LAKE NAHWATZEL
Submitted to Shelton Blog by Elizabeth Livesay Mason County Progressive
Is Green Diamond being a good neighbor?
If you live in Mason County, you should be interested in this question, as Green Diamond is busy trying to convert forestland all over the County. The company works so diligently to keep its activities secret from its neighbors that no one at Lake Nahwatzel, not even adjacent landowners, knew what it had been up to for a year and a half.
The County, inexplicably, seems to be representing only Green Diamond’s interests, even though one would expect our officials to protect not only a precious asset, but citizens as well. Let me describe to you the hearing that the Friends of Lake Nahwatzel had last week on the rezone proposal for the lake.
Friends of Lake Nahwatzel is made up of summer residents and a few permanent homeowners. We are ordinary people who happen to feel deeply about our homes, and the beauty and health of the lake. We care about the wildlife which lives here, the pristine shoreline, the clear water, and the rural atmosphere. Just ordinary people...
Green Diamond, on the other hand, did not come to the hearing to represent itself as a neighbor. Green Diamond sent the Seattle law firm Foster-Pepper, with its multiple attorneys, laptop computers, and highly paid expert witnesses. Green Diamond hired a firm, Wetland Resources, Inc, to survey the wildlife, water, wetlands, etc. Haven’t heard of them? They’re from Seattle, too.
Friends of Lake Nahwatzel gathers its resources the hard way: We hit each other up for funds, and we scanned our members for people who have expertise in a needed area: a wildlife biologist, a diver with a water-quality company, a homeowner with knowledge of boating issues, another who speaks about traffic. We are lucky to have a retired professional forester to counter Green Diamond’s claims that this rezone makes sense, and a pilot who donates his time and plane to photograph the wider area from the air.
Friends of Lake Nahwatzel actually represents the interests of anyone in Mason County who is in danger of being bullied by Green Diamond. We did a good job at this hearing. When Green Diamond’s big-city lawyer presented his water-quality witness (from California), it was apparent this was a man who testifies for a living: smooth and glib.
But we have passion on our side, and our own highly qualified witnesses.
Our water-quality expert spends his life under water — Western Washington water.
Our wildlife biologist (a retired lake resident) has not only a BS and an MA in wildlife biology, but decades of experience as well. He presented indisputable evidence of the permanent harm that will be done to all the species, from the Lake to the Olympics, who depend on the water and the old-growth-like habitat along the north shore.
Our forester helped expose the fallacies presented by Green Diamond as justification for taking this land out of forest production.
Their representative stated that they were obligated to find the “highest and best use” for this land. When pressed, he acknowledged that means dollar value. They can get more money if they sell the land to a developer. It’s all about the money.
Green Diamond does not care about its neighbors. It does not care about the species which will disappear when the old-growth-like forest is cut. It does not care about the fact that Lake Nahwatzel is one of the cleanest in the state, is very shallow, and cannot tolerate the increased runoff inevitable from a development.
The Reed family (who owns Green Diamond) apparently no longer cares about being good community partners. They care about the money. And the County is letting them get away with it.
You should care about this. You might be next.
Photo: www.sellingwastate.com
SHELTON BLOG NOTE:
The appeals hearing for the Lake Nahwatzel SEPA DNS was held on September 19th and 20th. The outcome is yet unknown.
Previous related posts:
http://masoncountyprogressive.blogspot.com/2012/09/more-mason-county-mismanagement.html
http://masoncountyprogressive.blogspot.com/2012/09/open-letter-to-simpson.html
Previous related posts with 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
Submitted to Shelton Blog by Elizabeth Livesay Mason County Progressive
YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT THIS!
YOU MIGHT BE NEXT!
Is Green Diamond being a good neighbor?
If you live in Mason County, you should be interested in this question, as Green Diamond is busy trying to convert forestland all over the County. The company works so diligently to keep its activities secret from its neighbors that no one at Lake Nahwatzel, not even adjacent landowners, knew what it had been up to for a year and a half.
The County, inexplicably, seems to be representing only Green Diamond’s interests, even though one would expect our officials to protect not only a precious asset, but citizens as well. Let me describe to you the hearing that the Friends of Lake Nahwatzel had last week on the rezone proposal for the lake.
Friends of Lake Nahwatzel is made up of summer residents and a few permanent homeowners. We are ordinary people who happen to feel deeply about our homes, and the beauty and health of the lake. We care about the wildlife which lives here, the pristine shoreline, the clear water, and the rural atmosphere. Just ordinary people...
