Conservation Northwest

Celebrating a Lake Whatcom watershed park "100 year vision," continued voted 5-2 to move forward, Whatcom County showed its best face as citizens expressed with civility myriad messages feeding into one overwhelming theme: Optimism for the greater good. For their vision and advocacy for the park, Conservation Northwest thanks the following leaders and many more: Dan and Lisa McShane; Rand Jack and Whatcom Land Trust; Council Members Sam Crawford, Kathy Kerchner, Carl Weimer, Ken Mann, and Pete Kremen; Parks Director Mike McFarlane; Tom Chisholm; Mark Peterson, Eric Brown, and Whatcom Independent Mountain Peddlers; Senator Harriet Spanel; Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark; Russ Pfeifer Hoyt and Mount Baker School District; Senator Kevin Ranker and Representatives Kris Lytton and Jeff Morris; Mayor Kelli Linville; Dan Probst and the Whatcom Trail Runners; Professor Dave Wallin; Bob Aegerter; Rud Browne; John D'Onofrio; and the Bellingham City Council. Standing up for outdoor values Eric Brown Director of advocacy, Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition, ebxtreme@earthlink.net Mountain bikers pedal change When we first learned in 2009 about the proposed plan to turn close to 15 square miles of state managed timberland bordering Lake Whatcom into a park, I felt it was a no-brainer to put the quality of our drinking water under local control and to protect these steep slopes in the watershed from future timber harvest. Of course, as a mountain biker and a trail builder, I realized an incredible side benefit was recreation for the mountain bike community. "The coalition formed organically, proving that conservation and recreation don't need to be mutually exclusive." Our area is heralded in national media for our incredible mountain bike trails and our dedicated trail organization. Yet most people aren't aware that today few authorized trails exist for mountain biking on public lands in Whatcom County. The majority of trails are user-built and unauthorized. For example, Galbraith Mountain's world famous trails are on private timberland 6 Spring-Summer 2013 and access is always at the whim of the next owner. In 2012, mountain bikers had two popular (and unauthorized) riding areas on state land closed by the Department of Natural Resources, who managed the lands for timber harvest. Passionate about trails As a father, I've become more passionate about building trails that I know my daughter will be able to hike and ride in the future, so seeing trails closed and hundreds of hours of work go to waste is especially painful for me. When good friend and fellow trail builder Bill Hawk and I met with Whatcom County Parks staff Tom Chisholm and others in 2009, we went over their initial concepts for the park, discussing items such as viewpoints, camps spots, connectors, and trailheads. Together we realized what amazing connectivity the park offered for forested access to and from Bellingham. We were extremely excited about the initial vision for the area and the amazing potential for future trails on Lookout and Stewart mountains. Over the months to come, after speaking up at meetings for the proposed park, I realized our community brought the ability to champion the park from the recreation side and I encouraged my fellow bikers to get involved. It became clear that the conservation, water quality, and recreation communities had similar goals (something that doesn't always takes place) and could work collaboratively to ensure the park's approval. I always felt we were on equal footing with my fellow park proponents. The coalition that formed organically had diverse backgrounds; however it proved that conservation and recreation don't need to be mutually exclusive. As such, I'm proud of the many bikers that spoke at county council meetings, wrote letters of support Biking on Lookout Mountain. © Javier Vega conservationnw.org

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