©2001 Bellingham Herald

March 22, 2002

Local Kayak Club to Maintain Lummi DNR Campsite

by Fiona Cohen

When Tom Murley came to the conclusion that the Washington Department of
Natural Resources could no longer afford to maintain nine different
campgrounds in the region, one of the first places he turned for help
was his neighbors.

Lisa Wallis, president of the Whatcom Association of Kayak Enthusiasts
(WAKE), and her husband Andy Wallis, manager at Johnson Outdoors live on
South Forest Street a few doors down from Murley, the special lands
coordinator for the department's northwest region.

"I think we chatted over lawn clippings one day and came and took this
bright idea," Lisa Wallis says.

With volunteers helping with maintenance, the Lummi Island Campground
could stay open, Murley said.

WAKE and Johnson Outdoors agreed to take it on.

The arrangement isn't settled-officials still have to sort out what they
can and can't afford after this year's state budget-but Lisa Wallis says
she has 15 volunteers, plus Johnson Outdoors will let Andy off work one
Friday a month to go to the site.

"We all camp there and go there and we're eager to see that it stays
open," she says. "It's a beautiful, beautiful site that we all enjoy."

The volunteers will remove garbage and clean outhouses. The department
will provide training on avoiding Hepatitis B.

The department wants to stop taking care of several small campgrounds,
because, Murley says, it can no longer afford them, as budgets diminish
and the number of people using the sites increases.

"It's been coming for a long time," he says. "I think we just keep
getting by and getting by and at some point you can't do that anymore.
You can paint an outhouse every year and pretty soon your outhouse is
made of paint and it's falling apart."

Even the deal with the Whatcom kayakers is only temporary, Murley says.

"At some point the toilets and stuff out there will have to be replaced,
and those are high ticket items. If we don't have something for the
future, then we'll have to close that site."

Saving campgrounds

Other sites Murley is looking for help with maintaining are the Lily and
Lizard Lakes campgrounds, and campsites on Samish Island. Murley says
he's talked to Whatcom County Parks about having them take over a
campsite in the Hutchinson creek area.

The Department of Natural Resources has a tentative deal with Washington
State parks to have the parks take on several of the department of
Natural resources sites in the San Juans, including Griffin Bay on San
Juan Island, Upright Channel on Lopez Island, Point Doughty and
Obstruction Pass on Orcas Island. Right now parks staff are examining
the budget to make sure they have enough money for it.

"We're definitely going to be able to take over at least some," says
Alison Alderman, assistant regional manager for Washington State Park's
northwest office.

"It's very difficult to say that we're going to close a San Juan Island
park when you don't have the resources to manage a park," Alderman adds.
"People will more than likely continue to go to those locations and
vandalize." They could also steal timber or start forest fires, she
says.

Wallis says kayakers need the island sites.

"I've been out in the San Juans several times when the camping areas are
saturated. When you pull up in a kayak, you're tired, there's nowhere
you can go."

Reach Fiona Cohen at fcohen@bellingh.gannett.com or 715-2276.