Good news at the foot of Blanchard Mountain

Today the Washington State Board of Natural Resources voted to buy 80 acres of private land on the south slope of Blanchard Mountain. The 80-acre parcel is adjacent to the Blanchard State Forest and had two home development sites on it. It's the first of what should be many such transactions and one of several outcomes of the Blanchard Strategies Group Agreement, in which Conservation Northwest played a major role. The move helps protect this southernmost outpost of the Chuckanuts, the only place where the Cascade Range touches the sea.

The Blanchard Strategies Group Agreement arose out of a year-long process to meet the needs of many stakeholders. The agreement protects 1,600 acres of mature forests and popular recreation trails at the heart of Blanchard Mountain. Recognizing that the loss of working forest lands harms conservation and recreation, the agreement also promotes increasing state forest ownership to ensure working forest land as part of the solution to the threat of sprawl.

To ensure that trust beneficiaries continue to receive revenue, the agreement hinges upon the state acquiring forest lands otherwise at risk of development. These forests will be used to help maintain a continual timber supply to generate revenues for beneficiaries in Skagit County.

To pay for the agreement, $4 million was provided in 2007, and  $1.5 million is being requested in 2009. The money is to be used to purchase working timber lands in Skagit County, with a priority on lands adjacent to state lands on Blanchard Mountain so that even more of the Chuckanut Mountains can be protected from development. Now, with low real estate prices, that opportunity is ripe.