Public hearing on Blanchard Mountain land exchange
Conservation Northwest / Jun 06, 2018 / Action Alert, Blanchard Mountain, Protecting Wildlands
WILD NW Action Alert #277: Send an email or attend a meeting to support a Trust Land Transfer for Blanchard Mountain
UPDATE: Comments are now being accepted via email or mail! Send comments to exchanges@dnr.wa.gov or mail to the Department of Natural Resources, Blanchard Inter-Trust Exchange, Exchange No. 86-0977449, Attn. Bob Winslow, PO Box 47014, Olympia, Wash. 98504-7014.
Comments can be brief and should express support for preserving the Blanchard core through the Inter-Trust Land Exchange, while also reiterating the importance of Blanchard Mountain for outdoor recreation, wildlife habitat, and the unique outdoor experiences close to local communities that this area offers.
Mount Vernon Meeting
When the Washington State Capitol Budget was finally passed last year, $10 million was designated to save the core of Blanchard State Forest from logging through a Trust Land Transfer.
Now, people in Skagit County and surrounding areas can continue to support this effort by attending a public hearing in Mount Vernon on Thursday, June 14, at 6:00 pm:
Public Hearing for Blanchard Inter-Trust Land Exchange
Skagit county commissioners hearing room
1800 Continental Place
Mount Vernon, WA 98273
Google Maps
Background
Located in the Chuckanut Range south of Bellingham and home to Blanchard Mountain, Oyster Dome and cherished hiking, biking and horseback-riding trails as well as habitat for wildlife, the Blanchard State Forest core is a local gem visited by more than 100,000 people annually.
Though funding is now in place to preserve this special area for future generations, a series of land swaps (called Inter-Trust Exchanges) between State Forest Land (owned by the Washington Department of Natural Resources [DNR]) and Common School Land (also owned by DNR) needs to occur in order to take the remainder of the Blanchard core out of logging rotation. After the land transfers take place, DNR will administer the Blanchard core for conservation and recreation as outlined in the Blanchard Strategy Agreement.
In other words, a series of process steps including surveys and land swaps between DNR land types must take place to protect the remainder of the 1,600 acre Blanchard core. If you’re in the area, please attend next week’s hearing and speak up in support of the Blanchard Inter-Trust Land Exchange!
Comments can be brief and should express support for preserving the Blanchard core through the Inter-Trust Land Exchange, while also reiterating the importance of Blanchard Mountain for outdoor recreation, wildlife habitat, and the unique outdoor experiences close to local communities that this area offers.
More information on the Blanchard Inter-Trust Land Exchange is available at: www.dnr.wa.gov/blanchard-inter-trust-land-exchange.
If you are planning on attending the June 14 hearing and would like more information, please contact our friends at Skagit Land Trust.
Thank you!