State preserves scenic Teanaway as community forest

The state has just completed its largest single land preservation transaction in 45 years, a 50,000 acre tract of forest land considered the holy grail for the conservation community.

Just east of Cle-Elum, off I-90, on the highway to Blewett Pass is the turn off to a spectacular place, the Teanaway River Valley. You’ll find breathtaking views of the Stuart Range, critical habitat, and abundant wildlife.

Just a few miles in, you’ll enter land that the state has purchased as its first community forest.

“You’ll find horseback riders, hikers, fishermen, hunters, it has incredible wildlife,” gushed Gene Duvernoy, President of the non-profit land conservation group Fortera, formerly the Cascade Land Conservancy.

The property had something else: A single owner. Fortera brokered the deal for the state. After ten years of trying, a deal was done. The state Legislature and state Department of Natural Resources allocated almost $100 million to purchase the property outright.

“The state decided this was such an important opportunity that they didn’t want to buy it over time, they wanted to buy it immediately,” said Duvernoy.

The Teanaway Community Forest is both scenic and accessible.

“It abuts wilderness, Alpine Lakes, on one side and on the other side you see farms and residences so it’s almost an in-between land,” Duvernoy explained. A land that will be managed to protect the headwaters of the Yakima Basin watershed and maintain wildlife and recreation opportunities.

“We all remember those places when we were younger, we used to go and recreate and we thought they were going to stay open and available forever and then as adults we go back and they’re houses. People need to live and need homes, but these are special places. This won’t happen now on the Teanaway. It will not become 20-acre subdivisions, it will stay available to all of us,” Duvernoy promised.

Duvernoy said dozens of community groups and other stakeholders will have a say in how the state manages the forest. “It will be a well-loved property.”

It’s not clear how the state will pay for maintenance and improvement of the Teanaway Community Forest. The State Parks collects revenue with the Discover Pass and something like that is a possibility for the community forest. The legislature has expressed a commitment to ongoing funding.

Of course, there are many other special places in Washington that deserve preservation and Duvernoy expects that other community forests will follow. But Duvernoy said the Teanaway is special, and the first.

“I’ve been in this business 35 years. Never has anything like this happened in my experience,” exclaimed Duvernoy.