Enviro - Private cabins on public lands

[Art Allen]

Our old friend Chuck Cushman is at it again   .....Chuck Cushman, executive director of the American Land Rights Association in Battleground, northeast of Vancouver, said if private cabins on Bureau of Reclamation lands are at risk, the thousands on U.S. Forest Service and national park lands could be next. ......

 

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Oct 24, 2007    /   K.C. Mehaffey   /    WenacheeWorld

Cabin owners wait and wonder

Bureau of Reclamation to decide whether leases will continue

CONCONULLY — More than 80 families who own private cabins on federal land along two Conconully lakes are waiting to learn whether they'll be able to keep their cabins after this year.
Built in the 1950s, many of the homes have been in the same families for decades. Most got a new five-year lease in 2002 from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which charged $700 per lot per year.

Stephanie Utter, land resource manager with the Bureau of Reclamation in Ephrata, said her office will soon make a recommendation on whether to continue leasing the property or phase them out and tear down the cabins.

"Our policy is to phase out cabin sites, but there's certain criteria that needs to be met to do that," she said. She added, "It is our intent to renew the leases, but we have yet to determine all of the particulars," including how long they'll continue the lease, and whether the cabins are slated for removal in the long term.  The cabins are a private use of federal land that excludes others, she said. Resorts on the lake that are open to the public will not be affected, she said.

Utter said Conconully is the only place in Washington with private cabins on Reclamation land, but private cabins on federal reservoirs in 17 states are facing the same issue.

The cabin owners received a letter notifying them about a proposed new rule in August, but many didn't respond because it said nothing about discontinuing leases.
The confusion has generated the interest of some federal lawmakers.

On Oct. 16 — the deadline for commenting on the new rule — 13 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Rep. Doc Hastings and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, asked the agency to extend the comment period and conduct public "town hall" meetings in areas that will be affected.  "We are disappointed by the confusion this proposed rule has created for people in our state and it is our hope that you clarify what this rule means to individuals and communities," they wrote.

Mike Poulson, agriculture and natural resource policy director for Cathy McMorris Rodgers, said concerns didn't arise until the last few weeks. "At this point, I don't have any better understanding of it than some of the cabin owners," he said.

Chuck Cushman, executive director of the American Land Rights Association in Battleground, northeast of Vancouver, said if private cabins on Bureau of Reclamation lands are at risk, the thousands on U.S. Forest Service and national park lands could be next.  The association is a nonprofit grassroots group that advocates private property rights.  Cushman said it's not surprising that many of the cabin owners in Conconully didn't respond to the August notice of a proposed new rule.  "Frankly, most of them don't even know they're threatened. They can't believe that they built their cabin and now the Bureau of Reclamation is going to say, 'You have to get out.' "

In many areas, the government encouraged people to build private cabins on public land so that residents would build roads and boat docks, providing access to the rest of the public, he said.
"We're not going to let them take these houses out without a fight," Cushman said.

Many of the recreation cabins and homes on Conconully Lake and Conconully Reservoir are modest, one-story buildings about the size of a single- or double-wide trailer, with wooden siding and metal roofs. Some are larger and more lavish. Most have porches, and a wooden dock jutting out into the lake. Access to the lake through cabin property is open to the public, but Utter said few people know that.

On Tuesday, most of the cabins appeared vacant. No vehicles sat in driveways, and no one sat on the porches looking out at the bright blue October sky and brightly colored trees mirrored in the water.  Like the rest of Conconully after hunting season closes, these tightly packed lakeside neighborhoods were nearly empty. 

One cabin owner, Mike Leckvold, was on his porch with a hose, draining his hot water heater for the winter.  Leckvold said he's heard the rumors about the bureau canceling their leases. "I've been coming over here for 40 years, and I've been hearing rumors like this for 40 years," he said.
A regular visitor, Leckvold said he finally bought a cabin on the upper reservoir five years ago for about $40,000, with a beautiful view of the lake. The place across the street, which is right on the lake, sold two years ago for about $70,000.

"Some have sold for as much as $100,000," he said. Last year, he sold his place on Lopez Island and bought a house in Conconully. The cabin was too small to live in full time, he said, and it's in his lease that the cabin is for recreational, not year-round use.
Leckvold said he knew when he bought the place that the bureau could cancel his lease. But, he added, "I hope it doesn't happen. Some of these have been in the same family for 40 years."
Down at the Conconully General Store, owner Ken Noguera and his wife, Jan, said it's not just a few cabins at risk, it's a whole way of life. "Guys talk about coming with their grandfathers. Teenagers come with their families who don't hate their parents. It's all about family," he said.
The couple own a house attached to the store, but they bought a cabin last year to have somewhere to escape their business. 

Noguera said coming from Southern California, he assumed he'd never be able to afford owning a house on a lake, even if someone else owned the ground under it.  "It's a dream for a lot of people — for us — and it's within our reach. Why would they want to take that away?" he asked.  Noguera said he and other cabin owners are upset that the Bureau of Reclamation didn't explain what was being proposed.  "It's difficult to comment when you don't understand what they're planning," he said. "I spent years reading legal documents and contracts for the company I worked for (before moving to Conconully), so I have some background," he said. "I read this several times, and ultimately, there was no information that gave anyone a clear-cut idea of what they're doing. I still have no idea what it is. I had no idea how to comment."

He said if the Bureau of Reclamation really does cancel all the cabin leases, he'll have much more to worry about than his investment in the cabin, and where he and his wife can go to escape their business.  Without the cabin owners, Conconully will be one dead town, he said.  With a population of about 200 people, the town doubles on weekends when the cabin owners are in town.

"When these people come into town and stay at their cabins, they come to the store, they eat at restaurants, they drink at the taverns. ... If there's nobody at the RV parks and no cabin owners, you have no business."