PORT ANGELES — Clallam County has accused Olympic National Park of stacking the deck against a wheelchair-accessible addition to the Spruce Railroad Trail at Lake Crescent.
In a letter to National Park Service Pacific West Regional Director Christine Lehnertz, county commissioners said there are “serious violations” in the park-led National Environmental Protection Act, or NEPA, process.
Specifically, the county said the park knowingly released a factually incorrect environmental assessment to the public after the county updated its proposal for the 3.5-mile segment and changed the “purpose and need statement” for the historic Spruce railroad grade at the last minute.
“With considerable fanfare, and to their great credit, Olympic National Park has initiated a project to remove two dams on the Elwha River that have been a barrier to salmon migration for almost 100 years,” the letter says, referring to the dismantling of the dams that began last month.
“Quietly however, and to their discredit, they appear to be ready to place barriers in the way of making the Spruce Railroad Trail wheelchair accessible,” the commissioners’ letter says.
“The park, evidently, is willing to spend $325 million to remove fish barriers, but unwilling to allow development of a funded, universally accessible, section of the Olympic Discovery Trail along Lake Crescent.”
Olympic National Park Superintendent Karen Gustin declined to comment, said Barb Maynes, park spokeswoman.
“We’re still reviewing the letter,” Maynes said.
“The regional district manager will be formulating a response to the county.”
Clallam County has secured $1.3 million in federal grants to build the second phase of the Spruce Railroad Trail on the north shore of the iconic lake.
The project, which includes the rehabilitation of two railroad tunnels, will link to a 6.5-mile segment of 10-foot-wide paved trail that the county built further to the west in 2009.
Once completed, the Spruce Railroad Trail will become a key bridge in the 140-mile-long, multiuse Olympic Discovery Trail, which will eventually connect Port Townsend to the Pacific Ocean at LaPush.
The idea is to build the trail on the old railroad grade on the north side of the lake to allow bicyclists, hikers, runners, rollers bladers, equestrians and other users to bypass the traffic hazards of U.S. Highway 101 on the south shore.
The county intends to make the entire length of the Olympic Discovery Trail compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
So far, about 40 miles of paved wheelchair-accessible trail has been built.
Commissioner Mike Doherty on Tuesday said the four-page letter explains “a few of the concerns we have with the environmental assessment process related to the Olympic Discovery Trail segment at Lake Crescent on the old Spruce Railroad bed.”
He said the county hopes Lehnertz will consider the county’s concerns and “take action.”
A key point of contention is the environmental assessment for the trail.
According to the letter, Gustin asked the county to provide comments for an administrative review of the assessment by Sept. 9.
County engineer Ross Tyler responded with a revised proposal that the county said corrected erroneous environmental impact calculations.
Tyler said the county’s modified proposal brings it more in line with the park’s preferred proposal.
“This good faith offering was an attempt to reestablish a cooperative relationship with ONP staff,” the letter from the county commission says.
“That offer was apparently ignored and a factually incorrect EA document placed before the public,” the letter says.
County officials said they expected the park to update planning documents with the correct amount of fill removed, of trees removed, and to change maps to reflect the revised alignment.
“You can well imagine our consternation to find that Superintendent Gustin and her staff allowed the draft EA to go forward for public comment with none of these corrections,” the letter says.
The county proposes an 8-foot-wide paved portion for ADA compliance and safety in the middle of the railroad grade.
There would be a 4-foot-wide gravel path on one side for hikers and horseback riders.
The park’s proposal is for a 6-foot-wide paved part and the same-sized hiking and equestrian path.
Furthermore, the county wants to remove soil from a hillside near the Lyre river to alleviate an 18 percent grade in the park’s proposal in a short section of the trail.
Tyler said 18 percent is far too steep for people in wheelchairs and many other trail users.
County officials said the park knowingly used the wrong volumes and other outdated information when it hosted a public meeting on the trail project in Port Angeles on Sept. 21.
“ONP personnel appear determined to stack the deck against the funded, ADA compliant, county proposal in favor of an unfunded, unsafe and non-ADA compliant proposal,” the letter says.
Commissioners in the letter ask Lehnertz to pull the draft environmental assessment, which the county considers erroneous, off the ONP website and halt the public input process.
They also ask that the park revise the draft environmental assessment to incorporate the amended county proposal; revise quantities, calculations and alternative comparison charts contained in the environmental assessment; and “remove the bias in the document.”
“The intent of the letter is to get the park to put this [current county proposal] into the public comment forum so that the public has the chance to see the new county alignment and to see how closely it mimics the environmental impact that the park’s proposal has,” Tyler said in a Wednesday interview.
Meanwhile, Peninsula Trails Coalition President Andy Stevenson told the Peninsula Daily News last week that the park’s proposed trail would be too narrow to be shared by bicyclists and pedestrians and too steep in places for disabled users.
Teri Tucker, park environmental protection specialist, said the smaller trail avoids having to remove landslides that have fallen the former railroad grade.
The railroad grade is eligible for placement on the National Historic Register, meaning the park is legally required to preserve it as much as possible, Tucker has said.
County officials counter that the park’s proposal would reverse the goals and policies in the park’s general management and Lake Crescent management plans.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
