Dunlap has operated the yard in the Blyn area since 1977, when the towing company leased the property from Northwest Hardwoods, an Arlington mill that eventually sold the property to Weyerhauser. Dunlap bought the property from the giant logging company in 1992. Logging is no longer the thriving industry it once was, and the tribe has expressed interest for years in restoring the land as a stream bed for Jimmycomelately Creek. The creek, beginning with three forks flowing in the Olympic foothills and down to Sequim Bay just east of 7 Cedars Casino, is subject to low water flows during the summer, flooding in the spring and winter. A 1997 flood closed Highway 101 where it crosses the creek.
Jimmycomelately creek is home to runs of cutthroat trout, steelhead, coho and summer chum salmon.
Summer chum salmon were listed as threatened last year under the federal Endangered Species Act. Part of the restoration work is to help save the summer chum run, Muench noted. There will be some public overlook access but it is not going to be a park. Joel Freudenthal, county planning biologist, has been working for the county on a proposal to restore the creek and move it back into its original channel. A major focus of the work will be reconstructing the creek from 1,200 feet upstream of Highway 101 to where it crosses the highway and flows down to Sequim Bay.