For Immediate Release

January 12, 2007

Storm Cleanup Work Underway at Mt. Rainier;
Funds Allocated by National Park Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Park Service has approved the expenditure of funds that will assure the cleanup of damage to Mount Rainier National Park from the early November storms that dropped 18 inches of rain on the park in 36 hours, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks said Friday.

     The congressman, who serves as chairman of the House Interior and Environment appropriations subcommittee, said the decision by the agency's headquarters staff to redirect money from other unexpended highway and construction accounts removes an enormous burden from Mount Rainier's annual budget.  "This was a 'hundred-year' storm that caused an estimated $36 million in damage to the park," Rep. Dicks said.   "There is no way that the Mount Rainier budget could have accommodated that level of repair effort without seriously affecting park operations," he added.

     The congressman said he was informed by National Park Service officials today that a total of $18 million would be redirected from other accounts to make it possible to re-open the park to Longmire by mid-March.  The work would include temporary repairs to the Nisqually road, Paradise Point road SR123 and Westside road.  In addition, $2 million of this amount will pay for restoration work needed to reopen access to the Hoh Rainforest and Sol Duc Hot Springs areas of Olympic National Park, also damaged during the November storms.

     In the next six months, Rep. Dicks said the National Park Service would be repairing damaged utilities, flood control structures and buildings as well as beginning the restoration of roads and major visitor facilities such as campgrounds and trails.

     The remainder of the repair funding needed at Mount Rainier will come from the "Emergency Repair of Federally-Owned Roads" program of the Federal Highway Administration, Rep. Dicks said.

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