LAKE NAHWATZEL
Submitted to Shelton Blog by Malcolm Dick Jr. Mason County Progressive
This is an open letter to the Reed family, owners of Simpson Investment and Green Diamond Resource Companies.
Your company, Green Diamond, wants to sell for development purposes 250 acres of timberland at Lake Nahwatzel. We could discuss how that has been conducted, but that’s not the point of this letter.
The Reed family’s timber-related companies have been good for the community and your family. You are blessed with wealth beyond imagination for most of us. You shared that wealth in many ways. We are grateful for that.
Change is upon Mason County and the Reed family’s forestlands. The area has been discovered as a wonderful place to live, work and recreate. Green Diamond’s timberlands hold opportunities to capitalize on Mason County’s development potential, and no one can blame you for so doing.
Along with the opportunity for financial benefit, however, comes a responsibility to identify unique lands. Some of your timberlands have special values related to water quality and wildlife habitat. Lake Nahwatzel is one of those properties. Its waters are clean, and the undeveloped shoreline a treasure of increasingly rare lowland lake habitat. Its proximity to vast forestlands and adjacent wetland habitats make it an exceptional part of your ownership. These qualities are at risk by those who want to develop those lands.
We citizens of the lake find ourselves engaged in a war we neither want nor can afford. We do it because we believe Lake Nahwatzel’s north and northeastern shores are worth fighting for. Do we have a personal interest? Absolutely. We wouldn’t oppose a deeply funded corporation if we didn’t have deep, gut-level feelings.
Beyond the attorneys, legal maneuvers, hearings, et al, is a deeper issue: What kind of legacy do you, the Reed family, want to leave? Do you want your legacy to be one of mining every last dollar out of your timberlands? Or do you want to leave a legacy that recognizes a small portion of your timberlands deserves to be protected in perpetuity?
No one, especially those of us at Lake Nahwatzel, want the Reed family companies to be harmed. Your success is our success, both from economic and environmental standpoints. You have a chance, as you plan for the future, to create a legacy for which the true value fully will become apparent many years from now. That legacy could stand tall beside your legacy as a first-rate forestland manager.
Or not…
Photo: www.sellingwastate.com
SHELTON BLOG NOTE:
Previous related posts (info in "Regular Session of BOCC" sections):
http://masoncountyprogressive.blogspot.com/2012/07/week-of-71612-meetings-in-review.html
http://masoncountyprogressive.blogspot.com/2012/07/week-of-72312-meetings-in-review.html
This is an open letter to the Reed family, owners of Simpson Investment and Green Diamond Resource Companies.
Your company, Green Diamond, wants to sell for development purposes 250 acres of timberland at Lake Nahwatzel. We could discuss how that has been conducted, but that’s not the point of this letter.
The Reed family’s timber-related companies have been good for the community and your family. You are blessed with wealth beyond imagination for most of us. You shared that wealth in many ways. We are grateful for that.
Change is upon Mason County and the Reed family’s forestlands. The area has been discovered as a wonderful place to live, work and recreate. Green Diamond’s timberlands hold opportunities to capitalize on Mason County’s development potential, and no one can blame you for so doing.
Along with the opportunity for financial benefit, however, comes a responsibility to identify unique lands. Some of your timberlands have special values related to water quality and wildlife habitat. Lake Nahwatzel is one of those properties. Its waters are clean, and the undeveloped shoreline a treasure of increasingly rare lowland lake habitat. Its proximity to vast forestlands and adjacent wetland habitats make it an exceptional part of your ownership. These qualities are at risk by those who want to develop those lands.
We citizens of the lake find ourselves engaged in a war we neither want nor can afford. We do it because we believe Lake Nahwatzel’s north and northeastern shores are worth fighting for. Do we have a personal interest? Absolutely. We wouldn’t oppose a deeply funded corporation if we didn’t have deep, gut-level feelings.
Beyond the attorneys, legal maneuvers, hearings, et al, is a deeper issue: What kind of legacy do you, the Reed family, want to leave? Do you want your legacy to be one of mining every last dollar out of your timberlands? Or do you want to leave a legacy that recognizes a small portion of your timberlands deserves to be protected in perpetuity?
No one, especially those of us at Lake Nahwatzel, want the Reed family companies to be harmed. Your success is our success, both from economic and environmental standpoints. You have a chance, as you plan for the future, to create a legacy for which the true value fully will become apparent many years from now. That legacy could stand tall beside your legacy as a first-rate forestland manager.
Or not…
Photo: www.sellingwastate.com
SHELTON BLOG NOTE:
Previous related posts (info in "Regular Session of BOCC" sections):
http://masoncountyprogressive.blogspot.com/2012/07/week-of-71612-meetings-in-review.html
http://masoncountyprogressive.blogspot.com/2012/07/week-of-72312-meetings-in-review.html
Due to the aggressive exporting of logs, Mason County is waking up to the fact that its relationship with Simpson/Green Diamond is changing, and not for the better. Even with 73% of county land dedicated to the cultivation of natural resources GD still can’t keep up with demand. And what does the community get from this lopsided relationship? Not jobs and not an economic boost, that’s for sure. Since Simpson/GD is a privately owned concern, citizens can’t even buy stock in the company. Simpson gets all the profits and the community gets all the contaminated stormwater runoff, not to mention secrete rezones of hundreds of acres of land.
ReplyDeleteAhhh, the good ol boys are still in charge in Mason County.
ReplyDeleteLet's change that come November, shall we?????