Message from the Regional Director
By Rob Smith

With summer approaching, it is time to check out our national parks in the Northwest and enjoy some of the work that has already been completed through the Great American Outdoors Act investments, including rebuilt roads at Mount Rainier and restoration of historic buildings at Fort Vancouver. Meanwhile, work is in progress to reconstruct the Cleetwood Cove trail at Crater Lake and provide temporary facilities before rebuilding the day lodge at Olympic's Hurricane Ridge.

It has been a busy spring at NPCA, and we have a few updates on protecting Northwest national parks. We thank you for your support and commitment to the future of these special places.

A Landmark Victory for the North Cascades
By Graham Taylor

Unless you’ve been hibernating, you’ve heard the big news: the National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service will restore grizzly bears to the North Cascades! The decision to move forward with grizzly recovery was the result of over thirty years of debate, heated public meetings, and a Mt. Baker-sized mountain of work led by local Tribes, passionate rural spokespeople, and NPCA’s members, donors and staff.

The plan calls for the release of three to seven grizzly bears in the most remote parts of the North Cascades ecosystem each year for the next 10 years. But, as we’ve seen in other ecosystems, recovery is no sure thing. First, agencies will have to find the right bears, looking to relocate grizzlies with similar diets and food options in Montana and interior British Columbia.

NPCA is gearing up for the next phase of this effort – implementation. We are already working closely with our partners to have a dialogue with local communities on how to recreate safely in grizzly bear country. Our staff in Washington State and D.C. will make sure to regularly communicate with the agencies and hold them accountable to implementing the plan they have developed. Our legal team will be ready if the recovery plan is challenged in court, and our lobbyists will make sure the effort gets the funding it needs from congress. Together, we’re excited to see the first grizzly bear paws on the ground in the North Cascades!

Learn more about this effort online.

Know Before You Go at Mount Rainier
By Rob Smith

Waiting in long lines and circling for a place to park have become increasingly common summertime experiences at Mount Rainier National Park. And once there, crowded trails can tempt some to dodge across sensitive alpine meadows.

The Puget Sound area’s population is projected to grow by two million more people in the coming decades, and many of these newcomers will want to enjoy the parks here, too. It’s time to act.

Mount Rainier’s roads were initially designed with the auto visitor in mind, but too many cars at one time creates an unpleasant and unsustainable experience for everyone. This summer the park is trying out a “timed entry” system to spread out visitors while still offering the Mount Rainier opportunity to everyone who wants it. Find more details here on our website.

NPCA is supporting this project to protect the park and provide better visitor experiences. We hope this will be the start of something bigger and lead to a comprehensive visitor management plan which would include shuttle options and traffic solutions beyond the park entrance gates, as well.

Saving our Parks' Historic Resources
By Colin Deverell

Our team is working diligently to protect and enhance our historic national park resources across the Northwest.

At Oregon Caves National Monument & Preserve, NPCA is working with a multitude of partners to restore the iconic Oregon Caves Chateau, one of the National Park Service’s “great lodges.” The Chateau, built in the 1930s with a unique architectural style, has served as an overnight lodge and drawn thousands of visitors from around the world. Today, the building is closed and in dire need of stabilization and restoration. Recently, NPCA joined others in an online seminar hosted by Travel Southern Oregon and Visit Grants Pass to raise awareness of the project and the need to move forward. View the recording here.

Along the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail, NPCA is collaborating with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office to plan for the enhancement of historic and cultural sites within the Historic Trail in eastern Washington State. This effort is part of the landmark Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative, an agreement between the Biden Administration, Tribes and others that commits the federal government to new river restoration projects along the lower Snake River. Learn more about sites of significance in the river, check out NPCA’s Story Map.

The Future of the Northwest Forest Plan
By Graham Taylor

In 1994, I attended a public meeting on the Northwest Forest Plan in Medford, Oregon. I was nine years old. My dad backed our station wagon into a parking space, hiding the National Audubon Society’s egret logo from folks attending the contentious meeting. At stake was over 24 million acres, forest jobs, endangered species and the future of our old growth ecosystems.

A landmark environmental achievement of the 1990’s, the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) rescued much of the remaining old growth in the sprawling federal forest lands of Washington, Oregon and Northern California. One of the beneficiaries of the protections were the forests of the Olympic Peninsula where Olympic National Park hosts more old growth than any other national park in the country. While the NWFP governs lands outside the park, changes in old growth management could impact wildlife that migrate across the boundaries into our national park lands. The plan brought attention to not just the Northern spotted owl but the cornucopia of fish and wildlife that depend on intact old forest ecosystems.

This year the Plan is turning 30, and the Biden Administration has appointed a Federal Advisory Committee (FAC) to suggest changes that may help resource managers address unforeseen challenges. Specifically, the FAC has been tasked with addressing wildfire, climate change and old growth ecosystems, all while incorporating Tribal perspectives and nearby communities.

In conjunction with the FAC, the US Forest Service released a Notice of Intent (NOI) to amend the Plan, with a draft EIS due in June 2024. While the FAC has not published recommendations, the agencies promised that public comments will inform the amendment. The administration has an ambitious schedule, hoping to finish by early 2025. The clock is ticking for this process to be completed under the current administration.

Conservationists should practice open-minded vigilance. While the Northwest Forest Plan has protected imperiled species, it is not a perfect plan. No plan can fully anticipate future challenges. Careful, targeted changes could result in some improvements. After all, parts of the plan are working better than others. The protection of moist forests is resulting in benefits for aquatic systems and species. Conversely, dry forests are facing growing wildfires that could permanently alter the landscape. Forest management may take many forms, but both the hands-off approaches and strategies that include burning, thinning and other activities will produce outcomes that today’s nine-year-olds will have to grapple with in the decades to come.

You can sign up to get updates on this process here.

Let's fund what everyone wants – national parks

Research, polling and most people's experience show that America's national parks are one of the most popular government programs there is. It is no surprise, then, that the number of park visitors continues to climb. But it is deeply concerning that funding for parks has stalled for years. That means fewer rangers to help visitors and needed work getting delayed. The National Park Service – with more than 400 individual units across the country – is just 1/15th of one percent of the total federal budget. That's why NPCA is urging Congress to increase funding for both regular annual operations and to renew the Legacy Restoration Fund to take care of a backlog of deferred work on park roads, buildings and trails. Our best places deserve our best efforts, especially when we can agree on how special they are.

Sincerely,

Rob Smith
Northwest Regional Director