Local Conservation Group Receives $100,000 Settlement
— from Barbara Courtney —
The owner of an Anacortes bed & breakfast establishment has agreed to pay a $100,000 settlement for illegally clear-cutting a waterfront nature preserve on Fidalgo Island. The nature preserve, which is owned by the San Juan Preservation Trust, a private land trust that protects open space throughout the San Juan Islands, is situated on a steep slope between the bed & breakfast and the shoreline.
It is presumed that the owner of the bed & breakfast ordered the removal of all of the trees from a one-quarter acre area extending from the top of the bank down to the beach in order to enhance the views from his establishment. This action has damaged important shoreline wildlife habit and destabilized the steep bank by eliminating native vegetation and undermining its natural water drainage patterns.
The clear-cut property is part of the Preservation Trust’s 1.25-mile long “John H. Geary Shoreline Preserve,” a 38-acre collection of 22 contiguous parcels along the west side of Fidalgo Island that was permanently conserved in 1992 by a coalition of neighbors concerned about a proposed development along this steep hillside. The preserve follows Fidalgo’s western shoreline beginning north of Sunset Lane, around Edith Point, and then south toward Biz Point.
“No one likes to seek legal remedy, but this community worked very hard to protect this shoreline,” said Keith Gerrard, president of the San Juan Preservation Trust’s board of trustees. “We have a responsibility to defend all of our nature preserves in perpetuity, and we won’t shy away from that commitment.”
The Preservation Trust, which has agreed to drop a pending lawsuit, intends to use funds from the settlement to restore lost vegetation, re-stabilize the steep bank, educate upland neighbors about the nature preserve, and implement new strategies to avoid future violations.
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ABOUT THE SAN JUAN PRESERVATION TRUST
Founded in 1979, the San Juan Preservation Trust (www.sjpt.org) is a nationally accredited private, non-profit and membership-based land trust dedicated to helping people and communities conserve land in the San Juan Islands of Washington State. The Preservation Trust has permanently protected more than 280 properties, 39 miles of shoreline, 21 miles of trails and 15,000 acres on 20 islands, including land now managed as public parks, nature preserves, wildlife habitat, and working farms and forests.
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What’s the name of this Bed & Breakfast?
And how does someone possibly contract a clear cut on land they don’t own. Isn’t the logging company also liable for their action? It sounds like the SJI preservation trust has let them off easy with this settlement. There’s no need to be civil toward these greedy, destructive pigs,
It seems as if that B&B should be closed until all the damage is repaired so that they are not able to benefit from their treachery! I agree, the name of the establishment should be published widely! Merry Bush
Is deliberately cutting trees on somebody else’s land not a criminal act?
In Oregon, if you’re convicted of cutting timber on another person’s property, you have to pay triple stumpage in damages (three times the value of the trees). And that’s for land intended to be logged, not a nature preserve.