Public Comments on Olympic Draft GMP Now Available

Date: December 13, 2006
Contact: Barb Maynes, 360-565-3005

The over 500 comments received during the public comment period for the Olympic National Park Draft General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (Draft GMP/EIS) have been scanned and collated and are now available for public review.

“We’re grateful for the many thoughtful and thought-provoking comments we received,” said Superintendent Bill Laitner. “As we continue to analyze these comments, we’re happy to give the public an opportunity to read them, too.”

The comments are available online by visiting the National Park Service Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) website and then choosing “Document List” from the Project Home for the Olympic National Park General Management Plan.

The comments are presented in PDF format and are grouped according to file size and when they were received. Names and addresses of all individual commentors have been redacted and are not shown. The names of agencies, tribes, businesses and organizations are shown.

Interested people may also review the comments in paper format by calling 360-565-3004 to schedule an appointment at the Olympic National Park headquarters at 600 East Park Avenue in Port Angeles.

When complete, the Olympic National Park GMP/EIS will be a long-term, comprehensive plan that sets a course for the park for the next 15 to 20 years.

The Draft GMP/EIS was released last June for a 104-day public review and comment period. More than 725 printed copies and 150 CD copies of the Draft GMP were distributed and the document was also available at area libraries and posted online.

Five hundred individual comment letters were received during the public comment period, along with seven form letters and three petitions. In addition to the hundreds of individuals who responded, 48 interest groups, 13 businesses, 16 local, state, or federal agencies, and six tribes wrote comments about the Draft GMP.

Park staff has begun the step-by-step process of analyzing each comment and developing responses to all of the substantive comments. Substantive comments are defined as those that do one or more of the following:

• Question, with reasonable basis, the accuracy of information in the EIS;
• Question, with reasonable basis, the adequacy of environmental analysis;
• Present reasonable alternatives other than those presented in the EIS; and/or
• Cause changes or revisions to the proposal.

The Final Olympic National Park GMP/EIS is anticipated for release sometime next winter.