Dear Friends & Family:
The Peninsula Trails Coalition on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington
State is gathering signatures on a petition to be submitted to the WA
State Parks Commission to encourage them to give a #1 priority to the
development of the Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT) and the Pacific NW
National Scenic Trail (PNNST) through Anderson Lake Park here in west
Jefferson County. Such a high ranking among all State Parks projects
will virtually guarantee funding for the project when the Commission
applies to the State Legislature for their 2019 - 2021 biennium budget.
If you would consider signing, please go to:
We have now gathered over two hundred individual signatures and
approximately two dozen signatures from local businesses, organizations,
and agencies representing thousands more north Olympic Peninsula
residents.
The development of the ODT through Anderson Lake Park (mostly on
already existing Park trails) would become a segment of the ODT and the PNNST over the Eaglemount
area, bypassing the very dangerous State Highway 20, and connecting the
current end of the Larry Scott Memorial Trail originating in Port
Townsend to the segment of the ODT recently completed at the southern
end of Discovery Bay.
Finally there is, as always, the issue of funding of a project such as
this. The last state budget allocated $1,000,000 for the County to hire
a consultant to determine the optimal route, acquire the properties
needed on that route, and do some initial design work. Additional
grants will eventually be needed for construction, but that could be 2+
years off. However, State Parks personnel have explained to us that
grant matching donations are very important in persuading the Parks
Commission to give priority status to a project. We are not asking for
matching fund donations at this time. However, if you wish, you may
make a donation to the PTC here:
We very much appreciate your past support of the project to
complete the multi-user ODT from Port Townsend to the Pacific Ocean at
LaPush and hope that you can again step forward in support of this
critical link in the project by signing the petition. Thank you very
much.
Sincerely,
Jeff L Selby
Peninsula Trails Coalition
