The glamping company Under Canvas has proposed a project out on the West End in the upper Sol Duc Valley.
Clallam County’s Department of Community Development is working with the company “to develop a 78-site campground within the commercial forest zone.”
The plan also includes laundry and housekeeping areas, staff housing and storage.
The planned glamping site is miles back on a poorly maintained, single-lane road. However, wildfire needs no road as the old-timers who survived the Forks Fire of 1951 will tell.
The increased volume of people out there raises the chance of wildfire exponentially.
The state Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Forest Service are the sole means of fire suppression, and they are instructed to not put out structure fires anywhere. The closest fire department is in Beaver, more than 15 miles away.
The road to access the glamping site is also shared with the Olympic Discovery Trail, which accommodates hikers, bicycles, equestrians and wheelchairs. The road is also used by log trucks for commercial logging operations, and the shoulders are not safe for equestrian and wheelchair use.
What happens when more than 200 vehicles operated by tourists unfamiliar with road conditions are added to the mix?
I’m appealing to the people of Clallam County with common sense to urge the county to protect its local inhabitants.
Please keep your senses and don’t be starry eyed with visions of more income from tourism.
There is room for all of us, but our safety should come first.
Zorina Barker
Port Angeles