Olympic National Park, due to its alpine, forest, and coastal nature, provides an exceptional opportunity to inspire individuals to change their personal behavior to reduce climate change.Perhaps it has the greatest opportunity in the National Park system, if not the world.This power to leverage the personal behavior choices of hundreds of thousands of people far outweighs any reduction in CO2 output that would be achieved by restricting access.Inspiration is part of the mission of Olympic National Park. With that in mind, the park and our communities need to do everything possible to lead by example.One obvious solution is to sponsor and encourage public transportation throughout the park.Transportation requires a cooperative effort among the Park, cities, counties, and transit authorities.
To date, the park has dropped the ball on public transportation.Bus service has been provided in the past to Hurricane Ridge, Log Cabin resort, and Sol Duc, but withered away without support.
To maximize the effectiveness of public transportation, the ONP visitor center in Port Angeles should relocate downtown next to the new $15 million International Gateway.The city currently has a lot for sale.Having the visitor center next to the transportation hub would make public transportation the obvious choice for visitors to move around the park.Any other solution would be stop gap at best.
A downtown visitor center would increase foot traffic downtown.A downtown visitor center would create a museum node accessible by foot that includes the Marine Sanctuary, the Art Fiero lab, the Art gallery, the Historical Society, underground tours, farmers market, as well as the Chamber visitor center. Bus service to Hurricane Ridge should be reinstated.The existing bus route to Forks could have stops at the Elwha and Sol Duc met by shuttle buses.Upon arrival at the Forks visitor center, a connection could provide access to the Hoh, Kalaloch, Quinault, and eventually Aberdeen.Existing service to Neah Bay and LaPush could be expanded and promoted.
For those taking overnight wilderness trips, parking would be more secure than trailheads.Logistics for point to point backcountry trips would no longer need to involve a car shuttle or hitchhiking. Visitors from around the world should be able to experience Olympic without renting a car. With light rail connecting SeaTac to downtown Seattle, it should be possible to arrive in Seattle, catch light rail to the ferry, ride the ferry, then catch a bus straight to downtown Port Angeles.Alternatively, fly in on Kenmore Air. Canadian visitors would also be well served by public transportation.
The timing for this idea is NOW.There is a confluence of events that make this concept more important now than ever.Public money for public transportation is available, the Gateway is nearly complete, CO2 levels are rising, downtown Port Angeles needs a spark, and the AIA planning group provided similar insight to making Port Angeles more user friendly.The Olympic Peninsula could be a model of cooperation between the park and gateway communities that provides a concrete example of economically and ecologically sustainable symbiosis.