If you share with us a passion for Olympic National Park, a concern for the Park's future, and a vision that Olympic National Park should always be a wild and natural place, we invite you to join Olympic Park Associates. As a member you will receive our newsletter, and special mailings alerting you to issues impacting the Park. More importantly, you will be supporting an organization that has been working since 1948 to preserve Olympic National Park's wilderness beauty and splendor "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" of present and future generations. OPA is 501(c)(3) tax deductible organization.
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Congressman Dicks and Senator Murray Release Wild Olympics Proposal The Wild Olympics Campaign to establish more wilderness in Olympic National Forest, create new Wild and Scenic Rivers and add critical habitat lands to Olympic National Park has taken a giant step forward. Congressman Norm Dicks and Senator Patty Murray released a draft proposal in November for land and watershed protections in the Olympics, and they invite public comment. This is a huge development in the campaign, and the Congressman and Senator deserve our thanks for their vision and commitment. Dicks's and Murray's staff spent more than a year talking to constituents on the Olympic Peninsula, and their draft proposal reflects opinions from a wide spectrum of Peninsula interests, including elected officials, tribes, timber companies, sportsmen, and recreationists. Their "discussion draft proposal", took its lead from the Wild Olympics Campaign proposal, but it makes some significant changes. The congressional proposal adheres fairly closely to the Wild Olympics' proposals, identifying slightly less acreage for Forest Service wilderness and the same 23 rivers Wild and Scenic River protections. But it differs markedly from our National Park/Preserve proposals (see "The Case for Olympic Park Additions," in the Summer, 2010 Voice of the Wild Olympics).
Our additions in the Lyre River area of Lake Crescent remain unchanged, but additions around Lake Ozette and Queets Ridge were significantly reduced, and the 5,000-acre South Fork Hoh addition was dropped. The congressional draft proposal is for 20,000 acres of willing-seller additions; the Wild Olympics' proposal is for 37,397 acres. A large part of these reductions were the result of Peninsula-based opposition to including Washington State (DNR) trust lands in the proposal. This led to the dropping of the South Fork Hoh and much of the Queets corridor. Other deletions reflect timber company opposition, such as the elimination of Lake Ozette's Umbrella Creek lands, which are critical spawning waters for threatened Ozette Sockeye. The congressional plan calls for National Preserve rather than National Park designation, a measure the Wild Olympics campaign proposed to accommodate Tribal and public hunting in the additions. Otherwise the preserves are to be managed as National Parks. Most importantly, our proposal is now on a legislative track, and the conversation has begun. Dicks's and Murray's offices will hold a series of public meetings on their proposals. Dates and locations are listed below.
Please plan to attend a meeting near you and express your support for the Wild Olympics, including your favorite places. Meeting Locations Port Townsend — Thursday, December 1, 2011 — 5 to 7 pm at the Chapel Building at Fort Worden State Park.
The Wild Olympics Campaign: Olympic Park Associates and the Wild Olympics Coalition are proposing four areas for willing-seller park additions: Lyre River, Ozette Basin, South Fork Hoh River and Queets River corridor. These areas total approximately 36,000 acres and are currently owned and managed by the Forest Service, Washington Department of Natural Resources, and private timber companies primarily for timber production. These areas go beyond the park's GMP recommendations but more closely resemble areas identified by scientists as crucial for the long-term protection of park resources. Park Service acquisition of these lands on a willing-seller basis over time would remove them from short-rotation logging, repair or remove roads and, most importantly, restore streams and habitats. Wildlife would have increased protections, and forests would eventually return to natural conditions. Additionally, unmanageable boundaries like the 250-foot-wide park strip around Lake Ozette and a narrow, two-mile corridor along the Queets River would be corrected.
Park Plans for Spruce Railroad Trail Expansion In September, Olympic National Park released a plan to upgrade the historic Spruce Railroad trail into two new sections of the Olympic Discovery Trail, a multi-user trail that will eventually extend from Port Townsend to La Push on the Olympic coast. The plan calls for major construction, reopening two historic railroad tunnels, restoring the original 11-foot railroad bed, and paving a 6-foot trail surface to accommodate handicapped users and bicyclists. A 4-foot gravel trail will be maintained alongside the blacktop to accommodate hikers, joggers, and equestrians. OPA is supporting the park's plan (alternative 3 in the Spruce Railroad Trail Expansion and Improvement Environmental Assessment) with some important modifications. We have asked the park service:
OPA feels the Olympic Discovery Trail is an important public resource on the peninsula. Its extension through Olympic National Park at Lake Crescent and in the lower Sol Duc valley will bring new visitors who will be able to experience the park's beauty and surrounding wilderness in ways not currently available at Olympic. At the same time OPA strongly opposes a Clallam County proposal (alternative 4 in the EA) that would increase the paved trail surface to 8 feet, widen the trail shoulders, and increase the cleared width of the trail corridor to 14 feet. This proposal would also construct a new handicapped-accessible approach trail along the eastern portion that would necessitate logging and bulldozing a minimum 20-foot corridor (expandable up to 50 feet) for hundreds of feet through mature second-growth forest above the lakeshore. We agree with park planners that this type of heavy-handed development is inappropriate for a national park, particularly in an unspoiled scenic area like Lake Crescent. You can support OPA's recommendation by going to: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/olym and clicking on "Open for Public Comment," or you can send a letter to: Superintendent — SRRT EA, Olympic National Park, 600 E. Park Ave., Port Angeles, WA 98382. Deadline for comments on the plan is Friday, October 12, 2011. The full environmental assessment, including the executive summary, is at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/srrt. Please read OPA's letter on the Spruce Railroad Trail Expansion and Improvement Environmental Assessment
Returning the Fisher to Olympic Peninsula
Returning the Gray Wolf to Olympic National Park
Electronic Library (NPS History E-Library)
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Other Organizations Working to Protect the Olympic Peninsula Olympic Environmental Council Olympic Forest Coalition Wild Olympics Coalition |
