A new tool for lake protection in Mason County

By Marisa Burghdoff, Snohomish County Public Works, Surface Water Management

Since the 1980’s, lake communities across Washington have used Lake Management Districts (LMDs) as an important way to fund local activities like lake monitoring, restoration and controlling invasive plants. However, funds raised by an LMD could not previously be used to purchase property for conservation. Thanks to the efforts of an active community at Mason County’s Lake Nahwatzel and their work with Forterra, a Seattle-based conservation organization (see related story), the Washington State Legislature recently passed ESB 6031, allowing the purchase of land to better protect the health and scenic beauty of lakes and beaches. WALPA helped review the proposed legislation and supported its passage. Unfortunately, an unexpected amendment was added that limited the ability to buy property with LMD funds to Mason County alone. We hope that experience will demonstrate the value of this change to the LMD statute, and that it can be expanded to the rest of the state in the near future.