Olympic National Park develops options for future of Enchanted Valley Chalet

Olympic National Park is considering options as it develops a plan on what to do with the Enchanted Valley Chalet, and those options include dismantling the structure.

As the park begins an environmental assessment, it has scheduled three meetings this week to review the situation and possible solutions.

The chalet, built in the early 1930s and on the National Register of Historic Places, was temporarily relocated in 2014 when the Quinault River began to undercut the building.

After first deciding to let nature take its course, and the building, the park opted to move the structure. A mule team was brought in to haul the chalet about 100 feet from the East Fork Quinault River.

Now the park is trying to decide what to do on a permanent basis.

“We have drafted some preliminary alternatives that we’d like the public to reflect and comment on,” park Superintendent Sarah Creachbaum said in a statement. “Of course, we are also interested in additional ideas people may have.”

Of the four preliminary alternatives, one requires no action. The building would remain on the steel I-beam used to move it and remain closed to any use. No further action would be taken to protect the building should the river move closer.

The second alternative calls for a new foundation to be built under the chalet at its current location. It would remain closed to any use, and natural processes would not be stopped.

The third alternative, which calls for dismantling the building, has two options. The first would remove the flooring but leave the frame. The other option would completely take down the chalet, and some materials might be reused.

Under the park’s timeline, a final decision would be made in the summer of 2017.

The chalet sits within the Olympic Wilderness, 13 miles from the nearest road. It was built by Quinault Valley residents before the park was created.

It was used for several decades as a backcountry lodge and more recently as a wilderness ranger station and emergency shelter. The chalet was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

This story was originally published June 24, 2016 at 3:43 AM with the headline "Olympic National Park develops options for future of Enchanted Valley Chalet."