ACTION ALERT: Comment Today On The Wildes Road Clearcut Re-Application
Update:
In a startling twist, DNR announced on Thursday, Aug. 20—just after receiving WEAN's comment letter—that it approved the FPA to clearcut 37 acres in the Quade Headwaters on August 19 (two days before the end of the public comment period, and fifteen days before the decision deadline).
WEAN is preparing to serve a notice of appeal to the Washington State Pollution Control Hearings Board, the Washington State Attorney General, and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources alleging both procedural and substantive violations. We are also preparing a motion to stay the approval pending the appeal. Today, WEAN is writing to Island County (letter linked here) inviting them to join us in these appeals, or to submit their own.
We are also writing to DNR Forester Grant Becker, DNR Forester Alex Bopp-Wyne, and logger Kade Erickson asking for a voluntary stay of operations to reduce their own risk and expense should the approval be modified or reversed. Absent that voluntary stay, logging can begin as soon as two business days after notice is provided by the logger to DNR.
Although the decision has been made, we believe DNR should hear from community through the full comment period. If you had planned to comment, please don't let this update stop you. Thank you!
Original Post:
After the withdrawal of Forest Practices Application NW-FPA-26-8637, "Laughlin 2026", due to inaccuracies and insufficiencies in wetland mapping, the landowners have reapplied. The new application, FPA/N No. NW-FPA-26-9078, still proposes to construct an extensive logging road and clearcut approximately 37 acres in the headwaters of Quade Creek. This has implications for downstream waters, including Maxwelton Creek and the Outdoor Classroom.
Robust public response to the first application, including discussion at a County Commission meeting, surfaced concerns that the state Department of Natural Resources or the landowners may be liable for foreseeable damages to downstream infrastructure. Private property owners who anticipate hydrological impacts are also concerned.
WEAN believes that the insufficiencies of the first application have not been sufficiently addressed and that the new application introduces new internal inconsistencies. We ask DNR to deny this permit.
Public comments on the new application, FPA/N No. NW-FPA-26-9078, are due tomorrow, August 21, to DNR Forester Grant Becker at grant.becker@dnr.wa.gov. DNR's decision is due September 3.
WEAN’s comment letter is available here. WEAN is asking DNR to return or deny the application as
incomplete, convene an
interdisciplinary (ID) team site review with a hydrogeologist, and reclassify the application as
Class IV-Special, which would require full environmental (SEPA) review.
Take Action
1. Email a comment to DNR before end of day August 21. Send to Forest Practices Forester Grant Becker at grant.becker@dnr.wa.gov, and reference FPA/N No. NW-FPA-26-9078 in the subject line. Comments are most effective when they are brief, factual, and courteous. In your own words, you can:
- Ask DNR to convene another ID team site review with representatives from Island County and a hydrogeologist;
- Ask DNR to reclassify the application as Class IV-Special because of the steep, unstable, wet slopes and the risk to French Road, a public resource, as well as downstream fish habitat;
- Ask DNR to require field verification of the streams and a full wetland delineation, since the application appears to understate both;
- Ask DNR to substantively respond to the over 100 comments that they received on the first application, and resolve the errors named therein, before approving the second.
2. Thank the Island County Commissioners. Send to Commissioners Bacon, Johnson, and St. Clair at
CommentBOCC@islandcountywa.gov. Parts of this proposal fall under County jurisdiction, not DNR's, and our Commissioners have spoken out to assert that right. Ask them to continue to tell—not ask—DNR that they will participate in site visits and take full authority over the decision-making steps that are theirs.
