Olympic National Park superintendent Karen Gustin plans to retire March 2. Gustin has been the superintendent at Olympic since 2008.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed working at Olympic National Park,” she said in a prepared statement. “The staff is a great group of people to work with, as are the communities of the Olympic Peninsula.  The community support and our park neighbors have been wonderful here.”

In Gustin’s time at Olympic, the park started the removal of the Elwha River dam, the nationa;s largest dam removal. The project is scheduled to be complete in September 2014. The park has also started …

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Work continues to remove the two dams on the lower Elwha River.

This wbecam image is of this morning’s sunrise over the Lake Aldwell delta. As the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams are lowered, the upper reaches of each reservoir are slowly tranforming from lake to river.

Click here for more information on the dam removal process.

The U.S. Forest Service today announced eight dates when it will waive fees that are usually collected to support forest maintenance and amenities.

Visitors to national forests will not pay fees on the following dates in 2012:

• Saturday-Monday: Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend
• June 9: Get Outdoors Day
• Sept. 29: National Public Lands Day
• Nov. 10-12: Veterans Day weekend

Despite the Forest Service’s fee waivers, the agency does not usually charge for visitors to national forests. In fact, the Forest Service does not charge for access on 98 percent of its land, said a news release. More …

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If you’re looking for something to do with the kids on Veterans Day, or the weekend, consider a trip to Mount Rainier or Olympic national parks. The Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge is another option.

The entrance fee will be waived for all visitors Friday through Sunday in commemoration of Veterans Day.

At Mount Rainier, facilities within the park that will be open include the Longmire Museum (exhibits, information and books sales) the National Park Inn (lodging and meals) and the Longmire General Store (gifts and moderate food items) as well as the Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center …

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Olympic National Park road crews this week will remove a large rock that is obstructing the ditch near Milepost 11.5 of Hurricane Ridge Road.

The road will be closed to all pedestrian and vehicle traffic at points just above and below the “Double Parking” area from 8-11 a.m. Wednesday.

Early this week, park trail crews will drill blast holes using a pneumatic drill and air compressor, which will block the uphill lane in this area for several hours. The lane will be coned off and flaggers posted as required, but no significant delays are anticipated during the drilling process, said …

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Former Olympic National Park employee Dan Pontbriand is retiring as chief of the visitor resource protection division at Isle Royale National Park. His retirement will end a 31-year federal career.

Here is the rest of the news release:

Pontbriand began his ranger career in 1978 as a seasonal lifeguard and ranger at Sebago Lake State Park in his native state of Maine. Prior to that, he had worked in the family hardware store since the age of 12.

His National Park Service career began in 1979 as a seasonal river ranger at Grand Teton National Park, working alongside his identical

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From Olympic National Park:

On Saturday, September 17, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will join Washington Governor Chris Gregoire, Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, Congressman Norm Dicks, and Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles to officially mark the beginning of the Elwha River dam removal project. The event marks a significant milestone for the Elwha River Restoration project which will help increase salmon populations, uphold commitments to the culture of the Elwha Klallam Tribe, and create new opportunities for growth and regional vitality.

The ceremony begins at 11 a.m. PDT and the streaming of the ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. through the following link:  http://celebrateelwha.com. Showcasing the first step in dam removal, an excavator will remove the first concrete from the Elwha Dam.  A big-screen showing of the ceremony will take place at Elwha Central at the Port Angeles City Pier in Port Angeles and at the Mountaineers Outdoors Fest at Magnuson Park in Seattle.

Tom Skerritt, board member of the nonprofit group American Rivers and actor will serve as master of ceremonies. The ceremony will include musical interludes by singer/songwriters Eliza Gilkyson and Dana Lyons, who will each perform an original work.  Students from the Port Angeles High School will also perform and area artists have created original pieces to help tell the story of Elwha River Restoration.

This ceremony is part of the weeklong series of events in and around Port Angeles, Sequim and the Elwha Valley. Hosted by dozens of sponsors, partners and participants, the events are  commemorating the history and celebrating the future of this landmark project, while educating visitors about dam removal and restoration, Olympic National Park and the North Olympic Peninsula. A full schedule of events and more information is available online at celebrateelwha.com.

The Elwha River Restoration is an environmental and cultural restoration project which includes the nation’s largest dam removal and will free the Elwha River after nearly a century. Removing the 108-foot Elwha Dam and the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam will allow anadromous fish to access more than 70 miles of protected habitat and help restore the river’s salmon populations from 3,000 to more than 300,000.
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From Olympic National Park:

Olympic National Park has instituted a ban on all open fires in the park’s wilderness backcountry, effective as of September 10, 2011. The ban is in response to the warmer temperatures of summer and the continued drying out of forest fuels, both forecast to continue in coming weeks.

This ban has been instituted in conjunction with the Olympic National Forest, and is expected to be in place until seasonal rains occur in October.

“With the forecast for warmer than normal temperatures and drier conditions, as well as seeing an increase in human-caused fires in

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