Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park is a national park of the United States located in Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier e ...
Grays Harbor
Grays Harbor is an estuarine bay located north of the mouth of the Columbia River, on the southwest Pacific coast of Washington state, in the United States. It is a ria, which formed at the end of the last ice age, when sea levels flooded the ...
, Jefferson, and Mason counties. The landscape of the national forest varies, from the temperate Olympic
rain forest
Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...
to the salt water fjord of
Hood Canal
Hood Canal is a fjord-like body of water that lies south of Admiralty Inlet in Washington State that some consider to be the western lobe and one of the five main basins of Puget Sound.Mt. Washington.
Annual precipitation averages about , giving rise to streams such as the Humptulips River.
Olympic National Forest was originally created as Olympic Forest Reserve in 1897, then renamed to Olympic National Forest in 1907. A portion of the National Forest became the Mount Olympus National Monument in 1909, which was later designated
Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park is a national park of the United States located in Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier e ...
.
A 1993 Forest Service study estimated that the extent of old growth in the Forest was . It is administered in two ranger districts: the Pacific Ranger District on the west side of the
Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is a large peninsula in Western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the ...
, and the Hood Canal Ranger District on the east side.
Forest headquarters are located in Olympia, with ranger district offices in
Forks
In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from 'pitchfork') is a Eating utensil, utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tine (structural), tines with whic ...
Chamber of Commerce
A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...
, which still sells Northwest Forest Passes.
Other Washington towns near entrances of the forest include
Port Angeles
Port Angeles ( ) is a city and county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 19,960 at the 2020 census, it is the most populous city in the county, as well as the most populous city on the Olympic Peninsula. T ...
Lake Cushman
Lake Cushman () is a lake and reservoir on the north fork of the Skokomish River in Mason County, Washington, United States. The lake originally was a long narrow broadening of the Skokomish River formed in a glacial trough and dammed by a termi ...
The "Wild Olympics" campaign is an effort to designate additional areas on the
Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is a large peninsula in Western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the ...
as protected.
Under a bill introduced by United States Senator
Patty Murray
Patricia Lynn Murray (, October 11, 1950) is an American politician serving in her sixth term as a United States senator from Washington (state), Washington, beginning her tenure in 1993, and is the state's Seniority in the United States Senate, ...
in January 2014 logging on an additional (20%) of the Olympic National Forest's lands would be disallowed under the creation of nine new wilderness areas and expansion of the five existing ones. Wild and Scenic River designations would extend to 19 rivers, including those originating in the Olympic National Park, such as the Quinault River, Hoh River, Elwha River, and Hamma Hamma River, and some that do not, like the middle fork of the Satsop River. According to ''
The Oregonian
''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...
'', "the wilderness designation would permanently protect old growth and ancient forest habitat throughout the region. The wild and scenic rivers designation would add federal recognition to the outstanding river systems on the peninsula, protecting them as a source of clean drinking water and helping to keep
Puget Sound
Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...
clean for generations. This designation does not restrict private property rights."
Like the Northern Spotted Owl controversy two decades earlier, the action has met opposition from some residents on and near the Olympic Peninsula who see it as a threat to their livelihoods. Handmade "Stop Wild Olympics" signs can be seen in the Aberdeen area and on the peninsula, expressing displeasure, and an opposition group, Working Wild Olympics, was set up in 2011. The effort has the support of dozens of "major hunting and fishing organizations" who see it as a way to sustain elk, salmon and other fish. Debate on the topic in 2014 has included community meetings drawing hundreds of individuals on both sides, and full-page advertisements in local newspapers.
An episode of ''This American Land'' concerning the Wild Olympics proposal showed nationally on
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
in 2014.
The Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was reintroduced in 2019 as H.R.2642 and received a hearing in the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands.
See also
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List of national forests of the United States
The United States has 154 protected areas known as national forests, covering . National forests are managed by the U.S. Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The first national forest was established as the Yellows ...