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Judge Upholds Olympic National Park's Maintenance Work On Historic Structures In Official Wilderness

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A federal judge has ruled the National Park Service did not violate the Wilderness Act by making minimal repairs to this structure, the Canyon Creek Shelter, and four others in Olympic National Park/Eric Strang

A federal judge has agreed with the National Park Service's reasoning behind a decision to repair five historic buildings located in official wilderness in Olympic National Park, holding that the agency "made a reasoned finding of necessity by determining both that the structures are necessary to preserve historic values in Olympic National Park and that it was necessary to repair each one."

The summary judgment (attached below) handed down this past week rejected claims by Wilderness Watch, a nonprofit organization founded in 1989 to advocate for the "proper stewardship of lands and rivers included in the National Wilderness Preservation System," that the Park Service had acted arbitrarily and capriciously in repairing the structures in violation of the Wilderness Act. More so, it agreed with the Park Service that historic structures are not imcompatible with a wilderness setting.

“The court’s ruling has far-reaching implications,” Chris Moore, executive director of the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, noted in a prepared statement. “It enables the National Park Service and other federal agencies that manage America’s wilderness to meet their stewardship mission related to historic and cultural resources in a manner that complies with the Wilderness Act. Washingtonians understand that the historic structures in our backcountry areas complement the wilderness experience.”

At the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Brian Turner, the group's senior field officer and attorney, also was pleased with the ruling.

“We applaud the court for ruling that the designation of wilderness need not result in the erasure of cultural resources within that landscape,” said Mr. Turner. “We believe that Olympic National Park’s historic cabins, trail shelters, and other rustic structures are an enhancement, not a detriment to experiencing the land’s natural beauty and share the court’s opinion that the Wilderness Act and the National Historic Preservation Act can be used in concert to ensure that Olympic’s heritage is intact for future generations of park users.”

Olympic National Park encompasses an expansive and rugged rumpled landscape on the peninsula of Washington state. Within its borders there are 876,669 acres of official wilderness, and within that wilderness are 44 historic structures. "Many represent the activities of the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service, and others embody the perseverance of homesteaders and settlers and recreational development in the Peninsula," U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton noted in his 26-page ruling.

Five of those structures were central to the lawsuit brought by Wilderness Watch: Botten Cabin (also known as Wilder Patrol Cabin), Canyon Creek Shelter (also known as Sol Duc Falls Shelter), Wilder Shelter, Bear Camp Shelter, and Elk Lake Shelter. Since 2011, the Park Service has performed maintenance on those structures; in some cases, new roofs were needed, logs were decaying and needed to be replaced in others, and in one a chimney flue had rusted enough to merit replacement.

While the park staff did not perform a specific environmental assessment on these projects, the General Plan for Olympic adopted in 2008 addressed the need for repairs to historic structures in the wilderness area.

“Where historic structures or cultural landscapes have been included within designated wilderness, they will be protected and maintained using methods that are consistent with preservation of wilderness character and values and cultural resource requirements," the plan said.

"Tiered to the General Plan, the Park Service also completed a programmatic categorical exclusion," the judge noted. "The programmatic exclusion decided routine repair work on cultural structures — including basic seasonal maintenance and roof and structural maintenance — was exempt from NEPA analysis from 2008 to 2011 because no 'extraordinary circumstances' causing significant impacts on natural resources, cultural resources, or wilderness areas existed."

But Wilderness Watch argued that "the Park Service has failed to preserve Olympic National Park’s wilderness character and improperly rebuilt the five historic structures without first demonstrating their necessity, in violation of the Wilderness Act. It also argues that by relying on a categorical exclusion, and so failing to prepare an environmental assessment or impact statement taking a 'hard look' at the effects of its construction, the Park Service violated the NEPA."

In reply, the Park Service argued that "the Wilderness Act does not mandate the decay and eventual destruction of all historic structures in wilderness, nor does the (National Historic Preservation Act) require their preservation, either," Judge Leighton pointed out. "Rather, these acts work in tandem, furthering the Park Service’s mission to conserve scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein.

