5/5/2004 8:38:00 AM Letter: Keep servicing remote areas
Editor, Leader:
Dosewallips Road washout replay to Mr. Archer's comments on April 14: This road should be reopened for the public – including the disabled – to enjoy the wonders of the east side of the Olympic National Park. Yes, we can all drive to Hurricane Ridge, a great, overcrowded tourist spot. The upper Dosewallips is a remote wilderness experience.
Saying that more than 200 old-growth trees will be destroyed is a gross overexaggeration. I spoke with a forest ranger involved with the project. The correct number is 220 trees, 21 inches in diameter and larger. None are old growth.
It should also be known that these trees are not being sold to lumber mills for profit. According to the ranger, the trees will be used for ongoing park projects. The reopening of the road is beneficial to the public in many ways. It creates jobs, provides wood for park projects and opens the eastern side of the park to everyone.
Mr. Archer talks about having his memories if he reaches a point where he is no longer able to walk among the trees. I hope to be able to take grandchildren up there someday. What about all the folks who are disabled and have never been up there? If the road is never reopened, then they will never be able to see it for themselves. What a shame. Or shame on us for not opening it.
Mr. Archer guesses that the road may wash out again in the future. This is always possible. But that's no reason to shut out the public. We, the tax- paying public, pay county, state and federal taxes for services like road access into remote areas.
Highway 101 along Hood Canal has washed out several times and cost hundreds of thousands to clear, repair and keep open. State Route 20 between Eaglemount and Anderson Lake Road washed out a few years back. Should we have left those sections of road closed? The Hood Canal Floating Bridge sank many years ago. It's possible that nature could sink it again. Should it have been rebuilt? Should it be reopened if it happens again?
Nature's wind and rain will continue to wash out and destroy roads and bridges. We need to rebuild them better, and in a location that will lessen the chance of its happening again, with minimal impact to the environment. This project is doing all of that.
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