Olympic National Park was established in 1938 and the paperwork was signed by President Franklin Roosevelt. Preservation of land on the Olympic Peninsula goes back to President Grover Cleveland, who established the Olympic Forest Reserve in 1887. By the late 1800's, logging the old growth forest was well underway and early explorers and conservationists urged the federal government to slow the logging and protect the forests. With the establishment of the National Forest Service in 1905 by President Theodore Roosevelt, the Olympic Forest Reserve, previously controlled by the Department of Interior, was transferred to the National Forest Service within the Department of Agriculture. During this time, the movement to establish national parks and preserve the west was in full swing. In 1909, Teddy Roosevelt established the Olympic National Monument to protect the habitat of the huge herds of elk that reside on the Olympic Peninsula. Teddy Roosevelt was a big game hunter and understood that all animals need intact and healthy habitats for survival. For twenty-nine years after that, it was a big political battle to move the designation of Olympic National Monument to Olympic National Park. A president can create a national monument, but only congress can create a national park. The trees of the Olympic Peninsula where so valuable as a timber source, for many it was seen as an economic mistake not to sell the trees to support the economy and create jobs. During WWII and long afterwords, large amounts of Sitka Spruce trees were harvested, both legally and illegally for use in the building of airplanes. Sitka Spruce trees have the best weight to strength ratio and made excellent material for aircraft. It is not a coincidence that Boeing started building planes in Washington state. Olympic National Park currently protects 922,650 acres.

The old growth forest of the Olympic Peninsula is still valuable to many people for many reasons. Still today "poachers" cut down Western-red Cedars and Sitka Spruce for money. Still today there are people who argue to allow "limited" logging within Olympic National Park. However important the immediate needs of people may seem, the trees have much more value as they stand alive in the forest. When you cut down a 500 - 1,000 year old tree, it is gone forever and the money disappears quickly. But if you let the tree stand and support a larger eco-system, people from around the world, for many generation, will come to visit Olympic National Park and see the old growth forest of the largest temperate rainforest in the world. If you have never walked among this tremendous forest, now is the time to visit.

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