DARRINGTON — The Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe has been buying land near this isolated mountain town, fueling concern among residents who wonder what the tribe has planned.
The tribe owns 5 acres off Highway 530 just west of town, where it recently built a new police station. The station is marked only by a sign at the gravel driveway leading to the station, which is out of view from the highway.
No more than a mile away, the tribe also bought two larger parcels of land on either side of the highway just east of the bluegrass festival site and rodeo grounds.
Tribal Chairman Jason Joseph would not say how big the two most recent purchases are, but acknowledged that one parcel includes a portion of a tree farm near or inside Darrington’s urban growth area across the highway from the police station.
Mayor Joyce Jones said she was told the two parcels near the bluegrass grounds are 17 acres each, and she has heard rumors of even bigger deals nearby.
Jones and her predecessor, Leila Dempsey, attended a recent tribal council meeting to learn more about the purchases. "We wanted to see what effect their land would have, since it’s neighboring Darrington," Jones said.
Joseph said it’s too early to tell. "We haven’t really identified any plans for the recent purchases," he said.
The tribe’s priorities are economic development and housing, not necessarily in that order, he said.
Unlike the Stillaguamish Tribe in Arlington, Joseph said the Sauk-Suiattle do not plan to build a casino on the land, which he said is too isolated to make such a business profitable.
"I can’t say no, but then if it is something we were considering, it’d be the last thing on the list," Joseph said. "We’d rather do other things. It’s getting to the point of a dying market with casinos."
Some of the tribe’s purchases are near where NASCAR racetrack officials expressed interest in looking at land in 2003, but Joseph said the timing was an unfortunate coincidence that only fueled gossip. His tribe has never had an interest in a racetrack, he said.
The racing representatives canceled a visit to Darrington last summer, and Snohomish County officials who are still pursuing the track have directed their focus on the Marysville and Monroe areas.
Joseph said much of the land recently purchased is nondevelopable anyway. "It’s got power lines and wetlands. It’ll probably stay in its natural habitat," he said.
The 200-member tribe, which has a 20-home village several miles north of Darrington in Skagit County, currently lists a total land base of about 200 acres. That includes 50 acres acquired in the past few years around Caskey Lake in Skagit County, the 25-acre village at Bennettville and the 5 acres at the police station, Joseph said.
A search on the Snohomish County Web site so far shows only the two 17-acre parcels and the 5-acre police station property.
Joseph said the tribe’s plans are vague right now because council members have to decide whether to first build more housing or pursue economic development. Once the tribe begins focusing on economic development, Joseph said it might consider developing recreational opportunities on its land.
"We’ll probably design it like a parklike setting for RVs or trails, tying in with the Centennial Trail for hiking and biking," he said.
That sounds good to Richard Anderson, owner of Sauk River Trading Post, an outdoors store that sells hunting, fishing, camping and hiking equipment. He is worried about what the enormous flood damage from last October on Forest Service lands is going to mean for his business.
"So many campgrounds and roads have been destroyed and washed out, so anything to do with recreation will help us," he said.
Anderson worked with the tribe after it bought the land at Caskey Lake and was encouraged by tribal plans to build a fishing lodge at the lake, which he thought would complement his business.
On the other hand, he and other business owners don’t want to see the tribe go into competition with them.
"I don’t really want to see competitive businesses, because there’s not enough business to support us as it is," Anderson said.
Laurence Larsen, owner of Darrington Hardware and Supply, said he was concerned that the tribe might gain federal trust status for its land, giving it a competitive advantage on how sales taxes are collected.
"My concern as a business person would be that the tribe has the same footing taxwise as the rest of us," Larsen said. "I’m not jumping to conclusions about what they have planned. It may be positive. It’s hard to say what their intent is."
Jones said tribal leaders will keep town leaders informed as their plans develop. The tribe reciprocated Jones’ visit to the tribal council by sending a representative to Wednesday’s Town Council meeting.
The mayor said she was impressed at the tribe’s meeting by the variety of professionals they had helping them. She said the plans did appear to be very preliminary.
The relationship between the town and the tribe has not always been a good one, Anderson said.
"The key thing is, I hope the town and the Indians work together," he said. "Sometimes it seems to be going that way. Then they seem to work away from each other."
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com.
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