Serving Whitman County since 1877
A section of Steptoe Butte land bought by two couples in October, 2016, to preserve as native prairie is the subject of interest by Washington State Parks and the Department of Natural Resources for a potential purchase.
Owners Kent and the late Elaine Bassett of Bellevue bought the 437-plus acre parcel at auction with partners Ray and Joan Folwell of Pullman.
Since then they have hired a contractor to monitor invasive species, collected payments from the communication tower leases on the land and looked into options for a buyer who fits their intentions, one of which is to recoup their $638,000 investment.
“We do have an interest in the land,” said Virginia Painter, State Parks spokesperson. “There are some interesting plant communities. This chunk of property fits nicely with the park. It’s a look at the southern view, a natural extension of the Butte itself.”
A purchase by State Parks is just one possibility.
“We would like to have everyone that we could possibly have be happy with the outcome of this process,” said Kent Bassett, an ophthalmologist who graduated from Pullman High School in 1969.
The state Department of Natural Resources has also shown interest, through its Natural Heritage Program.
“Things are moving along with both State Parks and DNR,” said Joan Folwell.
One potential issue with State Parks is that if they were owners, hunting would not be allowed. The landowners have stated that is something they would like to keep.
Nonetheless, whoever owns the parcel in the future, part of stewardship will be to control invasive species, a task for which Bassett and the Folwells hired BFI Native Seeds from Moses Lake last summer.
The money Bassett and the Folwells earn from the communication tower leases now goes to paying insurance, taxes and more.
“The bulk of what is spent is going to BFI,” Bassett said.
If State Parks would indeed make an offer on the land – which features remnants of a zig-zag wagon trail once used to bring water to the top when James “Cashup” Davis ran the Steptoe Butte Hotel – it would not happen until at least July 2019, Painter indicated, because the property is not on the Parks’ 2018 list and a capital budget has yet to be passed by the state legislature for 2017-19.
The interest from State Parks coincides with a process to create a CAMP plan (Classification and Management Plan) for Steptoe Butte.
After a public meeting last March in Colfax, the first of the CAMP process, it was suspended after facilitator Randy Kline was promoted to state trails coordinator.
The Parks have since appointed Parks Planner Michael Hankinson to take over the project. He will meet with Audra Simms, area manager for the Blue Mountain Area, Washington State Parks, Jan. 5 on re-starting the CAMP plan. The meeting in Colfax will also include the Folwells, attending to listen.
The CAMP plan, for which this will be the first for Steptoe Butte State Park, involves establishing a long-term boundary for the park, land use decisions and a vision for the future, by public input.
No further public meetings have yet been announced for continuation of the process.
The Bassetts and Folwells’ 2016 purchase followed a month-long process in which Kent sought a nature conservancy or land trust that might have bought the spread. The acreage spans a wide C-shape at the base of the butte. About a quarter of Steptoe Butte is the state park – mainly it is north side and top.
“Everybody goes for the view, but the magic of the place is on the slopes and the native plants,” Bassett said, whose wife, Elaine, died in November. “We’re excited about this. This is our last great thing we tried to do together.”
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