Watershed Organization Comments

At the first publicly announced meeting of the proposed Chehalis Basin Council, the Chehalis River Council read the following comments:

March 27, 1998

Thank you for the opportunity to present comments from the Chehalis River Council.

I have nine questions for you today. I've prepared copies of this material and your considered responses can be made available to us later.

  1. This watershed is home to many people and the land is controlled not only by property owners but by rules and regulations from agencies of federal government. It appears that federal agencies will not be members of the Chehalis Basin Council. My question is - with so much control in the hands of federal agencies, why aren't those agencies allowed to be work through the process and make decisions as full members? We all need to be at the table to work together and address issues before they become problems.
  2. The 1992 Chehalis River Basin Action Plan reported populations numbers by subbasins. Most of these subbasins have no city inside their boundary. Some of these subbasins have populations of up to 8,800 people. The Black River watershed has more people in it than 11 of the 14 incorporated cities in the watershed. Some of these subbasins overlap county boundaries. Given your present structure and organization how can these disenfranchised subbasin watershed populations feel that you have interest or concerns about their needs?
  3. Last week the Montesano Vidette ran an "Ag-Talk" column by WSU Extension Agent, Don Tapio. In that column Mr. Tapio identified Grays Harbor agriculture as a $20 million industry with over 410 farms. Lewis County, based on the 1992 Census of Agriculture, had over 1,060 farms and produced over $61,000,000 in revenue. Thurston county is also a proud agriculture county. These agriculture producers are important to the watershed and they are dependent upon water. What role will agriculture have in the decision making process of this group? How are their interests going to be protected by this group?
  4. Another of the major groups concerned about the health of our watershed is made up of folks employed in our fisheries. The Coalition of Coastal Fisheries has stated that up to 5,000 people depend upon a healthy fishery. In 1996 just the City of Westport reported ExVessel values of $21,000,000. How are the interests of this water and resource based group going to participate in this organization's decision process?
  5. The U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, in their most recent 1995 County Business Patterns reports, cites Grays Harbor with 15 Forestry businesses and Lewis County with 32 Forestry businesses. How will the needs of these resource based companies be represented in this group?
  6. The U.S. Forest Service, in 1994, reported the economic impacts of fishing, hunting and wildlife-related recreation on just National Forest Lands was over $264 million in retail sales - which is only a portion of the total. How much comes from our area isn't known, but how will these users be represented?
  7. Over the years the CRC has conducted a number of public meetings. During that time we have learned that the strongest objections and concerns came from people who feel left out or ignored. We learned that we need their support if any progress is to be made. How do you plan to include citizens during the fact finding and decision making process so that their support is there when needed during implementation of the decisions?
  8. Throughout our existence the CRC has advocated broad based local watershed management. We have strongly supported a consensus based organization which welcomes all interested parties. In 1994, with the support of the Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force we promoted and created the Chehalis Watershed Council and successfully guided resolutions through the 1995 session of the legislature. As recently as last month, at the request of the Chair of the Lewis County Commissioners, we provided yet another model for consideration. Will this group consider our proposed model?
  9. Finally, with all due respect to your efforts, isn't there some other name you could select to represent this new organization? The Chehalis River Council has been around a long time and your choice of a very similar name will lead to much confusion and become a stumbling block each time you have to explain why you are not the Chehalis River Council.

Why are we concerned? The CRC has been deeply involved in watershed issues. Our history dates back to the original group of volunteers who created the Chehalis River Basin Action Plan of 1992. In January of 1993 when funding for implementing that plan was not available the citizens in the group stayed active. Eventually the group became a nonprofit corporation, still dedicated to the implementation of that plan. Since that modest beginning we have maintained the first public watershed resource library, produced the first ever map of this watershed, produced monthly watershed meetings and a basin wide newsletter which reaches 45,000 households every issue, we support watershed information on our internet site and have produced user guides for water monitoring and streambank planting programs. A dedicated board of volunteers has managed a cumulative budget which now exceeds $210,000 in revenues.

The dedication of the members and volunteers reminds me of a quote from a book (And the Angels Were Silent) by Max Lucado - "The people who make a difference are not the ones with the credentials, but the ones with concern".

We would like to see that level of agency, stakeholder and citizen involvement in any future watershed management activity.
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