Clear cut concerns | Residents fear worst with potential tree removal on Squak Mountain

The video of prior flooding of May Creek is genuinely terrifying. Water lapped over SR 900 causing traffic to come to a near stop. Low-lying farmland is flooded.

This is a scenario that Helen Farrington and her immediate neighbors don’t want to replay. Farrington, representing six homeowners on 109th off of SR 900, are very concerned about the potential clear-cutting of 216-acres on Squak Mountain, purchased by Erickson Logging, Inc. of Eatonville. The heavily timbered mountainside keeps heavy rain and drainage from eroding the hillside, which would further complicate May Creek.

“You take away that sponge, we’re going to have problems,” Farrington said.

May Creek runs right through Farrington’s street, 109th. A 30-inch culvert was all the creek had to run through before the neighbors banded together to build a new bridge. After some flooding damage, a landscape company that used to be on 109th, drove one of its rigs over the old bridge and it snapped. For 20 months, steel plates were used to cross the creek before Farrington and the rest of the neighbors decided on a permanent fix.

Through the Department of Fish and Wildlife, they were put in touch with the non-profit Mid-Puget Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group. The purpose of the non-profit is to help increase salmon populations by focusing on habitat restoration, creation and protection.

“Historically there’s always been fish in May Creek, and now they’re returning,” Farrington said.

Mid-Puget Sound helped Farrington’s group with the design of a new bridge/culvert and with the engineering. Since it is a private road, the residents paid for it themselves – $75,000 for the construction, and another $25,000 for everything else including the culvert.

“That’s a lot for working families to come up with,” Farrington said.

Now, the fire department can access her home again. Three weeks after the new culvert and bridge were completed, five Coho salmon came through.

“It’s a very healthy stream, with lots of good fish food,” she said.

Then, just last week, she heard of Erickson’s plan.

“I freaked out – we had this bridge built based on the amount of water that comes through now,” Farrington said.

The new culvert is 12 feet wide, 9 feet high and 30 feet long. It can carry a highway load. And, it’s made a vast improvement to the flooding problems. Ingrid Lundin with the King County Parks Natural Resource Lands Program, said Conservation Futures is a funding source it is considering to buy the property. She said at this point federal grants are not being considered for the property, just local grant programs.

“We are still in discussions with the landowner regarding whether and how we may work together to purchase the land,” Lundin said in an e-mail. “Within DNRP we are undergoing a selection process for grant applications for open space acquisitions, which includes a grant request to raise funds toward purchase of some or all of Erickson’s property. We will know in early March whether this grant request was selected to move forward to application. Fundraising would take a few years as grant funds are limited each year, and are distributed to many projects throughout the county.

“If we were to receive multiple years of grant allocations, land purchases might occur at the end of the fundraising period, or the purchases may be phased over a few years as we receive each year’s grant funds. Between now and the time of purchase (if such purchase were to occur), there is still the possibility that Mr. Erickson would conduct forest harvests on his land under applicable state forestry regulations.”

And therein lies the slap in the face to Farrington. Erickson’s harvest activity is not required meet the criteria to qualify for WADNR forest practices permit. According to the office of county commissioner, Reagan Dunn, since the land falls within the Forest Practices jurisdiction, an application for harvest can be made on the property. Bryan Flint, spokesman for DNR, Forest Practices, a state agency, said Erickson has not applied yet for a permit to harvest.

”I’m begging at this point for the DNR to do an environmental review,” Farrington said.

In a letter to Farrington dated Feb. 11, 2013, Dunn’s office said “the South Puget Sound Regional Forest Practices Board has conducted a pre-screening of the area for risk assessment. They did not see any issue that particularly stood out if the harvest went forward. I spoke with them regarding your flooding concerns and while May Creek floods occasionally already, they believe that storm runoff from roads is where increased flooding would come from so it would not be addressed under a timber harvest application.”

The application for a permit to harvest can take up to 30 days to be approved with 14 days of review required before approval is given. If the 30 days has come and there are no objections, then a harvest will be automatically approved. If there are objections, the process can be stopped until it meets the FPB conditions.

Farrington has lived in her May Valley home with her husband for 15 years. They have two children, and they love where they live. She said some mitigation, and more study is needed – now.