information about the landslide and the social impact it had. I value this as the human impact was one not so much covered in my technical training. Views of the surrounding mountains and the surface where the land slid were stunning. I also liked the artwork included to help give a feel for what the place used to be, a home to those who were killed, survived, and/or lost their home there. read more