NEWSHOMEOPINIONLOCAL INTERESTRECENT ISSUESLETTERSCLASSIFIEDSLINKSWANT TO KNOW MORE and MORE ABOUT OUR METHOW VALLEY! HOW TO
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  Endangered
SpeciesJune 3, 1999 Hearing voices Dozens, if not hundreds, of Methow Valley residents have labored on numerous water study committees over nearly three decades. This report summarizes milestones along this difficult course of recent water history. Poring over past issues of the News, and volumes of documents, comments of those who have been actively involved appear eerily prophetic if not clairvoyant. In some cases, a comment seems as if it could be plucked from the past and inserted nearly seamlessly in one of our recent stories on the protracted water debate. We’ve selected a few of the most salient quotes: "We have bent over backward for the DOE and the (Yakama) Indians. If our studies and conservation efforts from this point onward are not sufficient, we will let the chips fall where they may." Boyd Walton former Okanogan County Commissioner March 14, 1991 <> The pilot planning project could be a "blueprint for disaster" according to one of the persons who nominated the Methow Valley for the project. Lee Bernheisel principal, Okanogan Wilderness League MV News, April 11, 1991 <> "You would be the first one and we don’t know exactly how well the proposal will work. There is some uncertainty here." Frank Gaffney Northwest Renewable Resources Center (explaining the pilot planning project at a public meeting) MV News, April 11, 1991 <> "Government is not the best decision maker for the Methow Valley." (explaining that the pilot planning project would theoretically allow for local input for water policy decisions) Christine Gregoire former director, DOE (now state Attorney General) MVNews, May 23, 1991 <> "This is our best alternative. If we don’t plan for water uses and conservation, the DOE will act in its enforcement role and local citizens will lose the chance to participate." Boyd Walton former Okanogan County Commissioner MV News, May 30, 1991 <> "The valley is in great need of funding for increasing the efficiences associated with surface water diversions. Building weirs, headgates, fish screens, changing points of diversion and drilling wells are all things we know need to be done. They need to be done now. We don’t need a pilot planning project to tell us about those projects. We only need the money to build them." Ron Perrow former Publisher, Methow Valley News Commentary MV News, May 23, 1991 <> "We have spent the last two hours discussing what to do with the coordinator position, and still don’t have anything done. We’d better pack a breakfast when we get to the issues." (following a four-plus hour meeting). Craig Boesel Agriculture caucus Pilot Planning Committee MVNews, Dec. 5, 1991 <> "I don’t’ know how much longer we can get citizens to participate in this kind of thing. The whole process is so bureaucratic. For now I’m willing to gamble. I just hope we don’t end up spending so much time and have it be a wasted effort." Steve Devin, MVNews, May 28, 1992: <> "It seems there’s a good possibility we’re not going to see anything come out of this at all. Some legislators think that this was a big joke--that there wasn’t full participation." Dave Dubrouillet, (then) Twisp mayor government caucus member, Pilot Planning Committee MVNews, May 9, 1996 <> "They (members of the pilot planning caucuses) put in an incredible amount of time for no compensation, just for the well-being of the valley. I think by and large, this has been as grassroots as grassroots can be." Dale Bambrick, representing the Yakama Indian caucus MVNews, May 18, 1996
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