Message from the President
Mike Berriochoa
July 2005
Dear CPCOA members:
To everyone who was able to attend the June 25 picnic, thanks for attending. And for those who were not able to make it, you missed a great time.
I was very pleased to hear encouraging words from Forest Supervisor Jim Boynton who told us that cabins are “a recognized and viable use of forest land”. This is good news as his staff is now going through the permit review process to make sure we are all in compliance prior to deciding if our permits will be renewed. Both he and Mike Hiler of the Naches Ranger District said several times that they intend to be reasonable in doing their surveys and want to help us all to be in compliance with our permits.
Jim also made another point. “We are all in this together.” He, as a trained and experienced forester, and we as forest users, share a vested interest in maintaining a healthy forest. He, as a forest manager, has his set of priorities. We, as forest users, have our own set of concerns. And these priorities intersect at the budget. Jim can’t dictate his budget. As he told us, he can only figure out how best to spend the money that is given him. That’s where our interests need to take over. We are already seeing the impact of budget cuts…reduced staff to care for campgrounds and trails, reduced staff and funding to respond to our requests to make needed improvements to our cabins and the list goes on. If there is any hope of Jim getting a larger budget, we need to help him by writing our senators and representatives.
There is also another budget issue. Jim is under a federal mandate to complete the permit process this year. That’s where his priority has to be. Otherwise, he said, he is leaving all of us vulnerable and at risk of interveners preventing us from renewing our permits. While he is doing that, we, as cabin owners, need to do all we can to convince congress to let our permit fees remain with the ranger district where our cabins are located. That way there would be no funding issues for meeting our needs.
Jim also touched on the water rights issue being faced by many of us. He noted the Forest Service is in the same boat as cabin owners when it comes to water rights being at risk. Here, again, we need to get involved. We narrowly escaped losing our domestic water sources this year because our legislators brought pressure on the Washington State Department of Ecology. This was done in response to the letters we wrote and the phone calls we made. Now it’s time to re-contact our legislators, first to say thanks and secondly to seek an exemption for domestic water use in our cabins. We are no different than homeowners when it comes to our need for a source of water for our domestic needs. Such an exemption can be granted but we need to push for it.
I know that many cabin owners have the opinion that they purchased their cabin to have a place to relax and get away from it all. As such, they don’t want to get involved in issues, preferring instead to stay below the radar. While that may have worked in years past, times have changed and none of us can afford to remain below the radar any longer. We must all do our part to write the letters, make the telephone calls, and stay abreast of the issues that will certainly impact our ability to enjoy our cabins as we have in the past. There are groups and organizations out there that would like to take away what we have and chase us out of the forest. We must stand together against those forces. The risk is simply too great if we don’t.
I’ll climb down off my soapbox now and share one interesting item that we learned from the Yakima County deputy who joined us for lunch. Even though our cell phones may show no service in our cabin areas, we may still be able to reach 9-1-1 on them in some areas. He said when our phones show “no service” it only means that there is no service from our own cellular provider, but coverage may still be available from other providers and they will all take a 9-1-1 call. Not a bad thought to keep in mind.
I wish you all a great summer. The association is sponsoring several field trips this summer, which I hope you will join. You will find information on our web site.
Mike Berriochoa, President
Chinook Pass Cabin Owners Association