ICYMI: Senator Murray Visits Hurricane Ridge, Discusses Efforts to Rebuild Visitor Center with Olympic National Park Staff—Photos and B-Roll HERE
Hurricane Ridge gets approximately 2,500 visitors a day in the summer, 500 visitors daily in winter
Washington, D.C. –U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement after funding was included in President Biden’s supplemental funding request submitted to Congress this week to rebuild the Hurricane Ridge Day Lodge in Olympic National Park, which burned down in May. As Chair of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Murray has repeatedly emphasized the urgent need for a new facility and will be working to fund it by getting President Biden’s supplemental funding request passed through Congress.
“When I visited Hurricane Ridge in August to see the damage from the fire firsthand and meet with staff on the ground, I promised that I would do everything in my power to ensure that Olympic National Park has the funding it needs to rebuild this important site—which means so much to families in Washington state and visitors from all over the world. I took what I heard during that visit directly to the Biden administration, to make sure the President’s team understood what an important priority this was for Washington state and especially our communities in the Olympic Peninsula.
“I’m really glad this critical funding for Hurricane Ridge—which will enable the design and construction of a new permanent lodge, as well as interim facilities—was included in the President’s supplemental funding request, and as Chair of the Appropriations Committee, I’ll be working hard to get this funding across the finish line for the hikers, visitors, and communities nearby who rely on and cherish Olympic National Park.”
The supplemental funding to rebuild Hurricane Ridge would be used for the full redesign and rebuild of the Day Lodge—on the same footprint as the old building that burned down in May—as well as the construction of interim facilities. The total cost for planning and construction of the interim and long-term facilities at Hurricane Ridge is an estimated $80 million—President Biden requested $375 million as part of this week’s supplemental funding request specifically to repair and rebuild Federal facilities, roads, and other assets that were damaged as a result of severe snowstorms in California and fires in Washington State, including the fire at Hurricane Ridge. Senator Murray will now be working to pass this funding through Congress. Hurricane Ridge gets approximately 2,500 visitors a day in the summer and approximately 500 visitors a day in winter.
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