DNR land-swap proposal concerns residents

Nearly 300 Lake Spokane-area residents attended an informational meeting Tuesday on a proposed land swap many of them fear will reduce recreational opportunities in their area.

Despite assurances from the state Department of Natural Resources that the proposal – announced in October – is in its early stages, some residents complained about failure to involve them in discussions that have been under way for two to three years with Clearwater Group, a company that specializes in arranging public-private land exchanges.

“It’s very unpopular down here,” Suncrest-area resident Leo Richey said. “It appears there was a whole lot of maneuvering before they ever announced it, and now it’s almost too late.”

“What would we have told them?” asked Pamela Plancich, the DNR’s exchange outreach coordinator.

Plancich said officials sent press releases and arranged 11 “open house” meetings around the state, such as the one Tuesday at Lakeside Middle School at Suncrest.

Among those who turned out for the meeting were 7th District state legislators Sen. Bob Morton and state Rep. Bob Sump.

Morton was critical of the meeting format, which allowed only one-on-one discussions in a noisy room. There was no opportunity for questions to be heard and answered publicly.

John Viada said there will be a formal public hearing, probably next spring, and it could be months after that before any final exchanges are approved by the Legislature.

Stevens County Commissioner Tony Delgado, who represents southern Stevens County, said many of his constituents fear loss of recreational land.

“It’s inevitable they are going to exchange this land, but we don’t want developers to develop 100 percent of it,” he said.

Tuesday’s turnout resulted not only from an article in the Outpost, a community newspaper serving the Lake Spokane area, but from fliers and doorbelling by Leo Richey, Stevens County Planning Commission Chairwoman Lynn Wells and others.

Richey and Wells serve on an ad hoc committee that advises Delgado on issues of concern in their portion of his district. They said they realize the DNR needs to trade off isolated parcels that are starting to be surrounded by rapid residential development in southern Stevens County. DNR land is supposed to provide income for the state school trust fund.

But Wells and Richey said they hope their group persuades the DNR to retain certain parcels for recreational use.

In fact, Viada said, plans call for turning over 560 acres in the Knight’s Lake area to Spokane County for park use. That property is about three miles northwest of Suncrest, but it is on the south side of the Spokane River. Other proposed transfers to local governments for recreational use involve land next to Riverside State Park, west of Spokane, and in southern Pend Oreille County’s Fertile Valley.

Throughout the state, the Department of Natural Resources proposes five exchanges involving hundreds of parcels. One of the five regional swaps, called the South Stevens Exchange, involves 17,906 acres of Clearwater land and 17,327 acres of state land.

The goal is to consolidate DNR land by acquiring adjacent private land, but none of the replacement land would be in the Lake Spokane area.

About two-thirds of the acreage from Clearwater would be farmland. Another 3,347 acres is forest. Some of the land sought by the state is adjacent to the Upper Dry Gulch Natural Preserve Area, which is some of the last remaining habitat for the Whited’s milk-vetch, a plant that’s on the state’s endangered list.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has been closely involved with the various land swaps. Rance Block, a Liberty Lake resident who directs the group’s Eastern Cascades Conservation Initiative, said the state’s isolated parcels are often in a checkerboard pattern against private ground. As private ground becomes developed, it becomes increasingly difficult to conduct forest management activities, such as logging or prescribed burns. When this happens, the land becomes less valuable to the state, Block said.

At the same time, private timber companies own lots of ground surrounded by state land. Block thinks it makes sense for the state to manage more contiguous tracts. Among other benefits, this will help preserve migration corridors for elk and other species.

“If the DNR can’t block in these areas and is forced to divest themselves of habitat, these elk herds may have to be reduced by thousands of animals,” Block said. “What we’re encouraging people to do is look at the big picture. We recognize there will be things given up. In an exchange you do have to give up something to get something.”