SEKIU — The long-sought sale of Olson’s Resort to the public has taken a long — if perhaps shaky — step forward.
The state Recreation and Conservation Funding Board has awarded $984,900 to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to buy Olson’s, the oldest continuously operating salmon fishing resort in the state.
However, Donalyn Olson, who with her husband Arlen own the resort, said she hadn’t received confirmation of a sale as of Wednesday.
“We’ve talked some, but there’s no paperwork,” she said.
“I’m not saying it wouldn’t happen or anything. I’m just surprised we didn’t know. They were going to get in touch with us Dec. 1.”
Clallam County Commissioner Mike Doherty, D-Port Angeles, whose district includes Clallam Bay/Sekiu, said the award was only part of a package the state would offer to the Olsons.
Some of the uncertainty also is explained by the last sentence in the board’s written announcement that it had awarded the money:
“Grants in the state agency category are pending legislative approval of the state budget, and will not be awarded until July 2009.”
Upbeat about chances
Susan Zemek, communications manager for the Recreation and Conservation Office in Olympia, said, “In the past, these generally have been funded.”
Zemek forecast “an 80 to 90 percent chance it would be funded,” but hedged her prediction by adding, “unless it becomes part of the budget cuts that are necessary.”
Also boosting the sale, she said, is that the money is a dedicated capital expenditure.
Furthermore, the project ranked No. 1 among 18 competitors for the state Boating Facilities Program.
Despite a declining sport fishery, “chinook salmon feed here from late winter to mid-summer long the rocks and kelp-lined shorelines from the Hoko River eastward to Pillar Point,” according to the board’s announcement.
“Rockfish, lingcod, halibut and other species also call this area home.
“The resort has the most publicly accessible boat launch between Port Angeles and Neah Bay, and has been an important anchor site for saltwater fishing and recreational boating along the Strait of Juan de Fuca.”
Private, public involvement
Fish and Wildlife will work closely with the Olsons, Cascade Land Conservancy, Clallam County and Clallam Bay/Sekiu businesses to put the resort’s waterfront access, boat launch and parking areas into public ownership, the announcement said.
The resort was opened in 1936 by Arlen Olson’s father.
Reports of the resort’s sale to private or public parties have circulated for years, but the Olsons consistently said they preferred to preserve it for sport fishers.
The Recreation and Conservation Funding Board announced funding for two other projects in Clallam County, which captured more than 10 percent of the allocations:
The county Public Works Department received $99,500 to complete the Adventure Route segment of the Olympic Discovery Trail from the Elwha River and the Spruce Railroad trail at Lake Crescent.
The new 10-mile link will replace a route that currently uses gravel logging roads.
The county will match the grant with $115,000 in donated equipment and labor.
The state Department of Natural Resources will receive $175,131 to pay a three-person crew to maintain off-road vehicle trails in the Olympic Region.
The money will provide some of the labor, materials, supplies and trail crew transportation as it removes encroaching brush, repairs trail surfaces and drainage, maintains bridges and installs signs.
Resources will contribute $46,545 in equipment and donated and paid labor.
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Reporter Jim Casey can be reached at 360-417-3538 or at jim.casey@ peninsuladailynews.com.
