Stay with me here!!!!!  I’m about to make a bold and audacious statement, which will seem overly dramatic.  The statement is supported by District records, which were made available thanks to the involvement of the Clatsop County District Attorney, Ron Brown, (who had the District disclose records that they first claimed didn’t exist and then resisted providing).

Our Water Board Chair has illegally negotiated an easement that turns our Watershed into a driveway-parking lot for recreation in the Rainforest Reserve.  And our Board has tried to hide it from us. (And still is.)

Relevant Background

In May 2020, the District agreed to purchase the forest property from  EcoTrust Forest Management (EFM) and recorded an option to purchase with Clatsop County.  At the time the option to purchase was recorded, NCLC had no easement across the property. 

In October of 2021, EFM granted NCLC a perpetual easement across the property that is to become our Watershed.  We don’t yet know if there is a legally-enforceable signed document by the District on EFM’s grant of the easement to NCLC.

On March 31 2021, an Amendment to the option to purchase agreement was signed by the District and EFM.  That Amendment makes no mention of an easement with NCLC across the property.

Since the District has refused to reveal all records related to the easement, the easement’s legal status is in limbo.   A preliminary legal opinion has suggested that since “the option to purchase was recorded before the easement, it will have seniority (i.e. exercising the option would void the easement).”   A lawyer will need to review all documentation, including whether or not a signed document between the District and EFM pertaining to the easement exists and is legally enforceable, before a final determination can be made.

Findings

1.   The easement that has been negotiated goes well beyond the typical “working” easement where NCLC  gets access across our Watershed for the intended purpose of managing their property, i.e., maintaining their roads, restoring forested area, etc.

This easement allows NCLC and their invitees (Rainforest Reserve Tours – click here for flyer) to drive and/or walk on every road across our property, whenever they want, to bring recreation trips to their Reserve .  There are no restrictions on this easement.  And best of all, the easement allows NCLC, their tourists and contractors to park their cars and trucks in the Watershed so that they don’t have to park them in the Reserve. (Click here to see pages 1,2,8,12 of the final easement.)

2.   Dan Seifer (Water District Board Chair) was not only aware of the easement, but worked with Ben Dair (the Sustainable Northwest Consultant) and Phil Chick (District Manager) to negotiate the easement. (Click here to see emails between EFM, Ben Dair, Dan Seifer and Phil Chick.)

3.   Dan Seifer (Water District Board Chair) broke public meeting law by taking action on behalf of the Board to agree to/ approve/ authorize the easement.  Public Meeting Law requires such action to be authorized by a quorum of the Board in a public meeting with a motion and votes recorded. (Click here for public meeting law)   That never happened!!   The only mention of the easement in a public meeting was on Oct 15, 2021, less than two weeks before signing, when Dan was recorded in the minutes as saying ‘“Our attorney has reviewed the suggested easement and made suggestions”

In a recent email to a member of the public Dan wrote: “The form of this particular easement was reviewed, several versions I believe, by the [Water] District’s attorney and modified by him to the District’s benefit.”

4.   The modification to the easement made by Dan, Ben and Phil are definitely NOT to the District’s benefit.

5.   On a separate but related issue, the 2nd email of EFM,Dair,Seifer document linked above shows that as early as October 2021, Phil and NCLC were working on a comprehensive recreation plan and e-bikes are being considered – even though e-bikes are currently not allowed on the EFM property and the community’s recreational use survey had little support for the use of e-bikes in the Watershed.  

In other words, Phil and NCLC’s comprehensive recreation plan was well underway 5 months before the Town Hall Meeting when the Board stated “A public process managed by Arch Cape, NCLC, and GWR, and supported by the National Park Service, will support Arch Care in finding a balanced and thoughtful approach to public access.”   That ship had already sailed – even way back then the Board absolutely already had an Agenda for recreational use of the Watershed. Everything they do now, including the charge to the Forest Advisory Committee, is just lip service, tweaks to their Agenda at best. (That’s why the Board is ignoring the Community’s Recreational Use Survey Results.)

6.   Sustainable Northwest and NCLC are partners in a variety of conservation efforts (click here for postings on their web sites).  And yet, these two partners Sustainable Northwest (Ben Dair) and NCLC, negotiated the easement across the Watershed, the District’s property.  How is this not collusion?

As private companies, Sustainable Northwest and NCLC have different rules than the District, which is a public municipality. The apparent collusion between NCLC, Sustainable Northwest and our District Board is to the detriment of the value of the public property to be purchased by us, a public entity.  The absolutely free easement that was granted across our Watershed provides value to NCLC.  However, for the District, the public entity, there is no value from the easement and the existence of the easement decreases the value of the property and puts our Watershed and drinking water at risk.

7.   At least 3 times, the District claimed that public records being requested didn’t exist and refused to disclose others.   Evidence of this misrepresentation was presented to the Clatsop County District Attorney and his involvement has led to the District having to disclose the records that support these findings.  The District is continuing to resist the release of other records and the DA is evaluating.  What else is the District hiding?

8. All this time, our Water Board has wanted us to believe that the Watershed was being purchased to conserve the forest, to protect our source water and to save the Watershed from the ‘evil timber companies’. And now, in addition to having it logged, we find out that the Board plans on allowing recreation and sees it as “to the District’s benefit” for NCLC’s paying tourist to drive across and park in our Watershed while recreating at NCLC’s Reserve.

Our Water Board Chair has illegally negotiated an easement that turns our Watershed into a driveway-parking lot for recreation in the Rainforest Reserve.  And our Board has tried to hide it from us. (And still is.)

      Stay Tuned …. More to Come in Part b

And as always, feel free to leave a reply in the box below (or clicking on the comment button if you see one).