Funds found to repair Mt. Rainier damage

TACOMA – U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks says the National Park Service has found $18 million to help repair damage to Mount Rainier National Park caused by November’s heavy rains.

The money should provide for public access to Paradise by mid-March. It will come from unspent highway and construction accounts and will not have to be provided by Congress, the Democratic congressman told the News Tribune on Friday.

Dicks is chairman of the House Interior Appropriations subcommittee that has jurisdiction over the National Park Service.

“This was a 100-year storm that caused an estimated $36 million in damage to the park,” he said.

The Federal Highway Administration will provide an additional $18 million in emergency funding to cover the remaining cost of roads, Dicks said.

Most of the park has been closed since Nov. 6 after 18 inches of rain fell in 36 hours. It’s the longest shutdown of the park since all of the national parks were closed during World War II. Repairs got under way last week.