Finding Blanchard logging balance

Blanchard Mountain is a sentinel in the northwest corner of our county. One can walk its trails through forests, by mountain lakes, to towering views unparalleled west of the Cascades. One can even drive up Blanchard Mountain to what is arguably the most awe-inspiring water view in the state.

In 2001, a group of Republican representatives studied the social, ecological and financial values of Blanchard Mountain. This study was paid for equally by the Legislature and by the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance and Sierra Club. Fifty-eight percent of Skagit County residents surveyed opposed logging on Blanchard Mountain even if it means less revenue, and 25 percent think things are fine as they are.

Through the state's trust lands transference program an opportunity exists to protect the most scenic parts of Blanchard Mountain, by substituting more productive, less scenic timberlands to produce revenue. Selective logging below the current roads on the mountain's south and west faces would deter erosion into salmon streams and protect our view of the mountain, while allowing the more timber abundant lower north and east slopes to remain in the timber rotation.

Any revenue loss under such a plan would be negligible for the Burlington-Edison School District. Revenue produced from Blanchard Mountain goes to Department of Natural Resources, the state, the Burlington-Edison School District and the county. It is divided like property tax, except the schools do not get as much and what they get toward maintenance and operation from logging is later subtracted dollar for dollar from what they get from the state.

Corwin Fergus, Bow

Letters to the Editor - Skagit Valley Herald