Diane Winters has been working for nearly three years to persuade Mount Rainier National Park officials to repair and reopen the Carbon River Road leading to the Ipsut Creek Campground and Carbon Glacier.

The Carbon River Road is one of the few general public access roads of Mount Rainier National Park and is repeatedly damaged during severe weather.

During the November 2006 floods, the road was heavily damaged due to 36 hours of constant rainfall. Trails and roadways within the boundaries of the park were flooded with 18 inches of rain, uprooting old growth trees and spreading debris.

During an August 2008 visit to Mount Rainier, Winters said park rangers told her there was no intention of repairing the road due to the excessive damage caused by the flooding and constant upkeep it would require.

She began writing letters regularly to Mount Rainier National Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga asking him to reconsider the value of the area. She has also contacted several government offices including those of Deputy District Director Tom Young and State Rep. Tom Campbell who are looking into the situation. She said the Carbon Glacier, to which the trail grants access, is one of the biggest attractions of the park.

“The Carbon Glacier is the lowest elevation glacier in the lower 48 states,” Winters said. “I wanted to make it clear to park service that it was a very valuable area of the park. I thought it was very worth bothering about.”

With the road currently restricted to hikers and bicyclists, the former seven mile round-trip stroll to the Carbon Glacier has become a nearly nine mile haul each way. That’s not an ideal track for the average hiker, Winters said.

“Most of the people that use this area are not the backpacker, long-distance hiker people,” she said. “Instead of a three-hour, round-trip hike, it’s now more like seven hours. And that is even using a bicycle.

“My understanding is that the park is 97 percent wilderness and the 3 percent that isn’t…the park service is trying to restrict the general public from these non-wilderness areas,” she said.

Much of Winters’ support has come for the Sumner Rotary Club to whom she made a presentation last week. She said most of the members were not even aware of the possible closures to areas of the park and shared her concern.

“They had no idea,” she said. “And that’s the thing. Most people go to the park one or two times a year and they just think it’s being handled.”

The park received $3.3 million for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Projects. The money is being used to fund nine identified projects under the Administration’s economic stimulus program.

Sites include the Sunrise Visitor Center, Longmire and the Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center.

On June 30, 2008, The Park Service sponsored a public meeting to discuss possible alternatives for the Carbon River Road both short- and long-term.

National Parks Conservation Association Northwest Field Representative David Graves said park staff is currently working on a plan to determine the future of the road.

The preferred alternative is rebuilding half the roadway as far as the Chenuis Falls about four miles from the Carbon River entrance.

The remaining portion of the road would be converted to a hiking or biking trail.

Complete repair of the entire roadway was not an option.

“It’s not economically feasible,” he said.

It is estimated it will cost more than $927,000 to rebuild the Carbon River Road, not including the expense for maintaining it.

Many other sections of the park were heavily damaged in the 2006 flooding and park staff has been constantly working to repair each area. A number of creeks, like Ipsut and Chenuis, have been effected by flood damage since 1925.

Lee Taylor, chief of interpretation and education at Mount Rainier National Park, agrees with Graves that the constant repairs needed for the Carbon River Road do not make economic sense.

“The likelihood of future flood events makes it unsustainable as a road,” she said.

Taylor said officials are still attempting to reach a decision and will schedule additional meetings for public comment to be considered in their review. She also noted that park service recognizes the inconvenience placed on the public as a consequence of closing the roadway.

The Carbon River Road will remain closed for the remainder of the summer.