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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Monday, February 26, 2007 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Olympic NP Significant Headway Made In Recovery From Fall Storms One by one, park roads and campgrounds are reopening for public use after the severe storm damage of last November and December. Park maintenance crews, with help from the Washington Conservation Corps, local county and public utility district crews and National Park Service employees temporarily reassigned from other parks, have succeeded in restoring access to many areas. The status of many park trails is still unknown; more information will be gathered this spring as the snow melts and crews are able to make damage assessments. An overview of park roads and conditions follows: Hoh Road - Extensive progress has been made on the Hoh Road, with a temporary one-lane bridge now crossing West Twin Creek. Before the November 6th storm, West Twin Creek flowed through two large culverts (or corrugated metal pipes) under the road. High water and storm debris plugged the culverts and led to a large (75 feet long and 25 feet deep) washout, now spanned by the new bridge. The temporary bridge will be in place until a permanent repair can be completed. Installation of a permanent two-lane bridge is proposed for later this year or next. The park is currently seeking initial public input on this proposal to help define the range of issues that should be considered in an environmental assessment scheduled for release this spring. Two other sections of the Hoh Road, at Taft Creek and Snyder Creek, were also seriously damaged. A new culvert was installed last week at Taft Creek and a Port Angeles contractor was recently awarded the contract to place a new oversized culvert at Snyder Creek. The new culvert will be installed in March. After the new culvert is in place, park crews will surface the road with gravel; paving will be completed later this year. Meanwhile, a crew from the Washington Conservation Corps has been clearing debris from the road shoulders and campground while public utility district crews are installing new electrical cable and transformers to restore power. New phone lines are also being installed. Once power is restored, park crews will reactivate the water system and clean buildings for use. The Hoh Road and campground are scheduled to reopen to the public by May 1st. More work awaits park maintenance crews on the Hoh River Trail, where 200 trees block the first five miles of the trail. Kalaloch, Mora, Ozette - The park's coastal areas, including the Kalaloch, Mora and Ozette campgrounds, are open. Quinault - Both the North Shore and South Shore Quinault Roads remain open and are in good condition. The North Fork Road and North Fork campground, which were severely damaged by heavy rain and flooding, have recently reopened. With North Fork open, crews have turned their attention to reopening the Graves Creek area, where a massive blowdown has blocked the road. Queets - The Queets Road is open as far as the Matheny Creek bridge and is closed beyond that point. An environmental assessment was released in December to examine the effects of a proposal to establish an alternate route to the upper Queets by this summer, using Washington Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Forest Service roads. Sol Duc - The Sol Duc Road is scheduled to reopen by March 1st. Crews have worked through much of January and February to clear the road of the hundreds of trees that blocked it after windstorms in late 2006. The Sol Duc campground will be open for primitive camping (vault toilets and no running water) on March 1st, with full services provided beginning on April 6th. Lake Crescent - The Lake Crescent area is open. The Spruce Railroad trail and Marymere Falls trail have both been cleared, although the lower falls viewing platform is closed. The Fairholme Campground is scheduled to open on April 6th. Elwha - The Olympic Hot Springs Road is open to the Glines Canyon Dam and is closed beyond that point due to slumping along the road, which will be repaired later this spring. The Whiskey Bend Road is closed due to washouts and is also scheduled for repairs this spring. The West Elwha, West Lake Mills, Griff Creek and Cascades Rock trails have all been cleared. The Elwha Campground is open, with Altair campground scheduled to open on May 25th. Olympic National Park Visitor Center/Heart o'the Hills - The Living Forest and Peabody Creek loop trails have been cleared. The Heart o'the Hills campground remains closed because of severe wind damage and fallen trees. A date has not yet been set for reopening this campground. Dosewallips - The Dosewallips Road remains closed due to a washout outside the park boundary. Staircase - The access road to Staircase (Forest Service Road 24) is closed outside the park boundary because of unstable rock and landslide hazards created by last summer's Bear Gulch 2 fire. The situation will be re-evaluated this spring by U.S. Forest Service road engineers. Visitors to the park are urged to call the park's hotline (360-565-3131) for updates on road conditions before visiting Olympic. [Barb Maynes, Public Affairs Officer] Park crews install a new culvert at Taft Creek along the Hoh Road. NPS photo by Jon Preston. OTHER NEWS Other news from today's edition of InsideNPS, the National Park Service's home page: George Washington Birthplace NM - The park completed a week-long 275th anniversary celebration of the birth of George Washington on February 22nd, which has now become President's Day. Office of the Comptroller - The latest version of the PMIS Newsflash (V5N1) is now online. This edition describes enhancements to the 8.1 version of the Project Management Information System (PMIS). These changes are scheduled to take place on February 27th. Office of Policy - Copies of Management Policies will be delivered Servicewide as they are printed. Servicewide - News article: The National Park Service has become one of the largest stewards of African-American history in the United States. Few people, however, including many park visitors, realize this. Valley Forge NHP - The park is looking to hire two GL-0025-5 and/or GL-0025-7 seasonal law enforcement rangers for appointments that could last up to six months. To link to InsideNPS, click on HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/ * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |