PORT ANGELES — Olympic National Park Superintendent Sula Jacobs told Clallam County commissioners the park is heading into a busy season with two big takeaways: steady-high visitation that drives the local economy, and summer road work that will change access at key destinations — plus continued planning for the Hurricane Ridge day lodge rebuild.
Jacobs said Olympic National Park saw about 3-point-6 million visits last year — essentially flat from the year before — and she emphasized the park’s economic footprint, including about 180 million dollars in visitor spending and thousands of jobs tied to that activity.
“Just as a reminder about the economic stimulus the park is bringing into the local area — $380 million in visitor spending. Thirty-three percent of that is in lodging, 19 percent is in restaurants. That’s 2,880 jobs. The economic output is $516 million,” said Jacobs.
Jacobs then flagged major summer impacts for visitors — especially on the coast. She said the Mora Road corridor past the campground to Rialto Beach is expected to be closed July into early fall for storm damage repairs — the campground stays open, but you won’t be able to drive out to Rialto Beach. She also said drivers should expect construction delays on Hoh River Road, and intermittent weekday impacts tied to Hurricane Ridge water system work.
Finally, Jacobs said the park is still in the design phase for the new Hurricane Ridge day lodge, and she called the public response strong — with nearly 200 people showing up to one community session and hundreds more comments submitted.
“It was absolutely amazing. We have received hundreds upon hundreds of comments. We’re reading through a lot of them, and we’re still working with the architectural firm for the design. They focused on a lot of the areas you would expect. There’s a lot of space things. People talked about how do we use it during the summer, how do we use it during the winter? We are still in that,” said Jacobs.
Jacobs told commissioners the goal is to design a lodge that works in both winter and summer, improves restrooms, and strengthens interpretive features — while staying durable in harsh Ridge weather.