Commissioners sign letter asking that Wild Olympics plan be dropped
January 31, 2012
By Steven Friederich
The Daily World
MONTESANO, WA — The Grays Harbor County commissioners unanimously signed on to a letter to Congressman Norm Dicks and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray that generally opposes the federal lawmakers’ Wild Olympics plan to expand wilderness designations around Olympic National Park, as well as designate “wild and scenic” status to rivers in and around the park and allow the park to buy land from willing sellers.
The letter, signed by County Commissioners Terry Willis, Herb Welch and Mike Wilson on Monday, requests that Murray and Dicks “abandon further consideration of legislation related to the Wild Olympics proposal or any variation that involved further restrictions on economic and recreational activities on the Olympic Peninsula.”
Instead, the commissioners urged a “broader collaborative process that results in a balance of conservation, recreation and harvest management of the natural resources that provide environmental and economic stability in our region.”
“I have a little problem with the letter but if we can agree that it will lead to additional talks, some fact checking and for both sides to get together and continue to talk about this to ask the (federal delegation) to give us additional time before they drop a bill,” Wilson said.
Welch said he had his own issues with the letter because he doesn’t know how much more talking could be done since a large coalition of environmental and recreation groups have been pushing the plan for some time now.
“If we’re talking about fact checking, something that needs to be fact checked is what the issue, what is the problem that needs to be solved?” Welch said. “Because so far I haven’t seen a problem to be solved. Why are we even doing this? Why is this even an issue?”
Willis agreed that beyond stating that the Wild Olympics plan would preserve watersheds and add more environmental protections on forestland, the reasons for the plan moving forward has not been clearly delineated.
“They need to identify the issue,” Willis said. “What is the issue? For instance they say this will stop someone from building a dam. Well, is that even a realistic fear? So are we reacting to something that doesn’t need to be reacted to?”
Wilson said that the Wild Olympics debate has been filled with hyperbole. For instance, statements like “land grab” and “jobs lost” have been talked about by the opposition, while the benefits have just been identified in slick advertisements and benefits that talk about the need to protect streams to help the shellfish industry and tourists.
“Are we going to lose a thousand jobs or just ten and if we do lose jobs, what are we balancing that against?” Wilson said. “What are the real benefits?”
“While there have been opinions tossed out, there really hasn’t been a conversation going on,” Willis said. “You need to stop what’s going on now and move on to the next step, with a more cooperative conversation.”
Although Wilson says he has questions for both the opposition and supporters of the plan, the four-page letter clearly states that the commissioners oppose the plan, noting its division of the community.
“Grays Harbor County commissioners see the Wild Olympics proposal as one that threatens jobs on the Olympic Peninsula,” the letter states. “This is not consistent with Grays Harbor County’s mission of economic development.”
The letter notes that the commissioners support environmental conservation, but not if it takes timberland out of production.
The letter also notes that the commissioners “simply cannot support federal acquisition of more lands when there is such neglect of current federal lands.”
Wilson said he was signing the letter with some reservation because he feels the facts and figures needs to be fact checked.
Steven Friederich, a Daily World writer, can be reached at 537-3927, or by e-mail at sfriederich@thedailyworld.com