Central Washington ranchers fight state over wetland penalties
In two cases spread across four courts, a family of ranchers continues to fight the state over a $268,000 fine and an order to restore allegedly damaged alkali wetlands near Pear Lake in Grant County.
Two years into the battle, a Grant County judge denied Wade and Teresa King a preliminary injunction that would allow the matter to be heard by a trial jury.
The Kings have been Washington ranchers with livestock grazing leases in Grant and Douglas counties on lands leased from the state Department of Natural Resources for more than 68 years, according to the first lawsuit filed in Douglas County Superior Court in March 2024.
In total, the Kings operate tens of thousands of acres of land where they raise and breed livestock and horses.
In the 2024 lawsuit, the Kings allege that the state is involved in an “unprecedented campaign” to destroy their family’s ranch by “unlawfully evicting” them from land they’ve used for more than half a century.
In January 2023, the state Department of Natural Resources terminated one of the King’s grazing leases in Grant County and declined to renew another lease involving Douglas County land.
The Kings attribute the decisions to terminate and refusal to renew their land leases to an “allegiance to (the state Department of Ecology), DNR abandoned its mandatory duties and scapegoated the Kings for political convenience and spite.”
The state Department of Ecology determined at least 22 alkali wetlands were damaged between January and April 2021 after King Ranch excavated deep pools within the shallow wetlands, according to a 2023 news release.
Eighteen of the damaged wetlands are on leased state-owned land, two are on federal land and three are on private land owned by King Ranch, according to the news release.
These wetlands are protected under state law.
The Kings have denied the allegations of damaging the alkali wetlands and are challenging the fine.
This case was previously heard in Douglas County Superior Court before DNR motioned to have it heard in Thurston County Superior Court. A Douglas County court commissioner approved the order in May 2024.
A month later, the Kings appealed the case to the Washington Court of Appeals, arguing instead that the case could be heard in Douglas County.
That case is ongoing.
The Kings filed another lawsuit in 2026, this time in Grant County Superior Court. Instead of appealing the order and fine to the state’s Pollution Control Hearings Board, the Kings want their matter heard before a jury trial.
The state Department of Ecology has no way to empanel a jury trial for this matter, according to the Pacific Legal Foundation, a legal nonprofit operating across the country.
The Pacific Legal Foundation represented the plaintiffs in Sackett v. EPA, a case heard before the U.S. Supreme Court which narrowed the power of the federal government to enforce the Clean Water Act on certain wetlands.
A Grant County judge Monday denied the Kings’ preliminary injunction, but a merit hearing is scheduled for May 21, according to a Pacific Legal Foundation news release.
“The denial is disappointing, but Washington’s constitution is unambiguous that the right to a jury trial shall remain inviolate, and we intend to hold the State to that promise,” said Oliver J. Dunford, Pacific Legal Foundation senior attorney, in a news release.