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Contention rises over early plans for flagship park
NEWPORT — Pend Oreille County officials have big hopes for Wolfred County Park.
Located northwest of Newport between the Pend Oreille River and Highway 20, Wolfred County Park was acquired from the state in 2022. Since then, Pend Oreille County Parks and Recreation has been working to develop the 167-acre property into a flagship park, the third behind Pend Oreille County Park and the Sweet Creek Rest Area.
Wolfred County Park has no amenities and little infrastructure. But a feasibility study commissioned by the Port of Pend Oreille in 2024 determined that the property could one day house a community forest, campground, recreational vehicle park, trails, sports fields, boat launches, special event venue and parking lots — features that could turn Wolfred County Park into a regional destination for sports and outdoor recreation.
However, recent advancements have been met with opposition from a special interest group of about a dozen residents who live near Wolfred County Park. These residents are advocating for county officials to delay further action until their concerns about the project are addressed — concerns that they feel have largely been ignored.
“It seems as though the people who live adjacent to the property are going to be impacted the most,” resident Gary Gillette said. “And so our voices should have merit, should be weighted.”
The property deed states that, upon acquisition of Wolfred County Park, the county must “continuously use and maintain the property for public outdoor recreation, natural resource conservation, and historical and cultural resource preservation purposes.”
Gary Gillette, his wife Lisa Gillette and many of their neighbors contend that parts of the project breach the second covenant of that statement, natural resource conservation, by harming the surrounding environment.
A breach of any of the covenants may result in ownership of Wolfred County Park reverting back to the state, the Gillettes said. Moreover, the state may demand for the property to be returned to its natural condition and that any improvements to it be removed or restored, all at the county’s expense.
“It feels like the taxpayers of Pend Oreille County will be the ones paying the price for some of the commissioners’ carelessness,” Gary Gillette said.
During their Tuesday, July 28 meeting, the Board of County Commissioners approved the Wolfred County Park Forest Management Plan 2-1, with Commissioners Brian Smiley and John Gentle in favor and Commissioner Robert Rosencrantz opposed, following weeks of conten-
‘It feels like the taxpayers of Pend Oreille County will be the ones paying the price for some of the commissioners’ carelessness.’
Gary Gillette Resident tion between commissioners regarding the Gillettes and their neighbors.
The FMP was prepared by Shane Hoover of JD Forest Management, a county consultant based in Priest River, with assistance from Parks director Mike Kirkwood and Smiley himself. According to Kirkwood, the FMP is intended to secure Wolfred County Park’s health, safety, attractiveness and sustainability while supporting recreational use of the overall property, where limited management has occurred over the last 30 years.
Before any management can occur, a Forest Practices Application from the state Department of Natural Resources must be approved, after co-review by the DNR and state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“The board adopts those forestry management plans based on the goals that they’ve set for the consultant in the way of what happens on our timber properties and our park properties,” Kirkwood said. “That’s just a plan — a road map.”
The recommended management approach outlined in the FMP involves selective harvesting, thinning, fuels reduction, reforestation and other treatments designed to address overcrowded and declining forest conditions at Wolfred County Park. Priorities include protecting mature, large-diameter trees and maintaining wildlife habitats, all while mitigating fire risk at and around the property — a concern of all stakeholders given the ongoing fire season and recent wildfires in Spokane and other counties.
Kirkwood emphasizes that timber production is not the main focus of the FMP. Rather, forestry work will serve as a management tool for improving long-term forest health, reducing wildfire hazards and maintaining an accessible public site for recreation at Wolfred County Park.
“That’s not a revenue-generating parcel for us. … The amount that we get from this harvest is going to be put right back into the forest,” Kirkwood said. “We’re not going to do the logging to generate revenue to fund Parks and Rec.”
JD Forest Management finalized and delivered the FMP to the county in April, Rosencrantz said, more than three months before it was approved by commissioners. Yet despite repeated requests from the Gillettes, their neighbors and even Rosencrantz, Gentle and Smiley refused to allow early access to the FMP, with only Smiley relenting about two weeks ahead of their July 28 meeting. Gentle and Smiley also refused repeated requests for a public forum, where the special interest group could discuss their concerns about Wolfred County Park with county officials.
As Gentle points out, the public was never allowed early access to an FMP until Wolfred County Park, and the county is not required to hear public comment on FMPs before voting on them. Furthermore, Gentle said the special interest group’s concerns focused more on developments that were beyond the FMP’s scope, rather than the FMP itself.
“All of their comments were geared towards that, talking about RV parking and paving over and all of these sorts of things,” Gentle said. “So, I think probably against our better judgment, we still allowed a couple of weeks for comments from anyone.” Members of the special interest group were allowed to participate in public comment during meetings, limited to just three minutes each, as well as submit written comments to JD Forest Management in exchange for written responses.
Before the FMP’s completion, Smiley and Kirkwood sought input from and provided updates to adjacent landowners, incorporating early feedback from several into the document’s goals and objectives. Smiley wrote in an email that the FMP was created by experts to achieve a balanced set of priorities — per landowner feedback, improved forest health and reduced wildland fire danger — but was not meant to represent public opinion.
Even so, Rosencrantz said the public deserved the right to have their opinions heard. While Rosencrantz does not object to the FMP, he does object to Gentle and Smiley’s refusal to engage the public. Delaying the vote to allow at least one public workshop would not delay the start of the management work, posing no risk to stakeholders. The Gillettes said communications would not have taken longer than two or three months.
Instead, Gentle said he was prepared for the county to partake in litigation over the FMP, as it had with Responsible Growth NE Washington over the Comprehensive Plan.
