Wilderness Watch is supporting a National Park Service (NPS) decision to remove the dilapidated Enchanted Valley Chalet in the Olympic Wilderness in Washington. The structure stands in the path of the East Fork Quinault River, and its eventual demise threatens to flood the wild river with brick, metal, wood, and other debris. The Park Service should allow natural conditions to be restored to the Wilderness.
In August 2016, we submitted scoping comments on the Final Disposition of the Enchanted Valley Chalet Environmental Assessment. We noted that the chalet fails to meet the narrow exception the Wilderness Act makes for structures and installations necessary to administer an area as Wilderness. We also noted that the other alternatives—retaining, permanently anchoring, or relocating the Chalet to another area within the Wilderness—fail to preserve wilderness character.
• Read our comments on the NPS decision
• Read our comments on the EA
Photo: National Park Service
