Letter - March 4, 2010

Water trail response

In response to the articles “Fish and Wildlife eyes water trail for northwest county lakes” and “County parks board backs fish and game water corridor plan:”

On February 23rd over thirty landowners of the Chapman Lake, Bonnie Lake, and Rock Lake area met to express their concerns over the acquisition of land by the Department of Fish and Wildlife and supported by Whitman County Parks Board.

This is rugged land with very little accessibility to allow fire protection, rescue operations, and law enforcement to penetrate. Private ownership has the knowledge of the terrain and this helps keep the land and wildlife undisturbed. Public access would cause disruption in these areas.

At this meeting it was felt by all that government representatives have not researched this plan well enough to recommend such action. Taking land out of private ownership also results in a tax loss to Whitman and Spokane Counties.

The public can reach the lakes by creek or roads and still enjoy the natural beauty of the country.

The land owners involved were in unanimous agreement: this plan is unacceptable. They would lose property that contributes to a major portion of their livelihood, enhance the risks from fire and theft and it would definitely disrupt the pristine condition of their property which has been in families for generations.

Mary Kaye Stelzer, Rosalia

United Land Owners of Bonnie Lake and surrounding area.

Stunned

The February 4th and 18th issues of the Gazette reported on the Rock Creek, Rock Lake, Bonnie Lake and Chapman Lake aquatic corridor that Washington State Fish and Wildlife Department has proposed.

Without the Whitman County Gazette, most of the land owners involved in this proposal would have had no idea of the endangerment of their private property and potential loss of income at this time.

The United Bonnie Lake Land Owners which has now grown to encompass Rock Lake, Rock Creek and Chapman Lake Owners formally met to share information, concerns and voice their strong opposition to this corridor.

We were stunned when we read the articles in the paper.

We were even more stunned when we saw that the proposed corridor started at Turnbull Wildlife Refuge and stretched to Stephen Road near Pine City.

The majority of land in the proposed aquatic corridor is now owned by families whose ancestors owned the property for a hundred years more or less. We have worked hard to protect the wild life, sustain and manage the land with good conservation practices while depending on it to provide an income for our families and keep the land in the tax base of the county.

In this time of economic stress where our state is operating with a large deficit and cutting back services and our county resources are stretched to a breaking point, the state should not be attempting to buy property that they can not afford to maintain and police.

The cost of roads, fire, EMT services and policing for this project would fall mainly upon Whitman County while the majority of the users of this corridor would come from our major urban areas in Spokane County.

The public can now access Bonnie Lake using Rock Creek and camp on the Island there owned by the Department of Natural Resources.

There are several pieces of state land in the proposed corridor that now gives the public access to this corridor.

Chapman Lake has a private launch that charges a modest fee.

And my biggest headache, The John Wayne Trail, gives the public hiking and biking access to views of Rock Lake as well as the launch at the foot of Rock Lake gives access to the lake.

The parking issue in the Hole in the Ground could be greatly improved with the investment of a few hundred dollars in parking signs rather than hundreds of thousands of dollars for a parking lot.

The Gazette should be proud of their service to the community by reporting on a wide variety of issues that impact the citizens and land owners of Whitman County. I subscribe to several “small town newspapers” and the Gazette is by far the best. As a member of the United Bonnie Lake Land Owners, I applaud the Gazette for keeping us informed.

Louise Ager Belsby,

Cheney