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Tourism: Mount Rainier National Park |
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Written On: March/April 2008 |
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Written By: Daniel Brunell |
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It was really no surprise that an image of Mount Rainier was chosen for the back of the United States Mint’s series of 50 state quarters. As an iconic symbol of Washington state, it has no equal.
The Space Needle, apples, salmon, overpriced coffee; all have come to be associated with our state, but the big majestic mountain is all you really need to know you’re here. Even when hidden by clouds or distance, you’re still reminded of the 14,410-foot behemoth by countless posters, screen saver, magazine covers, nightly local news backdrops, and your best friend’s hiking photos. In addition to its symbolism and good looks, Mount Rainier brings something more to the state: Money.
Mount Rainier and the national park that bears its name bring millions of dollars into the local and state economies.
According to a Michigan State University study, more than 6.5 million people visited Washington’s 11 national parks, monuments and historical sites in 2006. These visitors spent an estimated $207 million in and around the national parks in Washington, creating about 5,300 jobs and $133 million in wages. Not bad.
Mount Rainier National Park is responsible for a big chunk of that. Every year, 2 million people visit the park. According to a recent economic study that focused exclusively on Mount Rainier National Park, in a single year visitors spent $29.8 million within a 30-mile radius of the park. For communities like Ashford, Elbe, Eatonville, and Enumclaw, tourism dollars are life. To get a slice of the tourism pie, these communities are constantly looking for new ways to bring tourists into their towns.
“Between the park in the summertime and Crystal Mountain in the winter, it really is a jewel in our backyard,” said Cathy Rigg, executive director of the Enumclaw Chamber of Commerce. “One of the keys is drawing people to stop in town. One of the ways we’re doing this is by opening a new welcome and interpretation center in 2009,” she said. “With these and our many service and support businesses, we hope to continue to be the gateway to the mountain.”
The importance of the park to these nearby communities would become even more apparent after a winter storm in 2006.
The winter storm of 2006
On Nov. 6, 2006, a Pacific storm rolled into Mount Rainier National Park, dumping 18 inches of rain in 36 hours. The inundation devastated the park, turning streams and rivers into raging torrents. As the rain-soaked ground began to move, massive landslides of mud and rock were triggered. The damage to the park and its infrastructure was immense.
Nearly every road into the park was severely damaged. Sunshine Point Campground lost more than five acres, carried away in the swollen Nisqually River. The road to the Ipsut Campground was severely damaged and may never reopen. More than 28 remote footbridges were knocked out, along with miles of trails that are now impassible because of landslides.
Critical infrastructure was disrupted at Longmire, the park’s administrative headquarters, when Kautz Creek moved 60 feet, nearly knocking out the emergency operations center. More than a year later, the park is still recovering from the disaster. Nature did what nobody thought possible: close the park for six months of heavy maintenance and repairs.
Sustaining economies and rebuilding the park
The damage done by the storm was shocking to many, but the community and government responded quickly. One of the first to take action was Congressman Norm Dicks, D-Wash. As chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, he made it a top priority to get emergency funding and resources to the park. When Rep. Dicks and National Park Service Director Mary Bomar went on an inspection tour of the park, they saw massive destruction. Government resources poured into the park and the repairs started within days.
It wasn’t just the government that took action to bring back Mount Rainier National Park. In response to the disaster, a herd of businesses and groups of every kind began organizing volunteers and donations to get the park up and running. Businesses like Starbucks, Boeing, and Wal-Mart sent work teams and financial support for the recovery effort at Mount Rainier. Businesses from all over the state , along with student and conservation groups, came to the park week after week to clean up and rebuild.
They kept coming even after the park reopened. By the end of September 2007, the numbers were staggering: More than 1,700 volunteers had donated more than 84,000 hours. The estimated value of this volunteer effort was more than $1.5 million — nearly a 90-percent increase over the previous year’s volunteerism!
“The outpouring from the community was amazing,” said Dave Uberuaga, superintendent of Mount Rainier National Park. “We actually had to put someone on staff full-time to manage all of the volunteers and donations that were coming into the park. The effort from a wide variety of people was nothing like I’d seen before.”
While this effort was going on, people in the communities surrounding the park were nervous, to say the least. The park was their lifeblood and they didn’t know what was going to happen next. To ease some of these fears, the park’s administrators developed an outreach program to keep the local residents up to date on the latest activities. They also worked with these communities, especially Elbe and Ashford, to develop alternative attractions to keep the tourists coming. This included guided tours into the park to show the damage and a wide variety of festivals to attract people to the region.
So, on May 5, 2007, there were a lot of deep breaths when Rep. Dicks opened the gates to the renewed park. Though there was still much to be done, the park was back in business.
A park for the next century
Even before the 2006 storm slammed into the park, things were changing at Mount Rainier National Park. The summer before, the long-awaited renovation of the 89-year-old Paradise Inn was unveiled to the public. Across the parking lot, the new Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center is being built to replace old one.
“It is a little-known fact that Mount Rainier National Park was the first park whose long-term development was guided by a master plan,” said Uberuaga. “The park has stuck to that plan to preserve the historic significance of the park itself. The reconstruction of the lodge and the Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center are just part of this process.”
The Paradise Lodge is scheduled to reopen in May 2008, with the new visitor center opening in the fall. Much-needed repairs, restorations and upgrades are also being made at Sunrise, on the other side of the park. These are just a few of the many projects underway, all designed to take Mount Rainier National Park into the 21st century.
On March 2, 1898, Mount Rainier became the country’s fifth national park. Despite storms, snow and floods, it continues as a testament to wonders of nature. With some elbow grease and TLC from park employees and volunteers, it will continue to inspire awe for
generations to come.
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