Other Local Conservation Issues:

  Current:

  Past:

Current local conservation issues:

One of Washington’s Important Bird Areas is in danger!

The Trillium Corporation has moved ahead with its plans to build new condominiums on the Semiahmoo Spit and, other developers have followed suit. There are numerous reasons why these projects should have been stopped, as we attempted.

The Blaine-Birch Bay Birding Committee has been working diligently to promote the area as a birdwatching destination. The focus of the efforts of the committee is to bolster the economy of this part of Washington by ensuring the health of existing bird populations. Any disruption of this essential habitat is certain to have deleterious effects on the birds that utilize this area, primarily in winter and in migration. The future of these bird populations is at serious risk if this unnecessary development is allowed.

The Drayton Harbor/Semiahmoo Bay area is one of the premier locations for birds in Washington and, as such, is listed as one of 53 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in the state. The IBA program is an international effort to identify and protect areas that are essential to healthy bird populations.

Construction of the marina at Semiahmoo destroyed a large portion of the gravel and eelgrass beds that were important to the Brant which historically used this area as a stopover on their way to the northern breeding grounds each spring. The numbers of Brant using the area declined significantly after the construction. Additional development of the spit will further degrade the spit to the point where it is even less attractive to birds, as well as to humans.

Two additional development applications which would affect the IBA are pending with the City of Blaine - we still have a chance to modify these. One is a 189 slip marina expansion, and the other would allow 325 residential units and 21,500 of commercial space. the City of Blaine has given these applications a Determination of Significance, and an EIS will be required - stay tuned for details.

The Semiahmoo Spit is a remarkable natural sand spit that has seen all the development it can handle. See the information below on the Trillium - Alden Reach proposal for a map of other Trillium properties in this area.

Large Developments of Note:

Governor's Point: This has been an on-again/off-again development proposal for years - this property is in the same ownership as that above the Post Point heronry. Recently (May 2008), the current incarnation was unveiled. The current proposal would place 142 very high end residential lots in a gated community on the approximately 130 acres of the point (see link to map below). This area had been inappropriately zoned as Rural Residential (RR3) by past county governments - a designation that has been recently called into question, in part by a challenge by Futurewise to Whatcom County's Comprehensive plan. More information regarding this development will be coming in the future.
• Map showing area of Governors Point proposal.

Balfour Village:This development would place 667 single family dwelling units, and 100 condo units on 272 acres near Kendall. The development was issued a MDNS on 12/27/2006 - which would have allowed it to proceed without an EIS. The MDNS was rescinded on 1/12/2007, but we won't be surprised if it is reissued later (however, see below). While we don't argue that some development is likely to occur here due to its' comprehensive plan designation, we feel an EIS should be mandatory for a project of this size and scope, and hope Whatcom County will eventually require one.
Update February 2008 - advancement of this proposal likely rides with the fate of the Foothills Community Plan, which is currently undergoing an EIS process.
Update July 2008 - the applicant has withdrawn the planned unit development portion of their proposal, but several hundred (289) housing units are still planned. We await a viewing of this proposal..... A revised SEPA determination was never issued on the original proposal.
Update January - March 2009 - the Foothills subarea plan was sent to the Planning Commission with a recommendation that the foothills UGA areas be retained. These areas should become limited areas of more intense rural development (LAMIRDs) instead. However, in late January, the Planning Commission voted 5-2 against the recommendation to retain the current urban growth areas - they voted in favor of the LAMIRD concept. Unfortunately, on March 17, 2009 our county council voted 4-3 to retain the UGA designation; this is a sad ending to a potential to end sprawl in our Mt Baker foothills.

April 2009 - The developer for the Balfour Village project is now Tin Rock Development, but the project remains at 289 homes currently. The developer submitted a revised application that we feel MUST go through an EIS process that considers ALL potential development proposed for this site in the future (not just this application). Will these swans on Sprague Lake have a place of refuge when this becomes an urban area? (photo courtesy of Susan Sloan)

May 2009 - Whatcom County PDS issued Tin Rock a letter stating their intent to issue a determination of significance (DS) and require an EIS for the project - hooray!

