By Jessica Keller, The Courier-Herald
While admittedly different, the communities of Wilkeson, South Prairie and Buckley may have more in common than anyone initially anticipated.
One of the conclusions drawn from a study done by Mount Rainier National Park officials about the area surrounding the Carbon River entry to Mount Rainier National Park is that all three are concerned with promoting tourism and the economy, while preserving their historic nature and small town feel.
That conclusion was reached after Mount Rainier officials and entineers met with community officials and residents in a series of meetings and workshops in late March and April. That was part of a two-week planning and conceptual design process, which concluded in a public workshop at Wilkeson Elementary School.
National Park officials and their engineering team spent the better part of a month exploring town issues and concerns before drawing up a series of maps, pictures and ideas for each of the towns as well as Orting and presenting them at the meeting. A book reporting the conclusions and summarizing the ideas will be available in about six months.
Buckley City Councilman Randy Reed, who attended the public workshops said the greatest thing to come out of the "charette," the term Mount Rainier National Park gave to the idea-gathering process, is that the towns were able to discover more about each other and now have opportunities to work with each other to promote common interests.
"It gave us a forum to meet and discuss our interests and concerns that we might not have otherwise had," Reed said, adding the towns now have a basis for communicating more and seeing if some of the ideas produced can be turned into reality.
Just a few of the ideas addressed were a regional historical museum, possibilities for regional shuttle services, a regional trail system and promoting tourism.
While it's possible none of the project ideas may actually take place, Mount Rainier National Park recreation planner Bryan Bowden said overall the charette was a success.
"I don't think we have the expectation that even half of what we dreamed of is going to happen, but if we triggered even a few ideas then we're doing our jobs," he said.
The visioning workshops were part of a four-year transportation study the Park has been having, studying the road corridors that visitors travel on as they go to the Park.
The Park completed its fourth year of the study, and after completing studies for the state Route 410/White River road corridor, the Nisqually entry corridor, and the Highway 12 corridor, it addressed the Carbon River and Mowich Lake entries, including the roadways through Buckley, South Prairie, Wilkeson and Orting.
Bowden said the idea of the study was to understand the impact communities face because of travelers moving through them to reach the Park and look for common issues the communities face.
Jessica Keller can be reached at jkeller@courierherald.com
