By Kate Reardon
Herald Writer
HAT ISLAND — A state agency that recently ordered a property owner here to stop logging on his land claims the man may have endangered eagles and that he didn’t have permission required by state law to do the work.
"We received complaints about the logging activities occurring on the island," said Sherri Felix, with the forest practice division of the state Department of Natural Resources.
"That notice was written in order to stop the operation that was going on out there because of the eagle nests and eagle roost trees being affected."
Property owner Matt Surowiecki said he hasn’t disrupted any eagles. But he has stopped work and is trying to learn more about the situation from DNR, he said.
"It’s absolutely not true that I’ve disturbed eagles’ nests," the 55-year-old said, adding that he had been cutting down alder trees — not Douglas fir, cedar or maple — to make his 25 acres of property more valuable.
Hat Island, also known as Gedney Island, is a few miles off Everett and can only be reached by boat. There are about 200 homes and a golf course there.
DNR looked into the issue after some Hat Island residents complained that Surowiecki had cut down trees on his property and on property owned by others.
Surowiecki, who lives in Issaquah and has two cabins on the island, said there’s another side to the story.
"Some of the folks have a grudge against me because they think I’m going to turn Hat Island into a Coney Island," he said. "I don’t want to change it. It’s a paradise, but we can share it with some other people, too."
He said he would rather not build, but clear the alders, plant ground cover and offer the lots for sale in five or so years.
"What those folks are trying to do is make me look like a bad guy, like a mad logger here," he said. "They did the same to their property and cleared their lots. I didn’t holler at them."
Surowiecki owns 120 of the island’s 800 lots. He said he has cut down about 150 alder trees, some of which were dead, bent or falling over.
He did say his crew did make a mistake and cut some trees on two lots owned by others. For that, he said he has tried to make mends with those property owners by apologizing and offering to replant the trees or even buy the property.
Surowiecki owns a steel fabrication business that manufactures steel planks used instead of wood to build structures.
To proceed further, DNR’s Felix said Surowiecki would have to submit a forest practices application to seek permission to cut down more trees.
"That allows a review and comment period by folks who are authorized to protect public resources," Felix said.
Copies of the applications would go out for review to state agencies, including the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Department Ecology, local Indian tribes and the Washington Environmental Council.
Felix said the Hat Island situation is a case of a landowner cutting down trees without an approved application, rather than someone in the application process who jumped the gun.
"We expect he will submit an application to the regional office," she said.
You can call Herald Writer Kate Reardon at 425-339-3455
or send e-mail to reardon@heraldnet.com.
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