Snoqualimie Pass land use rezone threatenening critical wildlife corridors

By Jen Syrowitz, Sr. Manager, Conservation Programs

 

Last week, on behalf of Conservation Northwest, I testified at a Kittitas County Planning Commission meeting to oppose a land use rezone on 150 acres that would increase already unsustainable recreation effects in a critical wildlife corridor. Decades of landscape-scale watershed restoration and animal crossing investments have been made to address the barrier effects of Interstate 90.

The Gold Creek Valley, including Mardee Lake, acts as a “funnel” for wildlife traveling through the Cascade Mountain Crest – core habitat of national importance for charismatic megafauna like black bear and cougar, and for imperiled species such as the American pika and Cascade red fox.

The parcels proposed for rezone around Mardee Lake exist in the heart of this funnel – the Snoqualmie Pass Corridor. Also known as the Snoqualmie Pass Adaptive Management Area in the Northwest Forest Plan, planning in this corridor “should recognize the area as a critical connective link in north-south movement of organisms in the Cascade Range” (NWFP D-16).

Simply put development at Snoqualmie Pass needs to be focused outside of these critical habitat areas and wildlife movement corridors.

The State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA) Mitigated Determination of NonSignificance (MDNS) is under litigation by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife because the MDNS does not address all Critical Areas – such as the Biodiversity Area and Corridor – and the mitigation measures are not actually mitigation measures; they either follow the County’s own regulations and building codes (which could be amended at any time), or they defer any evaluation of mitigation to project actions which is contrary to the previous Growth Management Hearings Board Order (the case we won the first time this rezone was proposed).

One of the biggest concerns is that once the property is rezoned, the permitting pathway for additional high-density recreation infrastructure will be opened. Potential environmental impacts are likely to be analyzed project by project and therefore missing needed cumulative analysis, would be difficult to mitigate during recreational design and development, and offsite mitigation would not adequately compensate for the loss of critical habitat function for these localized areas.

The Planning Commissioners asked good questions such as, “Isn’t this better than a rock pit that could be built under the current [Forest and Range] zoning?” Answer: No. For starters, rock pits do not require large-scale utility infrastructure such as sewers and stormwater. And if a rock pit were proposed, we’d share our concerns regarding that proposal, too. “Have you seen the enormous amount of people recreating (in fact, trespassing) on this land? This is already a recreation area – a wide valley safe from avalanches. Where are people going to go instead?” Answer: I don’t know, but not here.

There are places that humans must yield to wildlife, and this is recognized as one of them – “a critical connective link” in which we have invested tens of millions of dollars to reconnect fragmented ecosystems.

I mentioned how Conservation Northwest has long recognized the tension between wildlife needs and the recreating public. This is why we launched our Wildlife and Recreation Coexistence Program a few years ago. We are working to share science and educate the public about wildlife needs. That is why we collaborate to offer spatial and/or temporal solutions that can accommodate wildlife needs and human recreation demands (e.g., seasonal trail closures to accommodate calving elk).

And yet, on the way home, I couldn’t help but think, “Shame on us for letting it get to this point.” (To be fair, that sums up much of what I think these days.)

But there are unique places on the planet that deserve – and have received – extra conservation attention and investment. The Snoqualmie Pass Corridor is one of them. Yes, recreation in the Gold Creek Valley is out of control, and we allowed that to happen.

Should we now roll over and “rezone” to what it is functionally? Or should we try to stem the ecological impacts and work within what it should be (Forest and Range Zoning)? I know my answer, and I’m desperate to work with others on a proposal that better protects wildlife values and accommodates any reasonable, spatially explicit development.

At Conservation Northwest, we continue to monitor wildlife movement in the area, restore fragmented and degraded habitat in adjacent watersheds, educate the public, and advocate for land uses compatible with wildlife needs and movement.

The vision is a fisher, a western toad, or any number of species moving freely through these spaces, finding all that they need in the environment to thrive in such a challenging world.

Learn more about our work restoring Gold Creek in the Central Cascades