Washington State Parks Southwest Regional Assistant Manager Gus Gustafson (left) and Tolmie State Park Ranger Karen Rolland visit a picnic shelter at an area of the park where the ground has fallen away and continues to shift following the Nisqually Earthquake.

Signs tell the story at Tolmie State Park.

Tolmie Park off-limits

JOHN DODGE, THE OLYMPIAN

THURSTON COUNTY -- Tolmie State Park is closed indefinitely, a victim of the Nisqually Earthquake.

The park on the shores of the Nisqually Reach eight miles northeast of Olympia suffered damage to the water and sewer systems, bridges, trails and the kitchen shelter nearest the beach.

Park officials won't hazard a guess as to when the popular South Sound waterfront park will reopen.

The reason: The ground is still moving, opening new cracks in roads, trails and the surrounding landscape with every passing day, park ranger Karen Rolland said.

"It's important that the public stay away," said Gus Gustafson, the state parks Southwest regional assistant manager. "We don't know how much more settling will take place."

Rolland has spent a lot of her time since the Feb. 28 earthquake shooing hundreds of visitors out of the park, which is posted closed, strung with yellow tape and gated shut.

The 106-acre park, which features 1,800 feet of saltwater shoreline, sees the bulk of its 156,000 annual visits from Memorial Day through the summer, Gustafson said.

"We certainly want people back in here," Gustafson said. "But the ground keeps moving around."

Park officials have pegged the damage at $175,000. Contractors won't go to work on repairs until the ground stops moving.

The park is about three miles from the Nisqually Earthquake epicenter.

Park features include an underwater area for scuba divers, a saltwater marsh, forests and the beach.

Under normal conditions, the park provides two kitchen shelters, 20 outside picnic tables and 3.4 miles of hiking trails.

The park is named after William Frazier Tolmie (1812-1866). A physician, botanist and fur trader with the Hudson Bay Co., Tolmie was stationed at Fort Nisqually 16 years.

John Dodge covers the environment and energy for The Olympian. He can be reached at 754-5444.

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