Mt. Rainier NP achieves major milestone

Keep making noise!

I would like to second sastrugi on Hurricane Ridge midweek access. Once it is lost it is hard to get back. For Olympic, weekends only is now part of the General Management Plan, so getting it back will be even more difficult. In fact, part of our argument has been why is there 7 day a week access to Paradise but not to Hurricane Ridge. Maybe that gave them the wrong idea.

In talking about winter access with Park personnel from several superintendents, maintenance guys, and rangers it is difficult to get a handle on their reasoning, and therefore to help find solutions.

As stated earlier in the thread, access to recreation and inspiration is central to the mission of the Park, and we as citizens need to continue to press the decision makers to make the right decisions.

I talked to a few park employees this weekend.  According to one knowledgeable source, OSHA regulations require the flaggers at the pavement discontinuity to be certified (8 hours of training) flaggers so the park is hiring back summer seasonal employees at $40/hr (+ overtime). It was obvious they were in no way needed Sat or Sun morning.  On Sunday, wind started blowing ice chunks around and the flaggers were moved from the Jersey barriers to the Nisqually Bridge and to Glacier overlook (maybe 3 miles apart), aggravating wait times.  A number of employees I talked to were just shaking their heads.  All agree that some flaggers would be necessary during snow storms, high avy danger, hazardous driving conditions, but not under normal conditions.  At $80/hr X 8 hrs/day = $640/day for flagging for 100-200 vehicles per day (150 visitors x $15 = $2,250), the park spokesperson Lee Taylor's statement that the cost:benefit ratio (ca 3.5:1) was too low to open: man they must make some profits; I suspect what the case is, is that unless they train and use some permanent full time personnel (changing from direct cost to opportunity cost), they don't have the extra $640/day for 14 weeks (over $44,800 for 14 wks vs. loss of $157,500 in revenue).  Gee, maybe they should have taken sunny last week and sunny this week and fixed the damn thing.

So if my deteriorating brain did the calcs correctly, the judicious use of flaggers and expedited repair would allow the road to remain open most of the time during reasonable driving conditions ... if it remains close, it seems it is just bad management.

Quote from: rnbfish on Road Conditions thread
"who can we talk to about getting OUR park open?"

Acting Superintendent Randy King
Mount Rainier National Park
55210 238th Avenue East
Ashford WA 98304

(360) 569-2211  takes one to a rather formidable recorded menu.  I was told my request for the Park's phone list would have to be approved by the Superintendent's office.    ???    The most useful initial menu choice seems to be number 5, Administrative & Business Office, followed by number 8, Supt's Office, 5) Ranger Operations, or 6) Maintenance Office.

A general Park online contact form can be found at:
www.nps.gov/PWR/sendmail.htm?o=01HK%29NI...r=/mora/contacts.htm

If you can discover their names, the NPS format for individual e-mail addresses is: firstname_lastname@nps.gov, but most are swamped by various gov't mailing lists.

You might also try the following:

Jon Jarvis
Pacific West Regional Director
National Park Service
One Jackson Center
411 Jackson Street, Suite 700
Oakland, CA  94607
(510) 817-1304

WA Senator Patty Murray
murray.senate.gov/email/index.cfm

WA Senator Maria Cantwell
cantwell.senate.gov/contact/

Members of the House of Representatives only accept e-mails from residents of their district.
To find yours:  apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

"The Office of Inspector General (OIG) maintains a hotline to facilitate the reporting of allegations of
fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement or misconduct in the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) programs or
operations":  www.doioig.gov/index.php?menuid=382&viewid=511&viewtype=PAGE

The Tacoma News Tribune seems to be a main MRNP PR outlet.  Rainier archives & comment blogs:
blogs.thenewstribune.com/adventure/?cat=731

To reach a wider and potentially sympathetic audience with experience in winter access issues:
www.wildwilderness.org/component/option,com_contact/Itemid,37/

Mt. Rainier Visitor Association is a local business group, with an obvious stake in maximum access:
www.mt-rainier.com/contact.htm

Anybody know Gator's contact info in DC?

Acting Superintendent Randy King
Mount Rainier National Park
55210 238th Avenue East
Ashford WA 98304

(360) 569-2211 

Thanks for the contact info Gary.

Randy seemed pleased to discuss the road closure situation with me when I called so I suspect that he will be equally gracious with others who care enough to inquire.  I believe that his extention is 2302.  Perhaps a few or more calls on the topic will impress a greater sense of urgency.  It may be best to convey a sicere interest in the obstacles to opening the road as opposed to allegations of ulterior motivation (true or not) at this point anyway.  I am still hopeful that positioning some automated signals at either end of the slide (or exposure area) will suffice for mid-week operations.  Requests for access as far as the bridge with pull outs along the way in the mean time may be helpful as well.  I have not checked back with him yet but intend to sometime this week.

Still not satisfactory, but TNT just reported the road to Paradise will be open "temporarily" Wed. afternoon & Thursday:
blogs.thenewstribune.com/adventure/?cat=731

Guess this peasant should be grateful for today's crumbs that fell from the royal table.   However, the TNT article also said:  “When the weather conditions are pretty much perfect, they will open the road on weekdays,” said spokeswoman Patti Wold..."Under normal winter conditions, we likely won’t open the road on a weekday,”  No mention of opening above Longmire and below the terrible hazard on Glacier Hill.

The Park has also created a new propaganda outlet:  www.nps.gov/mora/winter-paradise-road-status.htm