PORT TOWNSEND — A workshop to provide information about a draft land and scenic river preservation proposal drew about 175 people Thursday night, with most attendees reacting positively to the plan.
“It’s important to protect these lands,” said Jim Rosenthal of Port Townsend.
“Given the increased use of our land and how people from other states are coming in to enjoy it, we need more country to accommodate them.”
The plan was put forward by U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks — a Democrat from Belfair who represents the 6th Congressional District, which includes Clallam and Jefferson counties — and Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Bothell, as an alternative to a similar plan by Quilcene-based Wild Olympics.
The Path Forward on Olympic Watersheds Protection Proposal cuts nearly in half — to 20,000 acres — the amount of private land Wild Olympics is proposing could be purchased for additions to Olympic National Park.
“This is a huge step forward,” said Tim McNulty of Sequim, who sits on Wild Olympics’ board as vice president of Olympic Park Associates and helped develop the Wild Olympics proposal.
“It differs from our proposal slightly, but it makes our dream possible, so we are really excited,” McNulty said.
The Port Townsend workshop took place at the Fort Worden State Park Conference Center, while a second meeting was Saturday evening in Port Angeles at the Museum at the Carnegie.
A Hoquiam workshop is planned today, while another is planned in Shelton on Friday.
There is no formal program.
The various aspects of the proposal are explained at several tables with congressional staff members on hand to explain the details.
Suggestions are then written on index cards and placed into a box, after which time they will be entered into a database by congressional staff.
“We are encouraging people to comment and provide feedback about the proposal,” said Sara Crumb, who works in Dicks’ Tacoma office.
“We will also try to answer their questions.”
Dicks’ and Murray’s plan would:
■ Designate about 130,000 acres of new wilderness on U.S. Forest Service land, about 4,000 acres less than the Wild Olympics plan.
■ Add 23 river systems within Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest to the federal Wild and Scenic River System.
According to a map supplied by Murray’s office, the rivers inside the park and national forest appear to be the same as those proposed by Wild Olympics and include the Bogachiel, Hoh, Sol Duc and Elwha rivers.
■ Allow Olympic National Park — on its own — to buy up to 20,000 acres through willing-buyer, willing-seller arrangements compared with the 37,000 acres proposed for additions to the park by Wild Olympics in its 2-year-old proposal.
The park cannot now buy land within its general management plan without congressional approval.
Three areas designated for possible sale on the map provided by Murray’s office are at Lake Crescent and on the park’s western tip in Jefferson County near Grays Harbor County in an area designated as the Queets Corridor.
■ Remove most of the state Department of Natural Resources land that was included in the Wild Olympics proposal.
Jefferson County Commissioner John Austin said the proposal for the park to buy from willing sellers would protect the environment while allowing the park to expand, stressing that any land purchases would be voluntary.
Said WSU Extension 4-H Director Pamela Roberts: “Some people see this as a land loss [by private citizens], but I would hope they could see it as an opportunity for future scientific exploration and recreational development.
“This land has a unique quality, and by opening them up for our young people to interact professionally and recreationally is the key to our future.”
Roberts said many of these areas are very steep, so formal protection of them probably won’t change their disposition.
The proposal to add 23 river systems within the park and the forest is strongly favored by Port Townsend Marine Science Center program coordinator Chrissy McLean.
“It’s embarrassing that the Olympic National Park does not have any designated wild and scenic rivers,” she said.
“That has to change,” she added.
“We have the most amazing rivers in the world.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.