By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch Work that began in Washington, D.C. to make Mount Rainier National Park a wilderness forever will continue next week in Ashford as park officials gather the public's input in the preservation effort. A wilderness stewardship plan, the first one for the park in 23 years, will emerge from a process that includes four public forums in Pierce and King counties. The scoping meetings, as officlals call them, will help shape the plan for managing visitor uses and activities in the park. The public's help "is crucial to our planning process,GÇ¥ said Randy King, the park's superintendent. He noted citizens and groups can comment on "alternative ways that the wilderness could be managed.GÇ¥ Some of those ways include shuttles for ferrying visitors to and from the popular Paradise recreation area, providing more space between campsites and moving some farther from streams, reducing parking at some trailheads and providing more at underutilized trailheads, requiring permits in heavily used areas, and providing more recreational opportunities in the winter, early spring and late fall. Park officials eventually will analyze the plan's elements in the form of an environmental impact statement that will be the next step in putting wilderness management efforts in place. The Ashford meeting is scheduled for Nov. 18 from 5:30 to 7 :30 p.m. in the park's education center, which is located at 55210 238th Ave. E. Other meetings in Pierce County will be held Nov. 17 at 5 p.m. at Tacoma Public Library's downtown branch at 1101 Tacoma Ave. S. and Nov. 19 at 5:30 p.m. at the Buckley branch of Pierce County LIbrary system. The fourth meeting will be in Seattle Information about the process is available at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/morawild. The congressional Wilderness Act of 1964 created policies for the protection of wilderness throughout the United States. In 1988, Congress designated 97 percent of Mount Rainier National Park as wilderness. The park has ancient forests, subalpine meadows and the largest single-mountain glacial system in the contiguous U.S. The park's last wilderness plan was made in 1992. Since then, the approximately 1 million visitors per year and their various uses of the park has placed a heavy demand on natural, pristine areas. Officials say that increases the need to manage wilderness in a way so it can withstand the accumulative impact now and in the future. King noted the park offers visitors "diverse opportunities to experience the challenge and natural beauty of wilderness.GÇ¥
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