QUINAULT, Wash, - A tramway through the treetops of the rain forest on the south side of Lake Quinault has been proposed by a Boston company that runs a similar tourist attraction in Costa Rica.

The U.S. Forest Service is reviewing an application by Conservation Tourism Ltd. For use of public land for the tram, and an environmental analysis would also be conducted before the project could be approved, Quinault District Ranger Tom Beddow said.

Key issues include how the tram fits into existing plans and policies, whether it meets a "demonstrated need," whether private lands could be used and how threatened or endangered species might be effected, Beddow said.

Some residents believe the tram could provide an economic shot in the arm but others feel that south side of Lake Quinault is already too developed, he added. The tram would be built outside the Olympic National Park.

In a visit last week, company president Norman D. Fast said the tram in Costa Rica is electrically powered, nearly silent and moves and the speed of a walk along a level course through the tropical rain forest.

As the terrain rises and falls, the ride ranges from four feet off the ground to 30 feet above the canopy.

Rather than ski lifts using T-shaped towers and trams running side-by-side, the tram cars run one above the other.

"It’s a very, very narrow path through the forest," Fast said.

Amongst other rain forests with tourist services and tram potential "this was at the top of the list," Fast said.

Lake Quinault located in the heart of the temperate rain forest on the coastal side of the Olympic Peninsula, is bounded by the Quinault Indian Reservation on the west, the national park on the north and Olympic National Forest on the south.

Construction would be arranged to minimize environmental impact, especially since the attraction of the tram is a close-up, relatively unobtrusive look at an otherwise difficult to reach part of the forest, Fast said.