Judge Upholds Olympic National Park's Maintenance Work On Historic Structures In Official Wilderness

A federal judge has agreed with the National Park Service's reasoning behind a decision to repair five historic buildings located in official wilderness in Olympic National Park, holding that the agency "made a reasoned finding of necessity by determining both that the structures are necessary to preserve historic values in Olympic National Park and that it was necessary to repair each one."

The summary judgment (attached below) handed down this past week rejected claims by Wilderness Watch, a nonprofit organization founded in 1989 to advocate for the "proper stewardship of lands and rivers included in the National Wilderness Preservation System," that the Park Service had acted arbitrarily and capriciously in repairing the structures in violation of the Wilderness Act. More so, it agreed with the Park Service that historic structures are not imcompatible with a wilderness setting.

“The court’s ruling has far-reaching implications,” Chris Moore, executive director of the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, noted in a prepared statement. “It enables the National Park Service and other federal agencies that manage America’s wilderness to meet their stewardship mission related to historic and cultural resources in a manner that complies with the Wilderness Act. Washingtonians understand that the historic structures in our backcountry areas complement the wilderness experience.”

At the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Brian Turner, the group's senior field officer and attorney, also was pleased with the ruling.

“We applaud the court for ruling that the designation of wilderness need not result in the erasure of cultural resources within that landscape,” said Mr. Turner. “We believe that Olympic National Park’s historic cabins, trail shelters, and other rustic structures are an enhancement, not a detriment to experiencing the land’s natural beauty and share the court’s opinion that the Wilderness Act and the National Historic Preservation Act can be used in concert to ensure that Olympic’s heritage is intact for future generations of park users.”

Olympic National Park encompasses an expansive and rugged rumpled landscape on the peninsula of Washington state. Within its borders there are 876,669 acres of official wilderness, and within that wilderness are 44 historic structures. "Many represent the activities of the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service, and others embody the perseverance of homesteaders and settlers and recreational development in the Peninsula," U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton noted in his 26-page ruling.

Five of those structures were central to the lawsuit brought by Wilderness Watch: Botten Cabin (also known as Wilder Patrol Cabin), Canyon Creek Shelter (also known as Sol Duc Falls Shelter), Wilder Shelter, Bear Camp Shelter, and Elk Lake Shelter. Since 2011, the Park Service has performed maintenance on those structures; in some cases, new roofs were needed, logs were decaying and needed to be replaced in others, and in one a chimney flue had rusted enough to merit replacement.

While the park staff did not perform a specific environmental assessment on these projects, the General Plan for Olympic adopted in 2008 addressed the need for repairs to historic structures in the wilderness area.

“Where historic structures or cultural landscapes have been included within designated wilderness, they will be protected and maintained using methods that are consistent with preservation of wilderness character and values and cultural resource requirements," the plan said.

"Tiered to the General Plan, the Park Service also completed a programmatic categorical exclusion," the judge noted. "The programmatic exclusion decided routine repair work on cultural structures — including basic seasonal maintenance and roof and structural maintenance — was exempt from NEPA analysis from 2008 to 2011 because no 'extraordinary circumstances' causing significant impacts on natural resources, cultural resources, or wilderness areas existed."

But Wilderness Watch argued that "the Park Service has failed to preserve Olympic National Park’s wilderness character and improperly rebuilt the five historic structures without first demonstrating their necessity, in violation of the Wilderness Act. It also argues that by relying on a categorical exclusion, and so failing to prepare an environmental assessment or impact statement taking a 'hard look' at the effects of its construction, the Park Service violated the NEPA."

In reply, the Park Service argued that "the Wilderness Act does not mandate the decay and eventual destruction of all historic structures in wilderness, nor does the (National Historic Preservation Act) require their preservation, either," Judge Leighton pointed out. "Rather, these acts work in tandem, furthering the Park Service’s mission to conserve scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein.

"Specifically," the judge wrote, "the Park Service argues the Wilderness Act allows it to maintain 'historically used' structures, so long as its preservation work is the 'minimum necessary.'"

Furthermore, he noted that the Park Service argued that, "although historic preservation is subject to the Wilderness Act, it is indeed a purpose of the Act. It argues that because the Act charges it with preserving Olympic National Park’s wilderness character, which includes a devotion to its 'historical use,' and with complying with cultural resource preservation statutes, it can maintain historic structures in wilderness, so long as the means used are 'necessary to meet the minimum requirements for administration of the Olympic Wilderness for the purpose of the Wilderness Act.'"

In approaching his conclusion, Judge Leighton noted that, "(W)hile the Act’s overarching ambition is the preservation of 'land retaining its primeval character and influence,' it does not require an agency to forfeit its other management values. It simply must administer those values in a way that preserves an area’s wilderness character, such as by leaving it unimpaired and by ensuring it is devoted to recreational, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use."

He went on to note that the Park Service "has a longstanding approach of preserving historic structures, subject to wilderness concerns. Even before Congress designated the Olympic Wilderness, the Park Service exercised its discretion under the Organic Act in removing structures that compromised the park’s wilderness character and preserving others."

In finding for the Park Service, Judge Leighton held that, "(I)n its 2008 General Plan, the Park Service evaluated its management approach under the Wilderness Act. It reiterated a version of its earlier approach, declaring it would protect and maintain historic structures 'using methods that are consistent with preservation of wilderness character and values.'

"The Park Service’s consideration of how to best manage manmade structures and wilderness in Olympic National Park, both before and after the Wilderness Act, has been thorough and consistent. Therefore, the Court defers to the Park Service’s conclusion that historic preservation furthers a goal of the Wilderness Act, and the Park Service’s actions here were appropriate if they were the minimum necessary. Indeed, the record as a whole — what the Court is charged with reviewing — demonstrates the agency made a reasoned finding of necessity by determining both that the structures are necessary to preserve historic values in Olympic National Park and that it was necessary to repair each one."

At Friends of Olympic National Park, Vice President Rod Farlee said, "The decision is a fitting tribute to former Washington Senator Daniel J. Evans. Senator Evans was instrumental to the passage of legislation creating the Olympic Wilderness and supported the preservation of its backcountry structures.”

On December 9, Congress passed a law renaming the wilderness in honor of Sen. Evans, which President Obama is expected to sign into law.