MOUNT RAINIER Master Plan Preliminary

Over its 73-year history, visitor use at Mount Rainier has evolved to its present character, which is primarily day-use in nature, drawing a large majority of its two million visitors each year from the metropolitan Puget Sound area. As population, availability of leisure time, and interest in the "natural" world continue to increase, so does the significance of Mount Rainier and other natural areas.

This plan proposes concepts to facilitate more profound use of the park through interaction of visitors and nature, on nature's terms, and according to the ability of park resources to sustain visitor use. In order to accomplish this, certain uses that degrade the resource must be discontinued or relocated to places where their adverse effects on the resource can be ameliorated. Also necessary is the expansion of a visitor service program offering the broadest possible diversity of park experiences responsive to the widely varying physical abilities, ages, backgrounds, and interests of individual park visitors.