Trillium - Galbraith. This proposal to turn 2400 acres on the North side of Lookout Mountain into a UGA has been around for several years (it was not included in the Comprehensive Plan docket for 2006, but has been resubmitted in 2007), and the proponent likes to say that it will "round out Bellingham's UGA". In actual fact, this represents more of a cancerous tentacle of urban growth than a rounding out, in that it will force urban densities into both the Lake Whatcom and Lake Samish watersheds, and the area that bridges them - in fact, this proposed UGA borders on land acquired by the City of Bellingham for Lake Whatcom watershed protection. Almost all of the area is currently designated for commercial forestry (CF), and the applicant has no reason to expect that it will be rezoned.
Note that, contrary to the applicants description of the proposal, there are over 500 acres in this area not owned by the applicant. Further, over 1000 acres of the area were obtained in a trade with Bloedel Timberlands for forest land at the South end of Lake Whatcom in late 2001 and early 2002. Therefore, a very small part of this land has been held over the long term by Trillium. Makes one wonder - did Trillium ever have any intention of managing this area as a working forest?
While Balfour Village (discussed above) is proposed for an area already designated to take on development, this is proposed for an area designated for forestry, with significant wildlife habitat, and one that acts as a wildlife corridor to Whatcom Falls park and Scudder Pond. Note that the wildlife habitat rating for this area in the City of Bellingham Wildlife Habitat Assessment (Eissinger, 2003) is "excellent".
This is exactly the type of proposal that must be stopped at its' current stage - before it gains too much momentum.
• Map showing area of Trillium Galbraith proposal.

• Parcel Map Showing Ownership of Galbraith proposal and surrounding area.

Vineyard - Squalicum Mt. In 2007 a development was proposed for the top of Squalicum Mountain that would place approximately 70 homes in a cluster subdivision occupying a portion of approximately 700 acres of forest land (see parcel map referenced above for relative location) - much of which is inside the Lake Whatcom watershed. The developers preliminary plans ran into a subdivision moratorium that has been in place in the Lake Whatcom watershed for several years that prevents lots of less than 5 acres from being created - thus clustering is not possible. Undaunted, they proceeded with division of the property into 20 acre parcels, which is allowed under the current Rural Forestry zoning. In order to service these parcels by road, they proposed a 2 mile access road, the construction of which would involve the clearing of approximately 11 acres of land, for the most part in the Lake Whatcom watershed. An initial SEPA Mitigated DNS determination - which was actually nothing more than a straight DNS - by Whatcom County PDS was withdrawn on January 30, 2009 after significant protests by the City of Bellingham, the Squalicum Valley Association, and others. We await further action on this proposal, which we certainly hope will not come to pass.

Trillium - Alden Reach. A 2007 comprehensive plan amendment submitted by Trillium asked that this area of Point Whitehorn have its comp plan designation changed from heavy industrial to residential UGA (857 acres) and light industrial (177 acres). If built out to UGA density of 4 units/acre, this would place over 3400 homes near a sensitive shoreline, and in an area with limited transportation and utility infrastructure. In 2004, a number of groups were successful in removing the Point Whitehorn area from Birch Bay's UGA (see below), and the same reasons for denying urban levels of density apply here.
The development of over 1,000 acres near Point Whitehorn is a very concerning prospect that cannot we cannot support.
• Map showing area of Trillium Alden Reach proposal.

• Parcel Map of Alden Reach proposal and surrounding area.


** These two proposals were unanimously voted down in the Planning and Development Committee on 3/13/2007 - Whew! Thank you council members.
The Alden Reach area was sold by Trillium to BP in the Winter of 2008, so its land use is likely to remain industrial.

Blanchard Mountain:

The Blanchard Mountain ecosystem is currently threatened by the adoption of the "Blanchard Strategies Group" (BSG) agreement. This agreement would provide some marginal protection to a small core area in exchange for allowance of significant timber harvest on the remainder of the 4800 acre area. Fortunately, on BSG agreement DNS was overturned (July 10, 2008, King County Superior Court). An EIS should now be required, however on May 25, 2010 this ruling was overturned by the Washington State Court of Appeals (on appeal by the DNR and timber industry allies); so we are back to square one. We are still hoping Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark will reconsider the path his predecessor took with regard to Blanchard Mountain and work to place more of this land in protected status.
On February 24, 2010, Commissioner Goldmark announced a proposal to make 1600 acres of Blanchard Mountain core area into a NRCA - this is a slight change from what was proposed in the BSG agreement, and may have different boundaries. More information TBA.
Information regarding the BSG agreement:

• Here is a map showing the BSG core area.
• Here is a map showing the area proposed for preservation in 1999.

Past local conservation issues:

Post Point Heron Colony

The Bellingham City Council in 2003 considered the “Post Point Heron Colony Management Plan 2003” which lays out conservation and management guidelines to sustain and perpetuate Bellingham’s only heron colony.

To review the entire Post Point Heron Colony Management Plan, download some or all of the files below (note that some of the files are VERY large, you might only want to look at the summary, which is fairly small, along with the aerial view of the proposed heron reserve):