Sale could safeguard White River acreage

Seattle Times, Alex Fryer February 18, 2006

Puget Sound Energy and the Cascade Land Conservancy announced a tentative deal Friday that could lead to the protection of 3,000 acres along the White River west of Enumclaw in King and Pierce counties.

If completed, the transaction would be one of the largest for the Cascade Land Conservancy, which agreed to pay market value for the property.

An appraisal is expected to take several months. The final price could be more than $10 million.

Cascade Land Conservancy, a nonprofit that has been purchasing and acquiring natural spaces since 1989, would seek partners to purchase the land, including local governments, tribes and possibly developers, said spokesman Ryan Dicks.

"We're open to working with all kinds of different partners," he said.

The land was acquired about a century ago to be part of Puget Sound Energy's White River Hydroelectric Project. The acreage is now considered surplus.

Elk, deer, bears, cougars, bald eagles, great blue herons, wood ducks and other wildlife frequent the property's forests, wetlands, canyons and meadows.

"The property holds significant ecological value, whether as lowland habitat for fish and wildlife or simply as a place for people to enjoy nature," said Phil Bussey, Puget Sound Energy's senior vice president of corporate affairs.

PSE is a regulated utility that generates and sells electricity, and buys and sells natural gas.

The White River deal was praised by local officials, including King County Executive Ron Sims and Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg.

"This is conservation at its best," Ladenburg said.

Information in this article, originally published February 18, 2006, was corrected February 28, 2006. A previous version of this story contained an error of geography. The 3,000 acres in question is west of Enumclaw, not east.