Soon, More Olympic National Park to Love

My favorite park has plans for expansion. The Peninsula Daily News has obtained an advance copy of the new Olympic National Park draft management plan. According to their article, the park is looking to add an additional 16,000 acres in three big watersheds on its north and west sides. These new areas include expansions around Lake Crescent, Lake Ozette, and the Queets River. A majority of the land acquisition - 12,000 acres - is focused in the Lake Ozette watershed (presumably on the lakes east side, since the west side is already within the park). In addition, the park is working with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources for 44,000 acres of state land around Ozette to be managed as a "legacy forest".

Of course the land isn't automatically added. When the draft management plan is published, there will be a 90 day comment period. Then it is up to the U.S. Congress to give final approval of the land acquisitions. You can expect that there will be comment. Logging is still big business on the Olympic Peninsula. If more trees are to be "locked-up" within the boundaries of the park, there will surely be some grumbling. Once upon a time I had written a list at Amazon.com called "An Olympic Peninsula Primer", which may be of interest to some of you. The list includes books which address some of the historical conflicts in the area: old growth forests, spotted owls, and whale hunts among others.