2012 WILD OLYMPICS CAMPAIGN
VS
Olympic National Park Inholders
By Pearl Rains Hewett
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE
WILD OLYMPICS CAMPAIGN BEING PROPOSED AND
THE HISTORIC WILDERNESS OF THE OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK IS SEVERELY
RESTRICTED PUBLIC ACCESS AND PUBLIC USE OF A MILLION ACRES OF PUBLIC
LAND.
In 1937,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Port Angeles to look at the
wilderness area proposed for Olympic National Park. My father George C. Rains Sr. was
working in a fire watch tower in the ONP in 1937. In The President's address to the people in
Port Angeles in 1937, he said,
“So, you boys and girls, I think
you can count on my help in getting that national park? Not only
because we need it for us old people and you young people, but for a
whole lot of young people who are going to come along in the next
hundred years of America.”
National Park
negotiations continued for the next several months, and the final bill
was signed on June 29, 1938, GUARANTEEING, WE THE PEOPLE the FULL USE
AND ENJOYMENT OF THE OLYMPIC
NATIONAL PARK.
The Rains Sr. Family has lived in Clallam
County for over 90 years.
Our family owned part of Sol
Duc Hot Springs 1944-1953 and we lived there as ONP Inholders
In 1986 my father George C. Rains Sr. owned
3000 acres of land in Clallam County.
George C. Rains Sr. "Conspiracy Exposed"
60 years ago, Minnie Petersen, my mother
and I rode on horseback up to the high Divide and picked blue
berries.The Olympic National Park 7 lake Basin was wild enough then.
Our family backpacked to the Olympic
National Park 7 Lake Basin 40 summers ago and it was wild enough then.
Our family spent a summer at
Log Cabin Resort when I was 13 years old.
I remember the destruction LaPoel
resort, the restaurant and the cabins.
I remember the imminent domain taking
of Lake Crescent private homes.
Jack Olsen's home and land taken from
him and later occupied by
Chief Justice Douglas of the United states supreme Court, and he called
it his summer home.
In 1976 came the UN WORLD
HERITAGE SITES
AND THE U.N. MAN AND THE BIOSPHERE
60 years ago Our family visited the Olympic Hot Springs
Resort , before it was destroyed by the National Park Service.
35 years ago I hiked up to the same Olympic Hot Springs
Resort with my two nieces, 6 naked hikers, and a primitive pool
surrounded with piles of human feces.
In 2008 my son took my
2 grandson's backpacking to the 7 Lake Basin, RESERVATIONS REQUIRED,
restricted designated campsite, no campfires and payment required. Only
3 campsites existed in the 7 Lake Basin area.
In 2010 my son tried
to go backpacking to the 7 Lake Basin with his sons. NO WAY every
restricted, limited, designated campsite was FULL. They told him, "If
you want to camp in the Olympic National Park high country this is
where you can go." ...........On a million acres of PUBLIC
ACCESS LAND?
Reservations must be made over a year in
advance and no horses are allowed above 3500 feet.
In
2011 as an Inholder "Access Denied" to Elwha River by ONP
Pearl Rains Hewett, 90 year family history in Clallam County
ONP inholder (access denied)
SO MUCH FOR FULL USE AND ENJOYMENT
including
OUR FAMILY HERITAGE IN OLYMPIC NATION PARK
My
Family DOES NOT GO INTO THE "WILD" OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK FOR VACATIONS
anymore!
SO, President Roosevelt,
Appointed Bureau of Land Management?
Where do, those whole lot of young people who are going to come along
in the next hundred years of America 1937-2012, go for their "WILD"
vacations?
THEY GO TO IDAHO, to a private resort,
camp 20 feet from the lake and have a bonfire!
CLALLAM COUNTY DOES NOT WANT OR NEED,
THE LOSS OF PUBLIC ACCESS TO
PUBLIC LAND
OR
THE LOSS of productive timberlands
Or
THE NEGATIVE impact
on the local economy in Clallam County
THAT THE WILD OLYMPICS CAMPAIGN
WOULD CAUSE.
Pearl Rains Hewett Trustee
George C. Rains Sr. Estate