‘We’re losing our agricultural community’: Fourth-generation eastern WA family ranch faces $3.7 million battle with state

A fourth-generation eastern Washington family ranch is fighting with the Washington State Department of Ecology to retain grazing rights for their cattle on what is now being labeled as a protected wetland.

The state is claiming King Ranch in Coulee City, about an hour and a half east of Leavenworth, is letting its cattle drink water from what the state considers a protected wetland, but the King family’s attorney, Toni Meacham, explained the water the animals are drinking from is legally man-made.

“Under 90.44.050, the ranchers, landowners, and lessees have the right to dig and maintain stock ponds,” Meacham told “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “So the King’s ranch that we’re talking about doesn’t have these natural water bodies like people are assuming, and they’re not wetlands. These are man-made and man-maintained stock ponds that were built and maintained to allow wildlife and livestock the ability to drink water. If people didn’t maintain them, they wouldn’t be there.”

King Ranch was established more than 70 years ago

The King family first came to Washington in the early 1900s and homesteaded in Lincoln County. They later established the King Ranch in Grant County, where they’ve operated for more than 70 years, Wade King explained. The family also has property in Douglas County. But King said he’s watched the number of family ranches dwindle over the years.

“Up there in Douglas County, in particular, it’s really sad. When I was up there in 1980, I looked at all my neighbors there, from the Malones to the McLeans and the Vances. None of those families is involved in agriculture anymore, and it’s just sad. We’re losing our agricultural community,” he said.

Meacham noted the stock ponds were in use long before the King family took over the property.

“We filed a 1,157-page stock water declaration, where the Kings were able to go back to before them and talk about when these ranches became used for livestock, and to do that, they had to have had sources of water,” she explained. “So this has been going on for way longer than 70 years. The Kings themselves have been doing it for 70 years.”

King said the family has only maintained the property, which is far from the state’s claim that they disrupted the land.

“We were doing benefits, restoration, and maintenance,” King said. “I really fire up at this whole notion that we did destruction. Why would we destroy something that we rely upon?”

Ecology fines Kings Ranch $267,000, demands $3.7 million in restoration

Ecology fined the Kings $267,000 for what they called “disturbances to the wetlands” and is demanding that the Kings remediate the wetlands, which is estimated to cost millions.

“The restoration piece is insane, because these aren’t wetlands to begin with, but the restoration on all these ponds we’re looking at, our experts are saying $3.7 million,” Meacham said.

Meacham added that the situation is confusing and the state hasn’t been helpful.

“We actually don’t know how this started. We’ve had to do multiple public records requests to get the information that we do have,” she said. “There’s been a real lack of transparency, in our opinion, on the state side.”

The King’s family is currently fighting for their right to have a jury trial, which has faced pushback from the state, according to Meacham.

“It just boggles the mind. I mean, if you were accused of a criminal act and you were not given the right to a jury trial, everyone would be up in arms, and it’s the same here,” Meacham said. “That fine amount alone is enough for the common person to say, ‘This isn’t right, and they deserve the right to have a jury trial.'”

She invited people to visit King Ranch’s website and donate to help the family’s battle with the state.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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