DARRINGTON — Four property owners along the Sauk River south of town may benefit from the first use of a state law designed to help people in danger of losing their land to river erosion.
This week the Snohomish County Council determined that the property owners have a right to shore up their land against erosion that washed away as much as 50 feet of their riverfront over the last six years.
It’s a test case of sorts, said County Councilman Brian Sullivan, who helped write the legislation when he was a state representative.
Under the relatively new law, the state gives the county authority to determine if a chronic danger exists for property that has experienced consecutive years of high water and erosion.
State Department of Fish and Wildlife officials, charged with protecting fish habitat in the river, ultimately must issue the permit that allows the property owners to reinforce the riverbank. The law aims to hasten the permit process.
“We’re waiting now to see how well this works,” Sullivan said. “The law was written because we need to find a balance between environmental issues and the needs of people.”
The action by the council this week gives Arlington resident Lori Kratzer some hope.
Kratzer is the president of a nonprofit group called the River Resource Trust, which represents her aunt and uncle and the three other property owners along the Sauk. The trust was formed about five years ago when the property owners first applied to Fish and Wildlife for a permit to protect the eroding river bank.
The fight to save the property has been a long and emotional process, Kratzer said.
Her father, Harold Haga, grew up in Darrington. After he left to follow his construction career, Haga missed the mountains.
In the early 1970s, Haga and his sister Jean Quall and their families purchased property along the Sauk River off Clear Creek Road. They cleared the land just enough to camp there and enjoy family gatherings. Later they and their neighbors built cabins and homes.
“It was his little piece of heaven,” Kratzer said. “When we drove up to Darrington, my dad would always say, ‘We’re goin’ up to the Big Time.’ He loved it so much.”
Haga was only 57 when he died at his place along the river in 1993.
“This is a battle my dad would have fought,” Kratzer said.
Without money to hire a lawyer or a consulting wildlife biologist, Kratzer’s group has struggled for many years to understand and satisfy the rules and regulations enforced by Fish and Wildlife.
In the meantime, the erosion has continued.
“A lot of homes are already gone,” Kratzer said. “People gave up the fight.”
Pointing to a rock in the middle of the fast-flowing and cold Sauk, Joe Quall, Kratzer’s uncle, explained that the boulder was once up against the lawn where his family had their picnic table. The table washed down river with the erosion.
“I have pictures of my kids playing on that rock,” he said. “You couldn’t go out there now.”
Even if they get a permit, the Qualls and others will still be on the hook for relieving the potential harm that might occur when they block the river’s access to their property.
“We must protect the public resource, and they need to submit a mitigation plan,” Fish and Wildlife’s regional habitat program manager David Brock said. “We have worked with them over the years to find opportunities that would enhance or restore fish habitat.”
The problem with finding a way to make up for the proposed riverbank project is that Fish and Wildlife officials can’t seem to tell the property owners how much work or money would be required to accomplish the mitigation, Kratzer said.
“The property owners feel they have already donated a big chunk of their property to the river,” she said. “They just want to protect what’s left.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427, gfiege@heraldnet.com.
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