"Specifically," the judge wrote, "the Park Service argues the Wilderness Act allows it to maintain 'historically used' structures, so long as its preservation work is the 'minimum necessary.'"

Furthermore, he noted that the Park Service argued that, "although historic preservation is subject to the Wilderness Act, it is indeed a purpose of the Act. It argues that because the Act charges it with preserving Olympic National Park’s wilderness character, which includes a devotion to its 'historical use,' and with complying with cultural resource preservation statutes, it can maintain historic structures in wilderness, so long as the means used are 'necessary to meet the minimum requirements for administration of the Olympic Wilderness for the purpose of the Wilderness Act.'"

In approaching his conclusion, Judge Leighton noted that, "(W)hile the Act’s overarching ambition is the preservation of 'land retaining its primeval character and influence,' it does not require an agency to forfeit its other management values. It simply must administer those values in a way that preserves an area’s wilderness character, such as by leaving it unimpaired and by ensuring it is devoted to recreational, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use."

He went on to note that the Park Service "has a longstanding approach of preserving historic structures, subject to wilderness concerns. Even before Congress designated the Olympic Wilderness, the Park Service exercised its discretion under the Organic Act in removing structures that compromised the park’s wilderness character and preserving others."

In finding for the Park Service, Judge Leighton held that, "(I)n its 2008 General Plan, the Park Service evaluated its management approach under the Wilderness Act. It reiterated a version of its earlier approach, declaring it would protect and maintain historic structures 'using methods that are consistent with preservation of wilderness character and values.'

"The Park Service’s consideration of how to best manage manmade structures and wilderness in Olympic National Park, both before and after the Wilderness Act, has been thorough and consistent. Therefore, the Court defers to the Park Service’s conclusion that historic preservation furthers a goal of the Wilderness Act, and the Park Service’s actions here were appropriate if they were the minimum necessary. Indeed, the record as a whole — what the Court is charged with reviewing — demonstrates the agency made a reasoned finding of necessity by determining both that the structures are necessary to preserve historic values in Olympic National Park and that it was necessary to repair each one."

At Friends of Olympic National Park, Vice President Rod Farlee said, "The decision is a fitting tribute to former Washington Senator Daniel J. Evans. Senator Evans was instrumental to the passage of legislation creating the Olympic Wilderness and supported the preservation of its backcountry structures.”

On December 9, Congress passed a law renaming the wilderness in honor of Sen. Evans, which President Obama is expected to sign into law.

Comments

"(W)hile the Act's overarching ambition is the preservation of 'land retaining its primeval character and influence,' it does not require an agency to forfeit its other management values."

Federal courts give such wide latitude to the NPS it is unbelievable.  I personally experienced it when I watched a sixth circuit appeals judge interrupt the attorney questioning the legality of a fee by her interjection, "...well, what is a four dollar fee, its not that much".  And with that the case was settled in favor of the NPS.

When you are the federal government, the federal courts always side with you. You are fighting the king in the king's court. Take a look at the track record of citizens versus the NPS.  I'll bet the numbers of cases that have prevailed can be counted on one hand.  In the Smokies, which is supposed to be managed as a wilderness area, the NPS runs trucks, four wheelers and chain saws througout the backcountry on joyrides unparalleled.  And they have TWO shooting ranges smack dab in the backcountry.  TWO shooting ranges.  How many does the NPS need?  Have they ever even fired a shot?  

Sorry they ruled against you, Wilderness Watch.  But it was pre determined, as are all cases with the NPS Kings and Queens.


More Reasons to have Watchdog Organizations Monitoring
the Behavior and Project Proposals of NPS SUPERINTENDENTS:
 
IMAGINE,  ALL the Historic Ranger Patrol Cabins in Crater Lake NP were actually destroyed under former Supt. Donald Spalding, 1970.
 
