Lake Whatcom Q & A

From the proposed new park, many trail heads will be accessible by WTA bus. © Tore Ofteness

Where is the proposed Lake Whatcom forest preserve park located?

The park includes about 8,700 acres of land that is comprised of the steepest slopes of Lookout Mountain (on the southwest side of the lake) and Stewart Mountain (on the southeast side of the lake), along Lake Whatcom. Lake Whatcom provides drinking water to more than half of Whatcom County's 200,000 residents.

Who owns the land now?

These 8,700 acres are presently owned and managed by the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) as part of its larger (15,000 acres, total) holdings in the watershed. The DNR manages these lands under the Lake Whatcom Landscape Plan to generate timber logging revenue for various trusts.

What's distinct about the 8,700 acres is that it represents land that used to belong to the county – mostly through tax defaults on private timberland – but was deeded to the state to manage in trust. State law allows counties to take back, or reconvey, such lands for park purposes.

How will the Lake Whatcom forest preserve park by managed?

Whatcom County Parks will develop a plan to restore and manage these lands as mature and old-growth forest habitat with carefully constructed non-motorized trail use similar to the Stimpson Forest Reserve. The lands have exceptional views and will provide for great hiking, running, camping, biking, and equestrian use consistent with water quality goals. Any management inconsistent with such park use would be grounds (under the reconveyance statute) for the state to reclaim the property.

How much will the new park cost the county?

Because the county already owns the land: in a sense, there are no real estate acquisition costs. The transaction costs include county staff time and county payments to the state of almost $300,000 for DNR staff time. Fire control will continue to be the state’s responsibility. Annual maintenance and operation costs of the park will be modest for the county, equal to two to three FTEs. The county will take on capital costs–such as removing unneeded and damaging logging roads and building trails–as dedicated funds, such as grants, become available.

Won’t there be less timber revenue?

Due to the steep and unstable nature of these acres, logging on them has been controversial since a major landslide harmed property, homes, and the lake in 1983. Therefore there has been little recent logging or logging revenue – even since the Landscape Plan, with its higher regulations, was approved in 2005. Still, what logging would have occurred would have generated funds for DNR, the county, Mt. Baker and Bellingham School Districts, and other smaller trusts. For most, the amount of foregone funding is too modest to express concern about, especially in comparison to the public benefits of recreation, habitat, and reduced risk of harm to people and the lake.

The Mt. Baker School District has raised concerns. The formulas for state and local distribution of trust revenues are extremely complicated, but most people agree that taking these lands out of timber production could reduce logging revenues to the MB school district by less than $20,000/year, averaged over long time spans. Most of this shortfall would be made up for by automatic adjustments in local levy rates.

Will there be any revenues from the park land?

The county may be able to receive revenue from compatible uses, potentially including leasing for an existing cellular tower and perhaps wind power generation.

Will the park affect other properties in the watershed?

Some have argued that by preserving these beautiful lands, we will make the area so attractive that a land rush and destructive development will occur. There seems little basis for this concern. The lands are already state forest, available for recreation, surrounding a lake that is already scenic. Nevertheless, as valuable as the park will be to minimizing certain threats to water quality, it is absolutely essential that the city of Bellingham and Whatcom County continue with all other actions to control development, reduce stormwater problems, and otherwise reverse the degradation of Lake Whatcom, our drinking water source.

In the Lake Whatcom watershed, state forest board trust lands are being reconveyed for "park purposes." What kind of park will these lands become?

The reconveyed lands around Lake Whatcom will become a large nature preserve. The park will exist in two large blocks of roughly equal size, one on Lookout Mountain lying to the west of Lake Louise Rd, stretching from Cain Lake north to Galbraith Mountain.

Recreational trails will be developed to connect existing parks such as Squires Lake, Whatcom Falls, Lake Padden, Lookout Mountain Preserve, and Stimpson Forest Reserve. The other block is on Stewart Mountain north and east of Lake Whatcom Park.

Existing hiking trails and some new ones will provide access to this area.

What makes this park so special?

There are many attributes that make this future park special:

• The views from the ridges of both Lookout and Stewart Mountains are breathtaking. A hiker can see snow-capped mountains, brilliant blue lakes, coastal islands, and an expanse of forest covered foothills.
• The trails on the reconveyed lands will create an important link in a system of trails that will eventually connect Mount Baker to Bellingham Bay.
• The Lookout Mountain portion of the park has many access points serviced by the WTA bus system. A hiker will be able to hike point to point and not need the use of a car.

Won’t trail building and recreation damage the environment in the watershed?

Environmental damage from the proposed park development and recreation will be negligible, especially compared to the clear cutting and road building currently being done for logging.

Will there be new parking lots built in the watershed to access the park?

No. The only new parking lot in the watershed is one that is already planned and in the works for the existing trails at Lookout Mt. Preserve. The reconveyed lands will NOT need additional parking lots, and many trail heads will be accessible by WTA bus.

Are there any economic benefits of this park?

Eco-tourism, trail running, mountain biking, and hiking are fast becoming a big revenue producer for Whatcom County. These activities bring active, environmentally responsible tourists this area. In the long run, the preserved old-growth forests and natural beauty of Whatcom County can be one of its biggest economic assets.

Many people are concerned that mountain bikers and other users will illegally build steep trails for jumps and extreme riding. How will this be prevented?

First of all, this is happening right now under Department of Natural Resources management. If the reconveyed lands become part of Whatcom County Parks, unsuitable and dangerous trails will be formally obliterated and the land will be monitored for illegal trail building.

The county parks trail program has an excellent track record of aggressively suppressing illegal trail building, unauthorized motorized use and squatting on Chuckanut Mountain, and in the thousands of acres it currently manages.