Sno-King Watershed Council filed a third legal appeal of Ironwood, a development project proposed for one of the last large urban forests inside the Urban Growth Area in South Snohomish County. It includes a Category II wetland and is designated by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife as a Priority Habitat Species Area.
Woodpeckers, owls, chinook, coho, sockeye and many other critters either call this forest and wetland home or require it to exist in health to support their own downstream habitat. The proposed Ironwood development would take their homes and have a cascading negative effect downstream–13.3 acres of forest would disappear, the ravine would be filled with dirt, and the wetland would suffer incredible harm. North Creek, a salmon bearing waterway, would also suffer.
What you can do
Humans need this wild space as much as the fish, birds, and other animals do–it is going to take all of us to protect it. Please help if you can:
1. Email the Snohomish County Council: contact.council@snoco.org
Write as much or as little as you have time. The basic message is
“I support Sno-King Watershed Council’s appeal of Pacific Ridge’s proposed Ironwood Development. Please require the developer to remand the project back for corrections before additional permits are approved.”
2. Make a tax-deductible contribution to our legal defense fund.
3. Share this post in your network.
4. Talk to your friends and family about why natural spaces aren’t just nice to have–we need them. We can all be part of a perspective shift that would make developments like this much less likely to happen in the future.
Our appeal hearing of Ironwood will be held before the Snohomish County Council, likely in late February or early March. We do not expect a favorable decision from the Council given its track record, which will mean an appeal to Superior Court sometime later this summer.
We are prepared to continue to stand up for the best possible outcomes for Ironwood. Thank you for standing with us!
