Washington state eyes disaster declaration to reopen Olympic Park’s Hoh Rainforest

Washington state officials hope revising a disaster declaration will bring federal aid to reopen the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park.

In December, the Hoh River took out Jefferson County’s Upper Hoh Road, the only vehicular access to the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center, campground, picnic area, and trailheads.

The county’s efforts to get federal aid for emergency repairs have failed, for lack of a disaster declaration.

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“No disaster declaration was made for the natural event that caused the washout of Upper Hoh Road,” Federal Highway Administration spokesperson Annie Tin said in an email. “Therefore, the event does not qualify for funding from the [Emergency Relief] Program, and there is no pending decision by the Federal Highway Administration.”

State emergency officials are now working to expand a previous disaster declaration for the “bomb cyclone” storm that hit western Washington in November to include Jefferson County.

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“Every week that it's closed, more people cancel,” said Lissy Andros, executive director of the Forks Chamber of Commerce. “It's just very important to get it open really quickly, and it's important for people's mental health to have access to it to get away from the stress of their lives and get out into nature and so forth. And that goes for locals and for visitors.”

Gov. Bob Ferguson met with local officials on Saturday to look for ways to reopen access to the famous rainforest.

On Monday, the Washington State Department of Transportation requested the state Emergency Management Department amend Gov. Jay Inslee’s Jan. 7 proclamation, which declared an emergency from the bomb cyclone, to include Jefferson and Chelan counties.

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On Tuesday, Ferguson spokesperson Brionna Aho said the governor was “very engaged” in the issue but declined to provide details.

“He is actively working with local leaders and his team to solve this problem. Nothing is final at this point,” Aho said in an email.

Meanwhile, spokesperson Karina Shogren said the Emergency Management Department was working to amend the proclamation this week for Ferguson to approve.

“We're excited that there's potentially an opportunity to get it open here pretty quick,” Andros said.

Though the Upper Hoh Road collapsed a month after the bomb cyclone, Jefferson County Public Works Director Monte Reinders told state officials the two events were connected.

The November 2024 bomb cyclone “saturated onsite soils and resulted in flood flows on the Hoh River and Quinault River that altered the course of the rivers, causing erosion of the embankments supporting the roads,” Reinders said in a Feb. 10 memo to the state transportation department.

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Additional storms in December, according to Reinders, exacerbated November’s erosion and necessitated closing the Upper Hoh Road and, about 25 miles south, Quinault South Shore Road, which leads to trailheads for Olympic National Park’s Enchanted Valley and other popular backcountry destinations.

The only road to the Hoh Rainforest has been closed for nearly three months.

“It's one of the crown jewels of the Olympic National Park, and it's an iconic destination in Washington,” Andros said. “We have a lot of businesses who would be in pretty dire circumstances if the road doesn't get fixed.”