PORT ANGELES — The first step toward rebuilding a Hurricane Ridge day lodge in Olympic National Park came Saturday morning when President Joe Biden signed a stopgap funding package.
The measure averted a government shutdown by extending current federal spending through March 14 and provided $100 billion in emergency assistance to areas hard hit by hurricanes and other natural disasters.
Part of that emergency assistance included $80 million secured by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Seattle, for the day lodge project.
Washington’s Democratic congressional delegation — including Sen. Maria Cantwell and Rep. Derek Kilmer — supported the measure. The state’s two Republican representatives voted against it.
“We have been touched by the outpouring of support from near and far since the loss of the beloved Hurricane Ridge day lodge,” Olympic National Park Superintendent Sula Jacobs said.
Murray, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, had impressed upon her colleagues the need for federal funding for a new facility ever since the lodge was destroyed by fire on May 7, 2023.
Renovation
The 72-year-old lodge had been undergoing a $10.8 million renovation when the fire occurred. According to a report released in December 2023, the precise cause could not be determined; among the possibilities were lithium-ion batteries that had overheated while charging and electrical panels exposed to water and corrosion that subsequently failed.
Murray secured full funding for the project. Its cost was based on conversations her office had with the Department of the Interior, which estimated about $77.5 million was needed for the project to install utilities (drinking water, wastewater and electrical power), rebuild communications infrastructure, create interpretive waysides and support temporary visitor services until the new facility can be completed.
For comparison, the Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center at Mount Rainier National Park that opened in 2009 took nine years and nearly $50 million to build. Construction began this year on a $118 million project scheduled to be completed in March 2026 to replace the aging Yellowstone River Bridge at the northern edge of the park.
Funding will come from the National Park Service Construction account.
Hurricane Ridge is one of the most popular tourist attractions on the Olympic Peninsula, drawing 2.9 million visitors in 2023 and making a $279 million impact on the local economy, according to the National Park Service.
Olympic National Park was the most-visited national park in the state in 2023, with 2.9 million visitors. Rainier National Park was second with 1.7 million visitors.
Although the park encompasses nearly 1 million acres of innumerable attractions, for many, Hurricane Ridge is Olympic National Park.
“The lodge was an important asset in the tourism industry in Clallam and Jefferson counties,” said Colleen McAleer, executive director for the Clallam County Economic Development Council. “Visitors to Olympic National Park through the Port Angeles gateway dropped substantially after the fire.”
Among the challenges facing the project is the site itself, which is accessible by a single road that passes through three tunnels. Construction work of almost any magnitude will be limited to a narrow window squeezed between brutal winters and busy summers.
Sites of cultural significance to the Port Gamble S’Klallam, Jamestown S’Klallam and Lower Elwha Klallam tribes also have been identified at Hurricane Ridge.
A memorandum of understanding between the tribes and Olympic National Park and the Washington Historical Preservation Officer regarding a project commencing in spring 2025 required archaeological monitoring and screening of all excavation material for artifacts. However, the MOA did note that, “No burial sites, human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony are known to be within the immediate project area.”
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
