Gary Peterson, owner of Peak 6 Adventure store, had erected a small trail system for customers on his historic ranch just outside Olympic National Park.
He invited anyone to use it after Jefferson County officials closed the Upper Hoh Road on Dec. 23, 2024, because of storm damage at milepost 9.7.
The property is located before the closure that has prohibited tourists from entering the Hoh Rain Forest, which attracted about 460,000 visitors last year, according to the National Park Service.
“That little road in Jefferson County happens to be the gateway to one of the most beautiful places in the world,” said Lissy Andros, director of the Forks Chamber of Commerce.
The popularity of the Hoh Rain Forest propelled Gov. Bob Ferguson to approve $623,000 from the state’s Economic Development Strategic Reserve Account for use to repair the road, which is maintained by Jefferson County.
“We cannot allow access to remain closed during the peak visitor season,” he said at a March 13 news conference.
Peterson plans to let the public continue to use the Land of Legends trail after workers reopen the road now that funding for repairs has been secured. It’s a goodwill gesture to help with overcrowding in the Hoh Rain Forest, where tourists sometimes had to wait up to three hours to enter the park last summer.
State and county officials said they hoped to have the road open in May, which comes as a great relief to local business owners from Forks to Aberdeen.
“The road is our lifeline,” said Peterson, whose grandmother Minnie Peterson was the famed Olympic Peninsula guide, outfitter and packer.
The mile-long Land of Legends trail starts next to the Saint Nikolai interpretive kiosk near the Hoh Valley Cabins.
“We just ask people to be respectful of private land,” said Peterson, adding that the dog-friendly trail is a quiet alternative to the park’s beloved Hall of Mosses path.
Ferguson said tourists spent more than $444 million in Jefferson and Clallam counties in 2023 – underscoring the importance of the national park to the local economy.
When federal funds didn’t arrive this year, local business owners panicked about whether their tourist-based enterprises could survive a potential summer drought of visitors.
Peterson’s daughter, Anna Peterson, led a recent campaign to petition local politicians to help solve the issue. She owns the Hard Rain Cafe next to the Land of Legends trailhead.
About 100 local businesses donated a total of $27,240 to the estimated $650,000 project, Ferguson said.
In the past, federal funds would have supported Jefferson County’s repair work.
However, the Trump administration’s deep budget cuts to government agencies have created uncertainty for local maintenance projects. A request to the Federal Highway Administration for emergency funding has been on hold for months.
Jefferson County leaders also requested emergency funds to repair the Quinault South Shore Road that has been degrading since last month. The South Shore Road leads to another section of the rainforest housing some of the state’s largest trees. The cost to repair both roads is estimated at $1.3 million.
Opening the Hoh Rain Forest benefits the rest of the area, which includes the national park beaches and Lake Quinault.
“We need all of our attractions open so people can be dispersed,” Andros said. “That way our resources aren’t overwhelmed.”
How to help maintain trails during tenuous times
Apprehension over the status of the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service seasonal workforce has left some Whatcom County outdoor recreationalists wondering how to keep trails open and safe.
While the sentiment is appreciated, officials ask that people don’t go rogue and perform unsanctioned trail work.
A simple action is to support the Washington Trails Association with donations or join volunteer work parties. The group has a track record of successful projects in conjunction with public land managers.
The WTA has a volunteer page on its website that guides interested parties on what to do: www.wta.org/get-involved/volunteer.
The Pacific Northwest Trail Association offers similar volunteer activities specifically for a rugged 1,200-mile route from the Continental Divide to the Pacific Ocean. A bulk of Section 7 crosses Whatcom County from Lake Samish to Ross Dam so it’s possible to work on local trails. Information on volunteering can be found at www.pnt.org/pnta/about-us/volunteer/.
Two other worthwhile groups that organize volunteer trail crews are the Backcountry Horsemen of Washington (www.bchw.org) and the Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition (info@wmbcmtb.org).
Little support for plan to save the spotted owl
The threatened spotted owl had been a wedge issue in the Pacific Northwest long before the country built impenetrable political divides.
Saving the raptors became the impetus for creating the Northwest Forest Plan in 1994, which prohibits logging old-growth forests on federal land. Big Timber still grumbles about the restrictions to this day.
But now the spotted owl has galvanized a bipartisan coalition to thwart a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plan to save the imperiled bird from competition from the more adept barred owl. The program approved last fall sanctions the potential killing of 450,000 barred owls in Washington, Oregon and California over 30 years.
It left some animal rights groups, birders and wildlife biologists debating the moral judgments about lethally removing one species for the sake of another.
Funding for the program seemed circumspect as soon as the Trump Administration began its massive cuts. It lost momentum on March 7 when ardent Trump supporters teamed with progressives to ask Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to scuttle the plan.
U.S. Reps. Troy E. Nehls, R-Texas, and Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif. — lawmakers on opposite ends of the widening divide — co-authored the letter signed by 19 members of the House of Representatives.
“In the spirit of fiscal responsibility and ethical conservation, we urge you to halt all spending on this plan to mass kill a native, range-expanding North American owl species,” the letter says.
The nonprofits Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy estimate the cost over 30 years to be $1.35 billion, or $3,000 for each dead owl.
Fish and Wildlife Service experts say that the spotted owl could be lost forever without taking drastic measures.
Without political support, extinction seems more real than ever.
Elliott Almond's outdoor column appears monthly. Email: elliottalmond4@gmail.com.
