Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Road damage to Tolmie State Park might keep the lower area closed for some time, according to park Ranger Karen Rollman. The park is about three miles from the Nisqually Earthquake's epicenter. Preliminary damage from the Feb. 28 quake was estimated at $175,000.

Reopening Tolmie is no picnic

Broken sewer line keeps popular park closed

N.S. NOKKENTVED, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published July 6, 2001

OLYMPIA -- Tolmie State Park Ranger Karen Rollman is getting tired of turning people away.

But until officials can fix sewer and water systems, the popular state park will stay closed.

"We don't know when it's going to be open," Rollman said. "It could be three weeks, it could be three months."

The park is about three miles from the epicenter of the Nisqually Earthquake. Preliminary damage estimates were about $175,000. A more detailed damage report from the Federal Emergency Management Agency is due later this month.

State officials will be better able to estimate the cost of repairs then, said Ann Hersley-Hankins, spokeswoman for the state Parks and Recreation Commission.

Meanwhile, park officials want to reopen the park as soon as possible.

"The priority is to get the upper part open so at least we can get part of the park open," Rollman said.

Crews have been trying to find breaks or blockages in the sewer line from the upper kitchen shelter and toilets. As soon as the problem is found and repaired, the upper part of the park can be reopened, Rollman said.

The road to the lower part of the park still would be closed, but park visitors would be able to walk trails down to the beach. Portable toilets would be located near the beach until the lower toilets are back in operation, she said.

On holiday weekends and sunny days, the park gets 2,000 to 4,000 visitors, Rollman said.

Last year's tally was 139,472 visitors, Hersley-Hankins said.

But with the park closed, Rollman's job consists of picking up trash, mowing and keeping the weeds in check and turning people away.

The park still gets dozens of carloads of would-be visitors who don't believe that the park is closed despite several signs along the way, she said.

"We had more than 100 cars come through here yesterday," Rollman said Thursday.

The kitchen shelter and toilets in the lower portion of the park sustained major damage in the Feb. 28 quake. The ground has shifted, raising one end and undermining a corner of the foundation.

Officials are considering removing the shelter and replacing it with toilets near the beach. But park officials don't want to start on repairs in the lower section until they're certain the ground has stopped moving, Rollman said.

The 106-acre park features 1,800 feet of saltwater shoreline, an underwater park for scuba divers, a saltwater marsh, forests and beach. It also provides two kitchen picnic shelters, 20 outside picnic tables and 3.4 miles of hiking trails.

The park is named after William Frazier Tolmie. A physician, botanist and fur trader with the Hudson's Bay Co., Tolmie was stationed at Fort Nisqually in the 1830s.

N.S. Nokkentved covers the outdoors for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5445.

On the web:

Washington State Parks: Tolmie.

Emergency Preparedness.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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