Rebuilding the washed-out section of Dosewallips River Road leading to the Elkhorn and Dosewallips campgrounds is what National Forest Service officials want to do.
Now, they’d like to know what the public wants.
The federal agency listed rebuilding as the preferred alternative in an environmental assessment recently released by the National Forest Service.
An open house to discuss the Dosewallips Washout Environmental Assessment is scheduled from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. June 18 at the ranger station in Quilcene. Comments must be postmarked by June 28.
The environmental assessment addresses access to the Olympic National Forest Elkhorn Campground and the Olympic National Park Dosewallips campground and trailheads.
The trailhead at Dosewallips leads to trails that connect with the rest of the park — the Enchanted Valley, the Elwha River, the Gray Wolf River and the trail to the Boulder shelter in the Buckhorn Wilderness.
During a winter storm in January 2002, the Dosewallips River washed out about 300 feet of the Dosewallips River Road (Forest Road 2610) and the hillside behind it, about 10 miles west of U.S. Highway 101.
The washout blocked access to the Elkhorn Campground and to the Olympic National Park’s Dosewallips Campground, ranger station and trailheads within the park.
The Environmental Assessment addresses four alternatives. The first is taking no action.
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