“This is not transparent democracy,” Rosencrantz said. He attends regular meetings held by the Gillettes and their neighbors, as an elected representative. An endorsement from the Gillettes was printed on his campaign mailer. “This is force-feeding neighbors something that they have a full right to participate in, and simply, I find that unacceptable.”
For reasons related to Wolfred County Park, Gentle and Smiley also voted against appointing Lisa Gillette to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, leaving Rosencrantz the only commissioner voting in her favor. There was still an opening as of the Parks Board’s Wednesday, Aug. 19 meeting.
Rosencrantz commends Lisa Gillette’s character and eagerness to become involved in the Parks Board, noting her proximity to Wolfred County Park. However, given her stance on the property, Gentle doubts her ability to prioritize the county over her own family and neighborhood — a concern shared by Smiley, who feels she has a narrow focus and agenda. Additionally, Gentle said he takes issue with “nasty” accusations the Gillettes have levied against Kirkwood and the Parks Board about government transparency.
“They voted not to, and that’s all fine and good,” Lisa Gillette said. “But one of the things I said is, at the beginning of every time, the first thing that any property owner looks at is the deed.”
The Gillettes maintain that the special interest group supports fire mitigation at Wolfred County Park, but that it must be implemented without breaching the property deed covenants. To that end, the county was even granted temporary access to Wolfred County Park, Gary Gillette said.
What the special interest group does not support is the development of an RV park, roads, sports fields and other features identified in the feasibility study. Developing these features will breach the property deed covenants, Gary Gillette said, as well as heighten fire risk by attracting tourists to the property during the fire season.
Lisa Gillette went on to write in an email that the county was using the FMP as a “guise” to move forward with the preferred concept for Wolfred County Park.
“I think there’s just too much possible misuse of the Forest Management Plan that could look too much like a timber sale, and too much clearing,” Gary Gillette said.
JD Forest Management wrote that the special interest group’s approach to management relies on an unscientific “do-nothing fallacy,” reducing biological diversity, ignoring fire risks at the southern section of Wolfred County Park, among other dangers associated with leaving the property mostly untouched. Also, clear-cutting was not proposed or authorized under the FMP.
Lisa Gillette was asked if JD Forest Management’s written responses adequately addressed her and her husband’s concerns about Wolfred County Park, and if either of them had a background in forestry or ecology. In response, she wrote in an email to The Miner that, “No one has to be a forester, scientist, or lawyer to understand deeds and deed restrictions,” calling the questions a diversion from their main point: the county is breaching the property deed covenants.
“Nobody is saying it has to be, ‘No, don’t do anything,’” Gary Gillette said. “‘Cause obviously doing nothing is not wise.”
According to Port executive director Kelly Driver, the feasibility study only examined the viability or sustainability of the Wolfred County Park project, identifying potential risks, challenges and opportunities. As such, the feasibility study is not an approved plan, though Kirkwood said the preferred concept within the feasibility study will serve as a starting point for discussion and planning with a consultant.
Various environmental and other processes were identified in the feasibility study as next steps for the county, including wetland and floodplain delineation studies, a State Environmental Policy Act shoreline permitting review, an archeology and cultural resource study, a topographic survey, a geotechnical engineering investigation and permitting for an RV park, site evaluation and clearing and grading. It was recommended that the county allocate appropriate time to “verify appropriateness, area required, and quantity of amenities.”
“With the timeline we were provided by Commerce, there was not time to get into permitting requirements or environmental issues,” Driver wrote in an email.
The state Department of Commerce awarded the Port a $75,000 grant for feasibility studies in mid-March 2024, giving Port staff only a few hours to organize three projects and three months to spend all $75,000.
Commerce took about one month to send a contract to the Port, Driver wrote. Then, the Port was required to send and receive proposals by mid-May, interview and hire a firm and make site visits, while giving the firm time to complete the feasibility study before holding a public open house. Advertising for the public open house began early June, only one week before the event itself, where attendees selected the preferred concept for Wolfred County Park that was later accepted by the Parks Board.
Driver acknowledges complaints that there was either no notice or not enough notice of the public open house. The Port managed within Commerce’s timeline, Driver wrote, meeting all advertising requirements. Still, it resulted in the special interest group’s absence.
“That’s how this whole thing started,” Lisa Gillette said. “No one knew about it. None of us were informed that was even happening.” Except, Gary Gillette adds, for Driver’s daughter, who is one of his and his wife’s neighbors.
In addition to bordering the Pend Oreille River, Highway 20 and privately owned properties, Wolfred County Park is bisected by a Pend Oreille Valley Railroad line. That means Wolfred County Park did not have any legal access points until recently, when the county worked with some landowners to secure land access to the northern section, Kirkwood said. The county applied for a grant to fund a road leading to Wolfred County Park from Highway 20.
The county applied for another grant to fund planning. If the county obtains this grant, planning efforts will involve public outreach, oversight from the Board of County Commissioners and collaboration with the Parks Board, Kirkwood said. Any plan created should identify all necessary studies, reports and milestones associated with the development process; the DNR and WDFW are just a couple of the agencies that oversee or are involved in those requirements.
For now, Kirkwood’s goal is to achieve access to both sections of Wolfred County Park in the next five years, before the end of his tenure.
“The property has just sat there and sat there and sat there, and nobody’s done anything with it, not even any forestry work or anything,” Kirkwood said. “I’d like to see it operational, but honestly, I don’t know if in my lifetime it will be.”
‘All of their comments were geared towards that, talking about RV parking and paving over and all of these sorts of things. So, I think probably against our better judgment, we still allowed a couple of weeks for comments from anyone.’
John Gentle
Pend Oreille County Commissioner
