By James Preisinger

Congressman Derek Kilmer’s H.R. 2642 “Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Act” recently cleared the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee for possible consideration on the House floor.

What exactly does this bill do? It changes the bureaucratic designation of 200 square miles of already existing National Forest land managed by the federal government to “wilderness” and 464 miles of river as “wild and scenic.”

Proponents of the measure say it is needed to protect water quality and salmon habitat and will increase economic opportunity in the area. So, some lawyer-politicians in D.C. put some words on paper and water quality is insured, land is preserved in its current state forever and economic opportunity will suddenly appear.

The original version of the bill had provisions to purchase private lands, but Rep. Kilmer and Senator Patty Murray said these provisions were removed from the bill. However, the National Park recently purchased a privately owned resort on the north shore of Lake Quinault. The previous owners went into debt and spent tens of thousands of dollars for a new septic system and upgrading other parts of the facility. Unfortunately, they went bankrupt and the property was foreclosed. Another private party put in a bid of over $400,000 to take over and operate the facility, but the National Park saw fit to bid $1 million of our dollars to buy the property.

Was this to provide services to all the eco-tourists that are supposed to flock to the area because of this new bureaucratic designation and to provide jobs and tax revenue for the local economy? No! They tore down all the buildings and destroyed the updated infrastructure!

They say they are going to build a campground there, but the park cannot even maintain the two campgrounds they already have in the Quinault valley. The Graves Creek campground at the trailhead to the Enchanted Valley has two bathroom buildings that had running water and faucets for campers to obtain potable water. The water for this system is probably some of the most pristine on the planet, but it has been shut down for years because regulations require a daily inspection of the water and the park does not have the money to pay an employee to drive up the road every day to do the job.

Over at the North Fork campground a pit toilet was destroyed by a falling tree in 2006. Instead of re-building the outhouse, they have portable sanicans trucked to the site and serviced during the busy season and removed for the winter.

One year they closed the campground for the whole season because they didn’t have the money for sanicans. I once asked the now former head ranger for the area why they did not just build a new outhouse. He informed me that the pit toilets they are required to build cost $14K and there was no money budgeted for it. After 13 years I’m certain they have spent more money on sanicans than the cost of the Cadillac outhouse. Where are those “pots of money within the federal budget available for those areas,” Mr. Kilmer?

The Lake Quinault Lodge, run by the out of state Aramark Corporation, is the largest of the few remaining businesses that offer services to visitors. They are chronically understaffed and have difficulties getting employees to work there because there is so little remaining private property to live on. Some have to take a 50-mile one way bus ride from Aberdeen to work at a minimum wage job. Does the Wild Olympics bill address that issue when they claim it will somehow increase economic opportunity in the area? People are not as likely to visit an area if there are not adequate services available.

The average city slicker who makes the effort to get to these lands on the few gravel roads that access parts of it would say, “This already looks like wilderness and is wild and scenic, what’s the difference?” The difference is, a wilderness designation prohibits any mechanical transport or use of any mechanical device. If we have to go caveman, is it OK to use a Bic to start a fire or do I have to rub two sticks together?

Wild Olympic spokesmen say none of the existing roads or trails will be closed, but a road isn’t much good if you can’t drive on it or even ride a bicycle or pull a wagon or cart. They do make an exception for wheelchairs, but I’m not sure how far a handicapped person will be able to get in these locations. (I’m still laughing about that one!)

I have been hiking in the Cascades and Olympics for 50 years and I don’t see how you can reasonably maintain a trail without occasionally using a chainsaw, something prohibited by a wilderness designation.

The popular Colonel Bob Trail, which is already in a designated wilderness, was closed for over five years because of huge fallen trees blocking a portion of the trail on a steep hillside in the first mile. I’m not sure what bureaucratic steps had to be taken to finally allow those windfalls to be cut. I hiked the trail this summer and it is the most poorly maintained trail I have ever been on.

I once asked an elder in the Quinault Tribe if they felt any guilt or remorse about using chainsaws to help build their cedar canoes instead of using the traditional tools of their ancestors.

His reply: “We may be just Indians, but we’re not stupid!”

No, only the government of the Great White Father is that stupid!

James Preisinger lives in Pacific Beach