HomeMy WebLinkAbout030625 email -Upper Hoh Road UpdateALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them.
Dear Jefferson County Commissioners,
I am writing to update you on the impact that the lack of action on the Upper Hoh Road project is causing. Today this attached article regarding the Hoh road closure came up on my husband's
facebook feed from a San Franscisco newspaper. As we have mentioned in previous communication, the closing of access to the major tourist attraction, Hoh Rainforest, is now something
the entire US is finding out about. Once this article makes the rounds it will begin to affect people's vacation planning in a way that cannot be stopped. Please devise a plan within
the next week. It is imperative to the short- and long-term health of tourism in West Jefferson County.
Additionally, after Peak 6 Adventure Store's owner Gary Peterson talked with Clallam County Commissioner French this week, we have learned that Olympic National Park sees themselves
as ready to open to visitors as soon as any road connection can be met. This should unlock the mystery that Commissioner Greg has worried about. Olympic National Park is open all
winter without having the visitor center open. They are a low-maintenance National Park entrance, providing only toilets and trailheads for a good portion of the year. Which leads
me to the next point I hope we can all come to agreement on. April 15 has been a date that was suggested as a decision-making date. While this might seem like a fine idea to outsiders,
those that live and work on the Upper Hoh Road know that by choosing this quite arbitrary date (for the reason that we all need to wait on backcountry reservations to run our decision
making process) we are cutting off and ignoring the importance of the Spring break travel season completely. As business owners in the tourism industry, we depend on Spring break to
get the early hires trained and paid. We also have our early wave of bills, for infrastructure items like septic system surveys, health department permits, fire system approvals and
of course any inventory that arrived for the Spring season that must be paid, and cannot cover those bills under the dead-end road conditions currently in place.
Most of all I would like to warn the commissioners of the traffic chaos that would be caused by delaying work until May. What may seem like a smart move to wait to search for bigger
funding sources for a permanent fix will actually be one of the worst choices for the actual road construction. Traffic amps up two-fold once we are into the month of May. By getting
the project done (in temporary of permanent form) in March or April we will avoid the mess of construction+ main season tourism traffic. Who wants people getting out of their cars
because the traffic waits are too long to stretch their legs and get in the way of dump trucks? Also, in my emails with Washington State legislature representatives I have noticed that
there is a 0% probability expressed in finding emergency funding, let's stop delaying then, for something that doesn't exist.
Lastly, I would like to share a picture of the Chehalis Ritchie Brothers auction yard that will have its next auction on March 21. The field full of stoplights is very encouraging to
see! There are affordable sources for this construction project. And given the chance, with our budget of $10,000 the businesses of the Upper Hoh Road would do their best to bid to
win on stoplights, if they cannot be provided otherwise by the county. We will do everything within our power to problem solve this project until the traffic begins flowing to the
visitor center again. We will not give up on this until there is success, because everything we have worked for in the last 25 years is on the line.
Best regards,
Anna Matsche, Hard Rain Cafe
<https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/olympic-hoh-rain-forest-closed-indefinitely-20192069.php>
Olympic's Hoh Rain Forest closed until federal funds come through - SFGATE <https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/olympic-hoh-rain-forest-closed-indefinitely-20192069.php>
Rebecca Patterson thought that Olympic National Park’s Hoh Rain Forest would be the perfect place to elope. The self-described “moss and lichen aficionado” was fond of waterfall hikes
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