NW Parks and Public Lands Storm Recovery CoalitionWashington
National Parks are central to our environment, quality of life and economy. In response to fall storms that caused at least $50 million in damage to the parks, and due in no small part to the support of REI, we have formed a coalition of public land partners to facilitate the rebuilding of Mount Rainier National Park. The coalition called the Northwest Parks and Public Lands Storm Recovery Coalition includes the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), the Student Conservation Association (SCA), the Washington Trails Association (WTA), and Washington National Park Fund (WNPF).
OUR GOALS: 1) To build a stronger, long-term constituency for Northwest Parks and neighboring public lands. If left to rely on their existing budgets, our parks and forests will be decades in completing repairs, to the extent that they are completed at all. Congress must find additional funding for both repair of major access roads, as well as trails and related facilities.
2) To increase volunteer involvement in Northwest public lands stewardship. In the face of such extensive damage, volunteers have an important role to play. Volunteers can contribute to the restoration of the parks through trail maintenance, restoration and interpretation.
3) To provide public land managers with additional support and capabilities to manage volunteer efforts. With a large turnout of volunteers expected, current park service staff is not sufficient to manage such a large restoration effort.
4) To ensure everyone in our region has the opportunity to learn from and experience the parks. The Coalition will provide the public with information and facts about the status of restoration efforts and upcoming volunteer opportunities. The groups will also serve as a catalyst for a long-term discussion on sustainable access to Northwest public lands.
5) To encourage citizen investment to augment public support and volunteer labor. While volunteer efforts are unquestionably required, additional funding will be necessary to complete park restoration.
The National Park Service at Olympic National Park is steadily repairing roads and reopening public facilities damaged during winter storms. Extensive progress has been made on the Kalaloch, Mora, and Ozette campgrounds, as well as the Living Forest and Peabody Creek trails. Temporary repairs have been made on the Hoh road. The Park Service hopes to reopen the road and campground by May 1st. The Park Service is taking comments on more permanent repairs to this road.
The National Park Service (NPS) is making steady progress toward reestablishing public access to many popular sites at Mount Rainier. The NPS recently shored up a bridge at Kautz Creek, restored power at Longmire's emergency operations center and nearly completed repair of a 400-ft break in the park road at Sunshine point. Click 
