Conservation Northwest protects and connects old-growth forests and other wild areas from the Washington Coast to the British Columbia Rockies, vital to a healthy future for us, our children, and wildlife. Since 1989, Conservation Northwest has worke
Issue link: http://conservationnw.uberflip.com/i/132231
Celebrating a Lake Whatcom watershed park Mitch Friedman Executive director, mitch@conservationnw.org 100 year vision moves forward The Whatcom County Council vote culminates 30 The new park protects more than a quarter of the Lake Whatcom watershed. Erin Moore Who says that protected wildlands are only on distant mountain tops, and that to recreate there you have to settle in for a long drive? I'm proud of the role Conservation Northwest and our partners played in the establishment of a new backcountry park just outside Bellingham city limits. The Whatcom County Council voted in March to create Washington's largest local park, protecting close to 9,000 acres on the rugged forested slopes of Lookout and Stewart mountains in the Chuckanut Range and in the drinking watershed of Lake Whatcom. years of work to protect public safety and a major municipal drinking watershed from erosion and landslides. The park was uniquely created by reconveyance of land the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) had been clearcutting to generate funds for the county and other trusts. The benefits for wildlife, recreation, and the local economy are sure to be extraordinary. Your hike or bike ride up Mount Stewart, in our newest county park, can start 20 minutes after finishing a Bellingham brunch. If you're biking from town, it's a bit longer. It will then take you a couple hours to get atop its respectable 3,050 feet. Then stare east to the faces of the Twin Sisters, backed by Mount Shuksan and Mount Baker. Stewart is the eastern bulwark of the Chuckanut Range, and the only thing between it and the wild Cascades is the pastoral valley of the South Fork Nooksack River. From the top of Mount Stewart look north to white peaks of Golden Ears and Garibaldi in British Columbia's Coast Range. Look south to the farmland around Skagit flats, and on a clear day spy Mount Erie on Fidalgo Island and the coastal hills all the way down to Mount Rainer. Gaze west across Lake Whatcom to the successive heights of the western Chuckanuts, Lummi Island, and the San Juan Islands. The Chuckanuts are the only place where the Cascades meet Puget Sound, occupying the span between the populated coast and the high country. The western Chuckanuts have long been treasured for their scenery and ecological value. Larabee State Park on Chuckanut Mountain opened in 1915, making it the state's oldest park. Whatcom County has incrementally added parkland around Larabee, and Conservation Northwest helped protect 1,600 acres of state land on Blanchard Mountain in 2007. But until March 2013 very little had been protected east of Interstate 5. Landslide for change On a January morning in 1983, a landslide rumbled down the eastern face of Lookout Mountain, sweeping several homes and tons of phosphorous-laden soil into Lake Whatcom. Fortunately and by chance, no one was hurt. So began the public questioning of whether timber revenue was the right objective for these steep, unstable slopes right above houses and the lake. Fifteen years later, the dynamite blast of road-building on the same slopes spurred two local moms into action—and activism. With the help of Conservation Northwest and the leadership of then-Senator Harriet Spanel, Jamie Berg and Linda Marrom successfully persuaded the legislature to pass 4 Spring-Summer 2013conservationnw.org