Olympic National Park will receive an increase in its annual operating budget, which could translate into more services for visitors.
An increase of about $300,000 has been allocated to Olympic National Park in a $555 billion spending bill passed by Congress on Dec. 19, said Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair.
President George W. Bush signed the bill on Wednesday.
“This will allow us to make some much needed steps toward restoring services and maintenance which has been reduced over years,” said Barb Maynes, Olympic National Park spokeswoman.
The specific areas which will benefit haven’t been determined yet, although those areas could include such things as more trail maintenance, more park law enforcement and longer hours at the visitor centers.
The National Park Service will determine the exact amount that will go to Olympic National Park, said Maynes.
Until then, the park cannot determine the specific areas where the money will be spent, she said.
Once the exact amount is known, the park can decide what positions will be filled and what services can be increased or reinstated, she said.
The increase, which amounts to about a 6 percent hike, will be used to restore some positions that have been lost over the course of the past decade, in which the park has seen little – if any – increase beyond the annual inflation-driven increase.
Although the increase won’t add back all of the positions, it is a step in that direction, said George Behan, spokesman for Dicks.
“This bill tries to make up for the several years of very tight budgets – that loss of permanent and seasonal employees,” Behan said.
“It will allow for some permanent hires, but also for much more aggressive seasonal hiring for interpretive and rangers.”
