OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Move the historic chalet to another area of Enchanted Valley.
That idea was broached often enough by members of the public during scoping sessions on the future of the historic building that it has become a fourth preliminary draft alternative in the early planning of the future of the structure.
“There were enough people and enough support for that idea that we decided to list it as one of many preliminary draft alternatives,” said Barb Maynes, park spokeswoman.
The remote chalet, 13 miles from the nearest road in the southwest portion of the national park, was moved back some 100 feet from a precarious position on the East Fork Quinault River using helicopters and mules in September 2014.
The park now is in the early planning stages of preparing an environmental assessment for the long-term future of the chalet. The environmental assessment is expected to be released in about a year.
The public comment period continues through Aug. 31.
The park had prepared three preliminary alternatives — tear down the chalet, provide a new foundation or leave it as is.
It conducted scoping meetings in Port Angeles, Amanda Park and Aberdeen to gather ideas from the public, the latest being Tuesday night in Port Angeles, when about 20 people attended.
All of the preliminary proposals from the park would leave the chalet closed to the public and could result in it losing its 2007 designation on the National Register of Historic Places, officials said.
At the time of the 2014 move, the park’s goal was to protect the river from environmental harm, not to protect the chalet, Maynes pointed out at the time.
But many at public meetings wanted to see the chalet preserved.
Among them was the man who moved the chalet, Jeff Monroe, proprietor of Monroe House Moving Inc. of Carlsborg.
Monroe said at a June 27 scoping meeting in Port Angeles that he believes the chalet should be moved about 150 yards from its current location, preserved and opened to the public.
He took issue with the park’s three preliminary proposals, saying, “that’s not what the people want.”
The move in 2014 was because the river had migrated within 18 inches of the chalet.
Although the chalet was moved 100 feet from the river then, the river since has meandered within 30 feet of it, said Rod Farlee, vice president of Friends of Olympic National Park, at a public meeting June 27.
Others also want to see the chalet moved to some point within the valley, Maynes said.
“There are people who are suggesting that it could be moved again somewhere within the valley because the river has continued to shift.
“So that’s one of the options,” Maynes said.
The new alternative does not include where within the valley the chalet would be moved, if it would be preserved or if the public would have access to it.
Another idea that has come up but which hasn’t been added as a preliminary draft alternative is to take the building apart and rebuild it outside of the wilderness area, Maynes said.
None of the alternatives are “in any way final,” she said.
“What will happen next is to look at all ideas from a feasibility standpoint and from an environmental impact standpoint.”
The Enchanted Valley chalet was built by Quinault Valley residents in the early 1930s before the park was established.
For several decades, it was used as a backcountry lodge and then as a wilderness ranger station and emergency shelter. The chalet was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
Comments and ideas can be submitted online at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-chalet or in writing to Superintendent, Olympic National Park, 600 E. Park Ave., Port Angeles, WA 98362.
More information, including the preliminary alternative concepts developed so far, can be found online at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-chalet.
