Build Up, Not Out
Aerial Maps
The BAR Holdings' concept design shows pavement over most of the 33-acre forest.
February 17, 2023, Olympian article, photo from Mike Brewer, with added markups by Ronda Larson Kramer
Habitat Connectivity
The BAR Holdings parcel is a wildlife corridor that would connect the Olympic Mountains with the Cascades if wildlife crossings were built over I-5. Watch this video on habitat connectivity by WDFW.
The reason BAR Holdings is so important is because it is a choke point in a wildlife corridor that is connected to 770 acres of preserved lands, shown here in red.
Deschutes River
Wildlife corridor
Google Earth, copyright 2024 Airbus. Markups by Ronda Larson Kramer
Google Earth, copyright 2024 Airbus. Markups by Ronda Larson Kramer
Google Earth image copyright 2024 Maxar Technologies. Markups by Ronda Larson Kramer.
The swap would reduce groundwater protections because the swap-out parcels are less valuable "CARA"
The parcels that are being proposed for swapping out of the UGA are a lower-quality CARA, or critical aquifer resource area. The swap will therefore cause a net reduction in groundwater protections.
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The 2024 swap law says that after the swap, the UGA cannot have more critical aquifer recharge area in it than it had before the swap. Although the BAR Holdings swap would not result in more CARA in the Tumwater UGA than before the swap, it would result in a net increase in the most valuable type of CARA, meaning more pavement over valuable aquifer recharge areas. This will negatively impact wells in the south Tumwater area.
The BAR Holdings parcel is CARA-extreme (“CARA I”), meaning it is the type of CARA that requires the highest protections of groundwater because it is so important to aquifer recharge. In contrast, the parcel that would be swapped out of the UGA up near Black Lake is CARA-moderate (“CARA III”), meaning it is the type of CARA that requires the least protections of groundwater because the aquifer is deep and rainwater does not absorb well into the soils. By swapping those two parcels, the result is a net decrease in groundwater protections inside the UGA, which is the opposite of what the 2024 swap law intended.
Thurston County | Pictometry International Corp. | Thurston GeoData Center, Thurston County, WA, USA
Thurston County | Pictometry International Corp. | Thurston GeoData Center, Thurston County, WA, USA
The swap would increase development capacity because the swap-out parcels are not buildable.
The parcels that are being proposed for swapping out of the UGA are next to Black Lake here.
Because the parcels to be swapped out are already not buildable, the swap would not provide them with any more protection. As such, the swap would result in a net increase in development capacity inside the urban growth area. This would violate the 2024 swap law.
The parcels are not buildable because they are steep slopes, floodways and wetlands, and BPA powerline easements (Building of any structures within a BPA right-of-way is specifically prohibited). On the first map below, the red lines delineate the parcels to be swapped out. The blue indicates wetlands and FEMA flood zones and floodways. The second map is the same aerial without the overlay. The power lines are visible as the large swath of what looks like mowed grass.
Thurston County | Pictometry International Corp. | Thurston GeoData Center, Thurston County, WA, USA
Thurston County | Pictometry International Corp. | Thurston GeoData Center, Thurston County, WA, USA
The proposal would pave over the Cowlitz Trail
The developers have named their development "Salish Landing" because they are aware that it would destroy a remnant of the Cowlitz Trail, a historical tribal trading route, and they want to whitewash this. The Cowlitz Trail is potentially 9,000 years old. It later became a spur of the Oregon Trail. According to Dave Welch, Oregon Trail historian, there is no other known remnant of the Cowlitz Trail that remains unpaved, other than on the neighboring properties immediately to the south of the BAR Holdings parcel.
Overlay map showing Cowlitz Trail (yellow line) running through Bar Holdings, near the Olympia & Tenino Railroad (blue line). Map created by David Welch and Robin Baker.
Map created by Ronda Larson Kramer using February 11, 1854 survey plat map of Township 17N Range 2W, from the General Land Office Records from the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management.
The urban growth area is not bursting at the seams.
The 33-acre forested parcel that the developers want to built a mini-city on is here.
It was logged in 2011 and replanted. The trees are now over 40-feet tall. You can get a good view of it from Sheldon Road. The parcel is just south of 93rd, which serves as the Tumwater Urban Growth Area boundary.
Because Tumwater's UGA is not bursting at the seams in this area, the swap would violate the 2024 swap law. That law requires there to be no more available land. But the developers admitted in their application that the UGA is "underdeveloped" in this area.
Google Earth Image (c) 2023 Airbus
The maps below show the Tumwater Urban Growth Area in beige
