News - Local News

POSTED: Tuesday, Sep. 23, 2008

County Council hears more on Lake Whatcom parkland deal

In seven generations, residents may look back and consider the County Council's upcoming decision on whether to create massive Lake Whatcom watershed parkland the most important decision it ever made, a parks commissioner said.

"We believe that it's an opportunity that very few generations get," said Del Lowery, chairman of the Whatcom County Parks and Recreation Commission. "This will allow us a park here that will be the envy, I think, of the world."

In coming weeks, County Council members will decide whether to pursue a plan to transfer 8,000 or more acres of state Department of Natural Resources-managed land to the county for parks purposes. The land, in two chunks on the east and west sides of the lake, could include about 50 miles of trails. County officials say it would be a low-impact park system, similar to the Chuckanut Mountains trail system.

Transferring the land could cost $300,000, and building trails and other facilities could cost $900,000, county Parks Director Mike McFarlane said. Maintenance would cost about $150,000 a year.

DNR currently logs the state forest trust lands, delivering the proceeds to the county and local districts. After the transfer, the land would be off-limits to commercial logging.

Part of the reason the county is considering the deal is to help protect the water quality for Lake Whatcom, drinking-water source for more than 91,000 Bellingham-area residents. The quality is declining largely because of stormwater runoff containing phosphorus.

David Wallin, a professor at Western Washington University's environmental sciences department, told leaders that leaving land untouched by logging reduces stormwater runoff and the risk of landslides, which carry pollutants into the water.

But some aren't so sure.

Tom Pratum, who handles forestry and watershed issues for the North Cascades Audubon Society, cautioned County Council members during a work session on Tuesday, Sept. 23, to do more study before transferring the land. He questioned the water-quality benefits, and he called for an independent financial study of the deal.

Tom Westergreen, log manager at Great Western Lumber Co., warned of damage to the local wood-products economy after removing so much land from potential timber production. He wants to see a balance between logging and preservation.

"I guess my concern is I feel the balance is tipping too far the other way," Westergreen said.

He is a member of an 11-member county advisory committee that voted 8-3 to recommend the transfer.

The Bellingham City Council also recently voted 6-0, with council member Terry Bornemann absent, to recommend the transfer, calling it a benefit to protecting the lake's water quality. The city repeated the advisory committee recommendation to locate trails away from the water's edge, minimize parking areas and locate parking outside the watershed, where possible. It also asked the county to eliminate planned activities like backcountry camping, which could lead to forest fires.

The County Council could kill or approve the deal when it votes in several weeks on an agreement with the DNR kick-starting the transfer. On Tuesday, council members mostly asked questions about the deal, although council member Laurie Caskey-Schreiber indicated support for it.

"I don't think this is the silver bullet, but I think it's certainly not going to add to the problems," she said. "I think that it's a worthy pursuit."

The state Board of Natural Resources, which oversees the DNR's management of trust lands, must also approve the plan, but it's expected to approve it because it has been involved in creating a draft agreement, McFarlane said.

If approved, the transfer wouldn't be finished until fall 2010.