The top of Blanchard Mountain offers a full view of the Puget Sound and San Juan Islands. Many hikers ascend the mountain for its stunning views. — Photo by Andrea Farrell

The Department of Natural Resources will hold public hearings later this spring to decide if the 1,600-acre area should be designated as a natural resources conservation area, meaning the state would stop logging the top third of the mountain.

Blanchard Mountain is a recreation area with views of the San Juan Islands and Mount Baker, bat caves, fishing at Lily and Lizard Lake, horseback riding trails and slopes ideal for hang-gliding.

The mountain is currently designated as a state trust land, which means it acts as a natural farm where trees are grown, harvested and sold as timber. Money from these sales funds Skagit County hospitals, schools and other county expenditures. Yearly profits from the timber harvest are usually between $1.6 and $3.1 million. Tax revenues from the harvest, which go straight into the county budget, range from $68,000 to $138,000.

But even though it is officially a place to grow trees, Blanchard Mountain has become much more to locals, said the department's Regional Manager Bill Wallace.

The Commissioner of Public Lands, Peter Goldmark, announced last month that he wants to make 1,600 acres of the mountain, or one-third of the 4,800 acres of the mountain owned by the state, into a conservation area.

The Chuckanut Conservancy, formed in 2000 to combat sprawl and protect the Chuckanut Range, wrote in a press release that the proposed conservation area is too small.

The group sued the department in 2008 to force it to protect a larger area of Blanchard. Chuckanut Conservancy won, but the department appealed to the state court of appeals, where the case currently awaits a decision. Until one is reached, the department will hold off on logging the mountain, Wallace said.

Max Wilbert, excursion coordinator for Western's Outdoor Center, said that he agrees with Chuckanut Conservancy on the issue.

“There are only a few patches of old-growth forest," Wilbert said. "And the area is already thoroughly disturbed.”

Wilbert said the appeal of Blanchard lies in the recreation opportunities there, including climbing and hiking.

“Blanchard is unique in that it is the only place in the Cascade Range where the mountains come down to the ocean,” Wilbert said.

A 2002 study by the department and the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance revealed public opinion about protecting Blanchard.  Most people in Whatcom and Skagit Counties placed the highest value on protecting the environment of Blanchard for recreation and animal habitat.

But according to the study, ceasing to harvest working forests on Blanchard will mean an economic loss for Skagit County, where the sale of timber and the jobs created by logging greatly outweigh the money brought in by tourism, which the department estimates is between $300,000 and $500,000 annually, with $49,000 to $83,000 of that amount being collected in tax revenue.

The Blanchard Forest Strategies group, comprised of individuals and groups representing both of these interests, was formed to try to find a compromise. The 1,600-acre proposal came directly from their recommendations.

Chuckanut Conservancy, which was excluded from the strategies group, said on their Web site that 2,800 acres of protection is their new goal for Blanchard Mountain. They said logging roads and partial cuts will virtually destroy the coastal forest.

Wallace said even when they log an area like Blanchard, the department tries to harvest conscientiously, maintaining trails for recreation and respecting the habitats that the forest contains.

“We are trying to find a balance of recreation, conservation and working forests for making money,” Wallace said. “But it is important to understand that these values are not mutually exclusive.”

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