In other portions of this oral interview, former Supt. Benton
displays his Ignorance of fire ecology by saying that
the prescribed fire program begun in 1976 under former Supt. Frank Betts and former Chief Ranger Dan Sholly
accomplished nothing.  Also, former Supt. Benton had little respect for The Wilderness Act.
 
 
http://craterlakeinstitute.com/online-library/robert-benton-oral-history/

 
"Crater Lake had just been allowed to go to hell, you know, in a word. We had to do things, and obviously, we needed to start looking at the total resource. 
 
We talked a while back about the travesty of the Wilderness Act, and some of these things that constantly threaten good park management. 
 
That's not an assist to park management. That's an enemy to be fought. Those we really have to watch carefully. Had there been a historian on board at the time that Superintendent Rouse, I think it was, decided to destroy all the back woods patrol cabins, that never would have happened (32). There would have been somebody saying, "Hey, wait a minute there, superintendent, you can't do that." So you do have to have the protection of a person with a historical bent."


Eventually one of those tall trees will fall on that structure and obliverate it. 

Regardless, I don't get the NPS stance against the wilderness act and it really does irk me because places like Yellowstone and the Smokies should be protected under that act.  I tend to agree that the wilderness should retain its primevil character at all costs.   Minimal trail maintence, and not being able to notice the human footprint should be a character of lands that fall under the act. Unfortunately, those that think that way are seen as extremists by the casual urban weekend warrior types..


Wilderness "may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value" and "shall be devoted to the public purposes of recreational, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use", all of which "shall be administered for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness".  That does not mean defacing petroglyphs, scattering the stones of ancient kivas, or removing sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Olympic Wilderness once had six fire lookouts, of which the Park has preserved only one (Dodger Point), a hundred Adirondack-style trail shelters, of which the Park has preserved only 18, many dozens of homestead cabins and barns, of which it has preserved only two, a dozen ranger stations of which it preserves only two, and six hostels of which it preserves only one (Enchanted Valley Chalet).  Two dozen selected historic structures, widely separated along 600 miles of trail in almost a million acres of Wilderness, each unique and preserved to enrich our appreciation of various chapters of this Wilderness' history.

When Olympic Wilderness was designated, Congress expressed its intent "[During House hearings], a concern was raised with the effect of wilderness designation on the [ONP] backcountry shelters. It would be my presumption that designation of the park as wilderness by this act should not, in and of itself, be utilized as justification for removal of any of these structures from the park.  Some of the structures may need to be removed for the purposes of environmental protection of the park.  For others, repairs and stabilization may be warranted to insure the preservation of their historic integrity.  Others may serve a substantial public purpose and should be retained for their benefits to public use." - 134 Cong. Rec. S16519 (daily ed. October 18, 1988) (statement of Sen. Evans).  NPS had selected 32 to be retained of the original hundred.  Today, only 18 remain.  That's why we cherish them all the more.

Historic value is a Wilderness value.  Preserving a few surviving historic sites is one purpose of Wilderness. 

 


Thanks Rod, with that viewpoint, I can see why they would want to preserve those remaining shelter.  The Smokies would face a similar situation with the graveyards, and historical structures if parts of this park ever became a desiganated wilderness, so I can see the point to maintain them to preserve their historic character.


The late Carsten Lien, author of OLYMPIC BATTLEGROUND, worried the most about Park Service indifference, namely, the deterioration of Olympic's backcountry trails. As he wrote, and often testified, once the public lost interest in the backcountry, the loggers could move back in. Never has the Park Service fully accepted its obligations as a wilderness steward. It prefers scenic (but generally "worthless") pockets of ice and snow. At least, that was Carsten's thesis, and on many a backcountry ramble he showed me the evidence, as it were. His principal concern was for the rain forests, in his view, still ripe for government shennigans, including turning park land over to Native tribes on the pretext it was "traditional."

I believe Carsten would approve of these restorations, but still add a note of caution. The battle for Olympic National Park will never be over as long as 35 billion board feet of timber remain. It is all the more reason to insist that Olympic's backcountry trails are restored along with these buildings. What the public can't see it forgets, and yes, there is much here the timber industry would like us to forget.


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