Green Diamond, on the other hand, did not come to the hearing to represent itself as a neighbor. Green Diamond sent the Seattle law firm Foster-Pepper, with its multiple attorneys, laptop computers, and highly paid expert witnesses. Green Diamond hired a firm, Wetland Resources, Inc, to survey the wildlife, water, wetlands, etc. Haven’t heard of them? They’re from Seattle, too.
Friends of Lake Nahwatzel gathers its resources the hard way: We hit each other up for funds, and we scanned our members for people who have expertise in a needed area: a wildlife biologist, a diver with a water-quality company, a homeowner with knowledge of boating issues, another who speaks about traffic. We are lucky to have a retired professional forester to counter Green Diamond’s claims that this rezone makes sense, and a pilot who donates his time and plane to photograph the wider area from the air.
Friends of Lake Nahwatzel actually represents the interests of anyone in Mason County who is in danger of being bullied by Green Diamond. We did a good job at this hearing. When Green Diamond’s big-city lawyer presented his water-quality witness (from California), it was apparent this was a man who testifies for a living: smooth and glib.
But we have passion on our side, and our own highly qualified witnesses.
Our water-quality expert spends his life under water — Western Washington water.
Our wildlife biologist (a retired lake resident) has not only a BS and an MA in wildlife biology, but decades of experience as well. He presented indisputable evidence of the permanent harm that will be done to all the species, from the Lake to the Olympics, who depend on the water and the old-growth-like habitat along the north shore.
Our forester helped expose the fallacies presented by Green Diamond as justification for taking this land out of forest production.
Their representative stated that they were obligated to find the “highest and best use” for this land. When pressed, he acknowledged that means dollar value. They can get more money if they sell the land to a developer. It’s all about the money.
Green Diamond does not care about its neighbors. It does not care about the species which will disappear when the old-growth-like forest is cut. It does not care about the fact that Lake Nahwatzel is one of the cleanest in the state, is very shallow, and cannot tolerate the increased runoff inevitable from a development.
The Reed family (who owns Green Diamond) apparently no longer cares about being good community partners. They care about the money. And the County is letting them get away with it.
You should care about this. You might be next.
Photo: www.sellingwastate.com
SHELTON BLOG NOTE:
The appeals hearing for the Lake Nahwatzel SEPA DNS was held on September 19th and 20th. The outcome is yet unknown.
Previous related posts:
http://masoncountyprogressive.blogspot.com/2012/09/more-mason-county-mismanagement.html
http://masoncountyprogressive.blogspot.com/2012/09/open-letter-to-simpson.html
Previous related posts with 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
Welcome to Mason County politics.
ReplyDeleteIf our elected officials serve the citizens and citizen health, I am a monkey's uncle.
It is very sad that it has come to this for the lake. The lake was lovely.
The lake and surrounding natural environment are about to be trashed, in the name of profits and progress. And all of the problems associated with developing near water are about to descend on the lake, which will be lovely no more.
I wish there was something we citizens could do to stop the rape of the lake, but we cannot.
Our state and local governmental agencies, who should be protecting the lake and the lake residents, work for Green Diamond; they do not work for John and Jane Doe Citizen.
The lake is doomed, and not one elected official is going to come forward to help the citizens, which is sad, sad, sad.
It has only been a little while since Mason County had one elected official who gave a rip about citizen health and the environment.
Former Port of Shelton Commissioner Jack Miles stood up for citizen health in connection with ADAGE, and he was tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail, after being taken apart by front page article after front page article disparaging him and highlighting every mistake he had made in his life from kindergarten to the present.
After the treatment Jack Miles received, it is pretty clear what happens to elected officials in Mason County who go against the tide of industrial "progress."
Out of the bunch who are making decisions concerning our county right now, none of them are representing citizen interests. Not one.
I don't know if we can save the lake by voting these representatives of industry out of office, but we have to give it a try.
If you are a lake resident, you should be voting for the county commission candidates who believe in our right to breathe fresh air and drink clean water: Denny Hamilton, Roslynne Reed and Ross Gallagher.
The reelection of Tim Sheldon, and the election of Terri Jeffries, would result in not only Lake Nahwatzel being on the chopping block, but every pristine pretty place we have left in Mason County will be up for grab by their corporate masters. Scary times ahead if Tim and his protege' are on the BOCC. Very scary times.