I am writing in response to the Nov. 15 letter, “Property owners should decide use,” regarding protection of Hooven bog. The writers stated that 1) the owner should be allowed to do whatever they want regardless of “excessive land regulations,” and 2) if the “activists” want the land protected they, or some other entity, should buy the land.
All wetlands are not of the same rarity, quality and sensitivity as Hooven bog — a very rare sphagnum bog with an intact mature forested buffer. Having worked with Dr. Cooke for two decades, I support her assessment of this wetland. (Nov. 11, “Rare wetlands needs protection.”) She has completed wetland inventories for Snohomish and King counties and has studied hundreds of wetlands in her 30-year career. My work with her in King County found no bogs of the same caliber as Hooven bog; one of only a handful of bogs with the intact buffer necessary to protect this fragile habitat.
The reality is that irreplaceable bogs such as this one should not be impacted under any circumstances. This is not simply a matter of what some like to call “property rights” where each owner gets to do whatever they wish on their land; often with no regard for the consequences to adjacent landowners or the environment. This is a matter of not losing an irreplaceable bog that took hundreds of years to develop naturally. Protecting Hooven bog and its buffer is not a property rights issue. It is an issue of doing what is right for the people of Snohomish County and the environment.
Diane Brewster
Professional Wetland Scientist No. 1721
Touchstone EcoServices
Shoreline
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