Rep. Norm Dicks says an additional $6 million annually is needed to preserve and protect Olympic National Park and to adequately provide visitor services for the hundreds of thousands who visit.

And the veteran Democratic congressman said the White House is the place which North Olympic Peninsula communities and park advocates need to contact to lobby for additional funding.

“One of the things the Bush administration promised was to fund the national parks,” Dicks said.

“They haven’t kept that promise.”

Dicks toured portions of the park Tuesday and met with civic leaders to learn more about how National Park Service budget cuts are impacting Olympic and the people who live around it.

Dicks criticized the Bush administration for not funding national parks in general.

“Olympic needs $16 million and only receives $10 million,” he said.

“This underfunding has gone on for too long, and it cannot continue.”

Dicks’ visit was led by officials from the National Parks Conservation Association — a nonprofit advocate for national parks — and the National Park Service.

Fewer seasonal employees

Olympic National Park Superintendent Bill Laitner and Elwha Project Chief Brian Winter accompanied Dicks on the tour.

Laitner said the park will hire only 25 seasonal employees this year, compared with the 130 hired in 2001 to help visitors plan their Olympic experience and care for the park.

“In 1994, there were 140,000 contacts made by park employees to visitors outside of visitor centers,” Laitner said.

“Ten years later, we are estimating only 20,000 contacts will be made.”

In addition, park officials are being forced to leave vacated staff positions open, decreasing from 140 to 120 permanent employees, Dicks said.

Visitor centers will also operate with limited hours.

“This is not Bill’s (Laitner’s) problem; he is doing the best he can with what he was given,” Dicks said.

“This is a problem that stems from the White House.”