The final General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement for Olympic National Park was released this afternoon.

The release culminates nearly seven years of meetings, discussions and planning, said park superintendent Sue McGill.

The Final GMP establishes a vision for managing the park for the next 15 to 20 years and aims to protect natural and cultural resources
while improving visitor experiences.

Drew Perine/The News Tribune file
A group of cross country skiers make their way along a ridge with the Olympic Mountains as a backdrop.

Key points include:

• Maintaining access to existing developed areas, park trails, campgrounds, and facilities.

• Allowing for improvements to the downhill ski support facilities at Hurricane Ridge, but with no area expansion.

• Seeking additional partnerships to help provide enhanced visitor access and enjoyment (e.g. alternative transit options, expanded interpretive and educational opportunities) and better protection of sensitive resources.

• Boundary adjustments through willing selling purchases or land exchanges to incorporate sensitive resource areas within the park.

• Continued protection of wilderness resources and cultural resources within wilderness.

The Final GMP is a massive 950-page document contained in two volumes. Volume 1 includes the plan alternatives, environmental consequences and extensive background information; Volume 2 contains a summary of public comments and responses to the substantive comments.

After the required 30-day no action period, the Final GMP will be forwarded to the National Park Service Pacific West Regional Director for final approval.

Click here for an online version of the Final GMP/EIS.

Review copies are also available at the Olympic National Park Visitor
Center in Port Angeles, the Olympic National Park Information Station in
Forks and the following area libraries:
The Evergreen State College Daniel J. Evans Library
Kitsap Regional Library, Bremerton Branch
North Olympic Library System Clallam Bay, Forks, Port Angeles, and
Sequim branches
Peninsula College Library
Port Townsend Public Library
Seattle Public Library
Tacoma Public Library
Timberland Regional Libraries, Aberdeen, Amanda Park, Hoodsport, and Hoquiam branches
University of Washington Library
William G. Reed Public Library
Wilson Library, Western Washington University.

Interested individuals and groups may request a CD version of the document by calling 360-565-3004. Limited printed copies of the document are also available by request. For more information about the final plan, call the park at 360-565-3004.

Here is a chance to put your fishing skills to use for a scientific study. Anglers are being invited to put their skills to work in a steelhead-genetics study in the Cowlitz River basin, including some areas typically closed to fishing.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife, along with Friends of the Cowlitz and Tacoma Power, is organizing a hook-and-line fishery to help establish the genetic structure of steelhead populations in several tributaries to the Cowlitz River.

An orientation meeting for volunteers will be held at Saturday at 1 p.m. at Tacoma Power's Mayfield office located at the end of Gershick Road, near Mayfield Dam.

All volunteer anglers will be required to submit their Wild identification number and their date of birth to sign up for the test fishery. They also must carry a valid Washington fishing license and a valid photo identification on the fishing grounds.

The fishery is scheduled from late March through early June in lower Cowlitz River tributaries, focusing on late-winter run natural origin steelhead. Tributaries in the study include the Arkansas/Delameter/Monahan drainage, the Olequa/Stillwater/Campbell drainage and the Ostrander drainage - all of which are closed to steelhead fishing by the general public.

Anglers will be required to release any steelhead they catch after a fin tissue sample the size of a paper hole punch is taken from each fish.

Anglers can still participate in the study even if they can't make the Saturday meeting. Biologists will be discussing sampling protocols and getting anglers signed up as WDFW volunteers. However, if interested anglers can't make the meeting, they will be welcome throughout the sampling season and the department will have a briefing on the morning of each fishing day.

Questions about the test fishery should be directed to Julie Henning, state fish biologist, at 360-864-6133 or hennijah@dfw.wa.gov.