What should be done with the Enchanted Valley Chalet in Olympic National Park?/NPS
After saving the Enchanted Valley Chalet from toppling into the East Fork of the Quinault River, Olympic National Park officials now are planning for the future of the historic structure and interested in your thoughts.
“We are pleased to ask the public to help us develop a plan for the Enchanted Valley Chalet,” said Superintendent Sarah Creachbaum in a release. “We have drafted some preliminary alternatives that we’d like the public to reflect and comment on. And of course, we are also interested in additional ideas people may have.”
The Enchanted Valley Chalet is located 13 miles from the nearest road, deep within the Olympic Wilderness. The chalet was constructed by Quinault Valley residents in the early 1930s, prior to establishment of Olympic National Park. The chalet served for several decades as a backcountry lodge and more recently, as a wilderness ranger station and emergency shelter. The chalet was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007 due to its local significance.
The chalet is located on the active floodplain of the East Fork Quinault River, where migration of the river’s channel is common. In January 2014, the river had migrated to within 18 inches of the chalet. The National Park Service prepared an EA for “Emergency Action to Temporarily Relocate the Enchanted Valley Chalet for the Protection of the East Fork Quinault River.”
The selected alternative was to move the chalet 50-100 feet from the bank of the river in an effort to protect the river and its associated natural resources from imminent environmental harm. In September 2014, the NPS hired a local contractor, and the chalet was moved approximately 100 feet from the East Fork Quinault River.
The concise EA stated that the NPS would embark on a separate planning process to assess options for the final disposition of the chalet. This process is now beginning.
More information, including the purpose and need for the plan and preliminary alternatives developed so far, can be found online.
Comments may also be submitted electronically at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/EVCscoping, or in writing at one of the three open house workshops listed below. Comments may also be mailed to Superintendent, Olympic National Park, 600 East Park Avenue, Port Angeles, WA 98362. Comments should be submitted no later than July 22, 2016.
Public Scoping Open Houses are planned for late June as follows:
Monday, June 27
5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Port Angeles Senior Center Main Hall
328 E. 7th Street (SW corner of 7th and Peabody),
Port Angeles, WA 98362
Tuesday, June 28
5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Amanda Park Timberland Regional Library
6118 U.S. Highway 101
Amanda Park, WA 98526
Wednesday, June 29
4 p.m.- 6 p.m
Aberdeen Timberland Regional Library
121 E. Market Street
Aberdeen, WA 98520
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Comments
A tough one, historical significance especially to the locals, however my own bias is it should probably be removed.
Having visited including once years ago when the building was open top to bottom I feel the NPS should bring back the crew that moved it and have them move it some more, further away from the river. I also feel that commenters who have not visited have no right to ask you to remove it. That includes that wonderful organization known as Wilderness Watch. And yes, having the crew of movers back in means more trips by the helicopter to take the long steel beams back out (upon which the structure currently sits.)
Why not Save it and use it. It's a part of the history of the area and history should never be thrown away. Move it further if you must. I wondered why the first move didn't take it further from the river. Standard camping rules say you should be two hundred ft. from water. Fix it up and make it usable.
I was impressed that this large structure was rescued from the river. The problem is that there is no truly sustainable place to put it. Moving it far away from the river increases the risk of it being damaged by falling old-growth trees and also increases the exposure to winter avalanches, which are the reason Enchanted Valley is mostly large meadows.
When I worked at Olympic, the Chalet was mainly a convenience for the NPS - a place to store gas and large chainsaws for trail work and for rangers to warm up and dry off after a hard day of writing tickets for illegal camping. Many of the park's managers would have never seen this 'Wilderness' if they had to carry their own shelter and stove 13 miles. These backcountry ranger stations were popular destinations for managers to take bigshots on junkets. Large structures also generate increased helicopter use for ongoing maintenance, even without emergencies such as channel migration..
My preference would be for the Enchanted Chalet to be disassembled and reconstructed at a non-Wilderness location, perhaps at the Graves Creek Trailhead.
The chalet brings back many fond childhood memories of hiking across the Olympics from Lake Quinault to Dosewallips back in the early 1960's. Those early experiences had a lot to do with my decision to become a Park Ranger. My attachment to the chalet is purely sentimental. The rational side of me thinks it is impractical to save in place. Perhaps dismantling it might be the most feasible option.
It's easy to remove the Chalet further - it's already up on steel beams on skid plates on its moving rails. The steel can remain as a permanent foundation. A protected location is available 400 feet NE, in the corner of the meadow below the bear wire / campsite ridge.
It would be very difficult and dangerous to disassemble the Chalet. NPS estimated it'd cost $1.5 to $2 million to fly its 64 tons of logs 20 miles out to Bunch Field and reassemble it, and this would force its delisting from the National Register of Historic Places.
Another alternative is demolish or burn it. That is the barbaric way ISIS treats historic sites in Syria, but I sure hope is not the way NPS treats historic sites in National Parks.
Vote for Option #4.....move to another location....Enchanted Valley Chalet is something that should not be destroyed.....Move it to a more suitable area..............safer area. Rehabilitate the structure, if ncessary.....It should remain a part of the Park.
The Enchanted Valley Chalet should be saved.
If we need to change the wilderness act so be it.