Queets River

[johndavidjr]

Not really an access issue for climbers, but I''ve just become aware of this item. I think I sent in comment to NPS in favor of leaving road closed. I used it once for overnight backpacking. Everybody should stay out. The valley is really a disgusting place.

 

Olympic National Park News Release

 

March 7, 2007

 

For Immediate Release

Barb Maynes 360-565-3005

 

Finding of No Significant Impact Signed for Interim Access Route into Upper Queets Valley

 

The environmental analysis for restoring interim access to the upper Queets River valley has been completed and a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) was released today.

 

An Environmental Assessment (EA) for Restoring Interim Access to the Queets Area was released in December for public review and comment. The EA analyzed a single action alternative for restoring interim access into the

Queets Valley, along with a no action alternative. The selected

alternative will use existing U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) roads to access the upperQueets area of the park.

 

The Queets Road has been closed to traffic since March 2005, when a landslide at milepost 8 undercut the road and rendered it unsafe for vehicles. In January 2006, an even larger slide at the same site completely wiped out 150 feet of the road, leaving a 100-foot deep chasm and closing the area to pedestrian traffic.

The roads to be used in restoring access to the Queets are USFS roads 21 and 2180, both of which are currently open to the public. These roads

connect to USFS road 2180-010 and DNR road FR-Q-2100, neither of which is currently open. In turn, these roads lead to a National Park Service road to provide a route into the upper Queets.

 

Park crews will begin improvements to these existing roads this spring, including installing a bridge, clearing the roadways, adjacent ditches and shoulders, and grading and resurfacing the roads. Restored access is anticipated sometime this summer. Once road access is available, crews will prepare the ranger station and campground for opening.

 

Both the EA and the FONSI may be reviewed online at the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment website, http://parkplanning.nps.gov.