OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Olympic National Park, along with all other national park service areas, will waive entrance fees for all visitors Sunday.
Other park fees, including wilderness camping and campground fees, will remain in effect.
The fee waiver is in recognition of the 97th anniversary of the National Park Service, which oversees 401 national parks.
This year also is the 75th anniversary of the creation of Olympic National Park.
75th year for park
It was June 29, 1938, that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill establishing Olympic National Park.
With the creation of Yellowstone National Park in 1872, the United States was the first country to set aside its most significant places as national parks so they could be enjoyed by all.
When President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation that created the National Park Service on Aug. 25, 1916, there were 37 national parks.
“Our national parks protect and preserve our country’s most treasured and historic places for the American people,” said Olympic National Park Superintendent Sarah Creachbaum.
“On this special day, we invite you to experience and enjoy the unique and awe-inspiring landscape of Olympic National Park.”
Today, park preserves, “for the benefit, use and enjoyment of the people,” some of the greatest ecological variety in the contiguous United States, Creachbaum said.
The park encompasses three distinctly different ecosystems — rugged glacier-capped mountains, more than 70 miles of wild Pacific coast, and magnificent stands of old-growth and temperate rain forest.
Each year, the park has nearly 3 million visitors, it said, adding an estimated $115 million annually to the local economy.
