Wild Olympics Campaign Addressed Issues

Below is a list of the accommodations and adjustments we have made to date to address concerns from other local stakeholders.

Forest Management

West Fork Humptulips Thin Sale in Grays Harbor County

In response to concerns raised by Grays Harbor County Commissioners, the Campaign excluded all cutting units identified in the Olympic National Forest’s scheduled West Fork Humptulips Thin sale to ensure that the proposed wilderness area would not conflict with that activity. While there are a few cutting units within the quarter-mile buffer of the proposed Wild and Scenic River designation for the East Fork Humptulips River, because that river has been determined “eligible” by the Forest Service, it is already being managed as it would after designation with respect to the sale. In summary, the proposal will have no impact on the sale.

Communication Towers in Grays Harbor County

In response to concerns raised by Tribes and community leaders in Grays Harbor County, two communication towers (repeater sites) have been excluded from the proposed wilderness to ensure that access and maintenance of those facilities will remain unchanged.

Recreation & Access

Mountain Bike Use on Olympic National Forest

The Campaign has had several meetings with leading mountain bike advocates on the Olympic Peninsula to identify key mountain bike opportunities on the Olympic National Forest that may conflict with areas proposed for wilderness. A number of areas (nearly 13,000 acres) were identified that were important and well-used trails that ultimately were excluded from the proposed wilderness in order to ensure that those riding opportunities would continue in the future. In many cases, these non-wilderness trail corridors would be protected within a proposed Wild and Scenic River designation. Mountain bike trails that were excluded from the proposed wilderness and would therefore be unaffected include:

Motorized Trail Use on Olympic National Forest

A handful of trails that are currently open to motorized use on the Olympic National Forest originally conflicted with early wilderness proposals by the Campaign. Ultimately, all but one trail on the Forest open to motorized use were excluded from the proposal, in part, to address concerns from motorized trail users who would not be able to use the area if it was designated as wilderness. Motorized trails that have been excluded from the wilderness (encompassing about 8,000 acres) proposal and would therefore be unaffected include:

• Lower Dungeness Trail #833.3
• Gold Creek Trail #830
• Mt. Zion Trail #836
• Lower Pete's Creek Trail #858
• Lower Big Quilcene Trail #833.3

Large Group Use at Lena Lake

Lena Lake and its access trail, located on the east side of the Olympic Peninsula, adjacent to The Brothers Wilderness, is one of the most popular and heavily used trails in the area and often accommodates large party sizes (i.e., 12 or more). Responding to concerns raised by hiking and recreation groups, a narrow trail corridor and the lake were excluded from the wilderness proposal and will continue to be managed as a late successional reserve consistent with its underlying semi-primitive non-motorized designations. This ensures that historical levels and types of use can continue (especially for groups of educational users such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and school groups).

Tribal and Forest Service Administrative Access to the “Undi” Road

After concerns were raised about ongoing mechanized needs for hunting and fishing access and resource management by certain Tribes and the Forest Service, the gated Forest Service road #2932 (“Undi Road”) was excluded from the wilderness proposal to allow current access to continue.

Recreational and Tribal Access to Rugged Ridge

After concerns were raised by certain Tribes, West Peninsula residents and user groups about the need for mechanized access to the Rugged Ridge trailhead, Forest Service Roads #2900-070, 2900-072, 2900-075, 2900-078 were excluded from the wilderness proposal to ensure continued access for these activities.

Future Road & Trailhead Access

The Campaign has made a significant effort to ensure that current access to trailheads and open roads will be retained in the current proposal. The current access to all existing trails and primary trailheads within the proposal will be unchanged by the proposal. There are no roads that the Forest Service plans to maintain as open in the future (Level 1 or higher) in the proposal. The proposed wilderness does include a restoration component that includes approximately 65 miles of roads slated to be decommissioned or proposed trail conversions in the 2003 Olympic National Forest Access and Travel Management Plan. These road segments are not envisioned by the Forest Service to carry vehicle traffic or provide management or administrative functions in the future because of excessive maintenance costs, conservation damage or lack of functionality. They do, however, provide a powerful restoration opportunity to consolidate wilderness and watershed protection in the future.

Proposal Implementation

Wild & Scenic River Designations

The Campaign is proposing Wild and Scenic River designation only for contiguous river stretches flowing through state or federal lands. We are not proposing Wild and Scenic River designation for any river stretches that flow through private lands unless the landowner agrees.

While Wild and Scenic River designation bans dams and other harmful federally-assisted water projects in the bed or banks of the river it does not give the federal government regulatory authority over zoning or land use activities on private lands adjacent to the designated river.

However, in the process of stakeholder consultation, the Campaign adjusted our Wild & Scenic River proposal to exclude private lands owned by individual land owners or timber interests where there was not an agreement to be included within the proposal. Proposed river reaches that were shortened include:

Addressing Concerns About Proposed Willing Seller Park/Preserve Additions

In response to compromises put forward in the 2008 Final General Management Plan of Olympic National Park, the proposal adopts the "willing seller" park expansion mechanism recommended in the plan. Under "willing seller," the park boundary would not change unless local landowners wanted it to. "Willing seller" allows the Park Service a chance to purchase lands should they ever be offered for sale. However, unlike past Olympic National Park Additions, the willing seller proposal is not a mandate. Under willing seller there is no requirement for landowners to sell, nor any requirement for them to sell to the Park Service, nor is there any interim regulatory impact. This mechanism for park expansion is unprecedented in Washington state and is consistent with the Campaign’s goal of respecting private property rights.

The Campaign received feedback from stakeholders expressing concern with the entirety of the park addition boundaries proposed in the Resource Protection Alternative B within Olympic National Park’s Draft General Management Plan. That resource protection alternative recommended five areas totaling 86,000 acres. After several meetings with timber companies, land trusts, other landowners and local opinion leaders, the Campaign excluded a number of areas from its proposal in order to address specific concerns raised. As a result of these reductions, the Campaign’s current draft proposal calls for four areas of willing seller park/preserve additions totaling approximately 37,000 acres.

Based on additional feedback from Tribal and non-Tribal hunters, the Campaign is open to a National “Preserve” to reate new, permanent public hunting destinations.