By Jacob Moore / jacob@chronline.com
A recent petition from a Lewis County landowner asked the county to vacate a small access road and easement passing through private property.
The county resident warned it could cut the public off from a stand of state-owned forestland.
The Lewis County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted against a resolution Tuesday that would have directed county staff to examine the land to be vacated and report back to the board with a recommendation.
The length of road being considered is an access easement passing through privately-owned land leading to thousands of acres of state-owned land.
During three minutes of public comment, resident Eric Diesch detailed years of trying to access publicly-owned land and concerns that vacating the right-of-way near the end of Mattson Road would make the lands inaccessible. Mattson Road is located off of Lincoln Creek Road near Galvin.
“I did an over 7-mile loop trying to find access from Mattson to get in … I couldn’t find it,” Diesch said. “There’s miles and miles of road back there that the only way that you can get in is through that gate.”
On top of his concerns about the trust lands, Diesch detailed years of hostile encounters with private landowners seemingly preventing access to public lands, including many with the landowner who is requesting the county to vacate the road. He added that he continued accessing the land after confirming with county staff that it was publicly accessible using the county right-of-way.
“If this right-of-way or this easement goes away, we’re effectively creating a private game reserve for one person,” Diesch said. “That’s not what this land was created for, and I would respectfully ask that when you guys are considering this.”
In the petition to vacate the land, the private landowner cited a section of state law, RCW 36.87.090, which states that right-of-way that is not open to public use for five years or more should then be vacated. The petition did not include any other reasoning for the vacation of the road.
Lewis County Public Works staff, including Director Geoff Soderquist and County Engineer Wes Anderson added that the petition to vacate the right-of-way was only signed by a single landowner and would render other rights-of-way and access roads inaccessible. The other landowners served by the access road are all government entities, including the Washington state Department of Natural Resources and many state trusts.
Lewis County Commissioner Scott Brummer added that he believes it to be a well used access road for the Washington state Department of Natural Resources. According to a 2016 state trust lands map and the Lewis County Parcels website, the road offers access to thousands of acres of forest land owned by various state agencies, state trusts and, in some cases, private timber companies such as Port Blakely and Weyerhaeuser.
State trust lands in Washington state are working timber lands owned by state trusts with the revenue dedicated to all levels of public education and other public institutions.
For recent reporting about the state of trust lands benefiting Lewis County, visit https://tinyurl.com/53brk2zv.
The prompt decision from the Lewis County Board of Commissioners is notable for two reasons. For starters, vacating of rights-of-way for the county is common and, at times, even frequent, with the county giving up slivers of undeveloped or used land often associated with old projects. This time, however, the motion to even consider the move further was shut down.
Secondly, the concern is reminiscent of other accessibility issues, albeit on a much smaller scale. In March of this year, The Daily News reported that a German investment group with connections to a noble family had bought up large swathes of forest land in Wahkiakum County, cutting off access to lands previously used by locals for hunting.
For a look at the reporting from The Daily News, visit https://tinyurl.com/yze6mnzc.