Clallam County officials are proposing changes at the Dungeness Recreation area: Re-aligning the access road due to continual bluff erosion; almost doubling the number of campsites and campfire rings, toilets and adding four cabins.
Removal of the Elwha dams resulted in the loss of two Olympic National Park campgrounds.
Popular day hike trailheads are inaccessible with the proposed Elwha Road closure.
Olympic National Park admits that it has trouble maintaining roads and trails due to budgetary constraints, according to media reports.
Is it reasonable to assume that there could be more closures in the future?
We are fortunate that Clallam County, and not a private owner, is the operator of the Dungeness campground. They can make the construction happen quickly.
Apparently the silence of the Fish & Wildlife Service Refuge, Audubon Society and Sierra Club can be interpreted that this expansion will present no danger to the fragile eroding feeder bluff upon which the park rests and no danger to the nesting birds and animals in the remaining woods and wetlands.
On a busy weekend in the summer, Clallam could have easily a thousand campers and visitors walking the trails of the park and onto the Refuge.
In the future, the increasing homeless population of Clallam County could be housed in the off-season in campers, tents and vehicles, etc., at the park as some cities in California are doing.
This is a win-win for everyone.
Bob McGonigel
Sequim