BONNEY LAKE – A corridor of 2,500 acres along the White River has been home to elk, deer, cougars, bears, bald eagles and great blue herons – but no humans – for the past 93 years. And the people who live nearby would like to keep it that way.
Citizens are urging government officials to protect the wildlife refuge before private developers get their hands on it.
Puget Sound Energy owns the land between Buckley and Auburn on the White River, which includes Lake Tapps, and has talked of selling it to the Cascade Water Alliance, a group of King County water utilities that want to use the lake for drinking water.
If the deal goes through, about 500 acres would be used for wildlife habitat as part of the deal. Puget Sound Energy has managed the land exclusively for wildlife habitat since 1990.
State Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, held a public meeting in this town west of the property to hear what local citizens think of the plan.
“Acquiring the land is the first and most important thing you will do,” said Bart Madison of the Tacoma chapter of Trout Unlimited. “If you don’t, somebody else will buy it.”
Roach said she wants to know what the public thinks before looking at specific uses. State, federal and private funding could be tapped to buy it, officials said.
Buckley Mayor John Blanusa said the property was last logged in the 1950s and 1960s.
Gerald Schmitz, who lives near the corridor, said the land should be preserved as a wildlife refuge, with limited hunting and fishing. The forested corridor allows wildlife to move between lower elevations in the Puget Sound region and the Cascade Mountains all the way to Mount Rainier, he said.
“You make it a park and you’ll drive the animals out,” Schmitz said.
Justin Shumway of the Enumclaw area said the unimproved nature of the property, so close to urban areas, “is its greatest asset. I’m a longtime user. I’d hate to see paved trails overrunning it.”
Puget Sound Energy spokesman Roger Thompson said parties other than the water consortium have expressed interest in buying the land, but he didn’t provide specifics. Roach estimated the value of the land at between $25 million and $35 million.
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