Much public debate has ensued over whether Olympic National Forest should rebuild the Dosewallips River Road since its washout from a storm in January 2002. A new and significant development has cast new light on that debate, and prompted Washington Trails Association to take a position against rebuilding the Dosewallips River Road. After nearly four years of attempting to site the road in an environmentally friendly location, the proposed alternatives continue to meet with strong objections from biologists In August, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced that a recently proposed reroute of the road around the 300-foot washout could have “dire consequences” for Chinook salmon..
The washout, which made impassable the road along the Dosewallips River, occurred at Milepost 10, five miles from the boundary to Olympic National Park and the road’s end. This prevents vehicle access to trailheads further up the road that lead deep into Olympic National Park’s backcountry and to popular high country destinations like Anderson Pass.
In 2002, the Olympic National Forest solicited public comment on reopening the Dosewallips. WTA responded in support of reopening the Dosewallips River Road, but made it clear that we would not support reopening the road if it meant that the Dosewallips River or surrounding watershed would be substantially damaged, either by the work on the road itself or by the new road surface.
That position has held until this summer, when the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) sent a letter to the Forest Service expressing grave concerns with reopening the road. In addition to site specific issues, NMFS is concerned about the alignment of the road in general, as articulated by official Steve Landino “Simply put, restoring motorized access past the current washout will not solve the long-term issue that this entire road is in the wrong location.”
Given that information, WTA changed its position to oppose reopening the Dosewallips Road. It’s a stand we take with a heavy heart, since we understand the need for hikers to access the Olympic high country, and we’ll miss those day hikes to Anderson Pass ourselves. While a trail might be built on the former road alignment, not all trails are created equal. There are many great river walks in Olympic National Park and Forest, but not many opportunities to get into the high country quickly. It’s a sacrifice, but one that we feel we needed to make.
WTA has always taken care to articulate a conservationist vision for hikers. We couple our advocacy for hiking and hikers with our love of, and care for, the wildlands that make our activity so compelling. Roads have always been a particularly thorny area for hikers. While we love the access that roads give us to the beckoning backcountry, we fear their encroachment into our precious wildlands.
While we still believe that there is a valid recreational reason to rebuild this road, we must weigh that carefully against the costs to the environment, and to the species that depend on a clean, healthy river ecosystem. On balance, we have reluctantly drawn the conclusion that the road should not be reopened and that a trail be built to provide access to the upper valley.
For more information or to comment on the project click here or call the Hood Canal Ranger District at (360) 956-2375.
