Support for Not Logging in Devils Lake Area
On March 2 the three Jefferson County Commissioners (Phil Johnson, David Sullivan and John Austin) wrote to DNR urging that the Devils Vista timber sale not go forward, citing the significant degradation it would cause to the rare plant association—Doug-fir/Western hemlock/Pacific rhododendron/evergreen huckleberry—that grows there. Like OFCO, the commissioners request that the 415 acres be added to the adjacent Devils Lake Natural Area.
Read the letter here.
OFCO applauds this action by the commissioners, and joins them in the hope that DNR will, in fact, see fit to protect this land, cited as “one of the top three best remaining examples of this community type in the world and the only viable occurrence” on DNR land.
Special mention also goes to OFCO members Peter Bahls, with Northwest Watershed Institute, and Linda Saunders and Tom Meyer, who especially have worked hard to inform elected leaders and the public about the special nature of the Devils Vista tract and other watershed stewardship issues.
In addition, here’s a letter that an OFCO friend sent to DNR recently:
Greetings,
As a lifelong resident of Pulali Point near Mt Walker on Dabob Bay, I support the Jefferson County Commssioner request for an expanded 415 acre expansion on the proposed Devil’s Vista Timber Sale SEPA file 14-031-201.
I used to hike near there, and always I’d see bird species I never saw anywhere else. In addition, I’ve researched the impacts of logging on the fragile Mt Walker ecosystem with its steep and unstable slopes above Dabob Bay and Quilcene Harbor. One of the researchers who gave me a review of the impacts of potential logging on that area is Paul Kennard, the geohydrologist who predicted the slides that directly resulted from over-logging to destroy the village of Oso. Removal of mature trees and the underbrush around them destroy a microclimate and destabilize soil. The adverse impacts far outweigh whatever short-term financial benefits from logging.
I propose no logging at all on unstable slopes near Quilcene Bay and Dabob Bay. I kayak that area and every time there’s a slide into the fragile waters there, directly above is logging and/or clearing. Given that the waters and shorelines there are already in trouble, including silting from previous clear-cuts, please mitigate future logging projects and save Dabob Bay, Quilcene Harbor and the entire Hood Canal region from increased silting, destruction of oyster and clam beds and other marine life, and adverse impacts on the local economy.
All best,
Kirie Pedersen, M.A. and family