Staff to provide report at March Commission meeting in Chelan
OLYMPIA – Feb. 19, 2020 – Last week, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission received the U.S. Navy’s application to conduct special operations training exercises in 29 western Washington state parks.
Parks staff is reviewing the application and will provide a report to the Commission at its upcoming meeting on March 12, in Chelan. The report presentation will be broadcast online to accommodate those who can’t attend the meeting in person.
Public comment will be taken at the Chelan meeting. Anyone who cannot attend the meeting in person can provide comment through Parks’ comment form online or by mail to: c/o Becki Ellison, P.O. Box 4265, Olympia, WA 98504-2650.
The public also will have an opportunity to provide comment at a special public meeting on Wednesday, May 6, at Fort Worden Historical State Park in Port Townsend.
All comments received on this topic will be provided to the Commission for consideration.
The Commission is expected to make a decision on the application at a regularly scheduled meeting this spring or summer.
Parks has developed a website (parks.state.wa.us/navyproposal) to provide the public with up-to-date information on this proposal. The web page includes the Navy’s application and other relevant documents, a public comment form and a link to the staff report broadcast. The page will be updated with new information as it becomes available.
The Navy currently has a Right of Entry permit that allows it to conduct similar trainings in five Puget Sound area state parks. That five-year permit expires May 1.
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Wow! Will we have navy exercises with growlers in Moran State Park? Is that a good idea?
Double WOW! When ‘exercises’ are occurring, how does it limit park use by the public? Does the Navy have to pay for the use of parks like we all do? It does not appeal to me to be hiking in a peaceful setting only to be involved with military type activities. Surely there are more ‘wild’ places for training than in parks; private timber forested areas for example?
COMMENT: everyone must submit comments. This will hurt everyone … locals, businesses, tourists …. and would cost much more than on the mainland. This is a ridiculous idea.
You will never know they are there. Trust me. And Moran is not in the application.
Tony, not good enough, I want to know that they are NOT there, especially given the navy’s fabulous track record regarding environmental stewardship.
It might be worth reading through the application materials, linked above, before worrying too much about Growlers landing in Moran, or teams of NAVY SEALS scaling the tower at the top of Constitution….
The proposal has all sorts of interesting information concerning which parks are involved, what operations are planned, the environmental review that will occur, and the history of similar activities in state parks, permits for which they’ve had for years.
I myself enjoy knowing that the Navy is at the other end of the radio on some bad days here, when they offer our community their resources for emergency medical evacuation and such.
This reminds me of the old tale about the camel putting its nose in the tent and eventually the whole camel ends up in the tent. In the end will the Navy ask all civilians to move out of Western Washington and turn it over to the Navy. This would have the additional advantage of solving the Growler problem.
Sometimes you have to draw the line and say NO camel, bad camel!
Brian, given the navy’s “resources” come directly out of the taxpayer’s pocket, nice that those resources are occasionally used for something other than threatening regime change to any country that mistakenly thinks its resources/policy fall under the category of sovereign…
The navy’s proposal is detailed, informative and daresay interesting; no parks in SJ County are in consideration. Furthermore, a letter from the Governor related to this matter states, “The Navy has done an admirable job in working with state agencies to ensure that the training currently done on state public lands does not interfere with other residents’ enjoyment of parks.”
Naval operational support is particularly critical in SJ County for emergency evacuations due to weather and logistics. It is not reasonable to expect the benefits of a well-trained Navy without supporting the training itself – particularly when the history of such training is a positive one.
“Naval operational support is particularly critical in SJ County for emergency evacuations due to weather and logistics. It is not reasonable to expect the benefits of a well-trained Navy without supporting the training itself – particularly when the history of such training is a positive one.”
It ain’t likely they’d be sending a Growler on your rescue flight… just sayin’.
“You will never know they are there.”
I know they’re here now… I hear every one of them take off and fly around from where I work at on the side of Turtleback. It sucks.
“I myself enjoy knowing that the Navy is at the other end of the radio on some bad days here, when they offer our community their resources for emergency medical evacuation and such.”
I enjoy that part too… it’s the expansion (the number of Growlers and the noise impacts, and the expanded territory over public lands) that I don’t enjoy. It’s not an “either or” situation.
I will go to the website to read about this. One immediate question—what other land resources does the Navy have for these exercises?
It’s the ever-expanding creeping military presence that alarms me . And the president’s “largest military budget EVER” – including his new “Space Force” – all designed for nuclear war – and said as a boast by the president. I for one DON’T want the navy or any other branch of the military based here. Whidbey Island is bad enough – as is Bangor, WA. We’re already at ground zero and have sonar exercises that are harming whales’ sonar and deafening the whales. They bleed from their ears. What right have we to harm innocent creatures for our war games?
This is nothing new, just maybe the first time it has made the local news. None of the parks in the application are in San Juan County this round.
We had an overnight kayak tour on Jones Island (southwest of Orcas) almost 20 years ago when navy trainees landed. There was no warning and no interaction. They landed, moved inland, and before long reemerged and left the beach in the small, fast boats that brought them. It was a little unsettling for our guides and guests, but nothing serious. No damage done to the island or wildlife.
In 30 years of camping in the San Juans every summer, privately and commercially, that is the only time I have heard of that happening.