News From Your Friends

What’s on our Radar – Week of August 25th, 2025

August 25, 2025 in General

Tickets for Friends of Clark County’s annual fundraising dinner on September 14th are available now! Read about how important this fundraiser is—especially this year—on the front page of our website here: https://friendsofclarkcounty.org/

If you’re a subscriber, our August 2025 Newsletter has arrived in your inbox! If you missed out, make sure you subscribe for next time here: https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/78v4ChTd2xJIPmddrmliTw 

But, no worries! All our newsletter articles can be found on our website here: https://friendsofclarkcounty.org/news/

  • Last week:
    • Clark County Council Votes Down Contract for FBI’s Continued Misuse of Camp Bonneville: On Tuesday, August 19th, after sustained advocacy from the community over many years to protect the public safety, health, and interest, the Clark County Council voted down a new contract for the FBI’s continued use of Camp Bonneville, Clark County’s nearly 4,000 acre, forested conservation conveyance and former military reservation. Read more about this and our position here: https://friendsofclarkcounty.org/clark-county-council-votes-down-contract-for-fbis-continued-misuse-of-camp-bonneville/

      The council’s decision on Tuesday was a bold first step in the right direction! Thank you to all who advocated, and read on to learn about the other law enforcement agreements at Camp Bonneville on the agenda this week that we also hope the council will vote down (and how you can help).
    • There was a Planning Commission public hearing on the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), the Stormwater Capital Plan, and the Parks and Nature Capital Improvement Plan. You can watch the hearing here: https://www.cvtv.org/vid_link/38241
  • This week:
      • Camp Bonneville law enforcement use agreements: In March, FOCC published a newsletter article breaking down everything going on with Camp Bonneville, which can be viewed here:

        https://friendsofclarkcounty.org/camp-bonneville-breakdown/

        FOCC’s position was summarized as: “…Our position on Camp Bonneville remains the same: the County needs to move forward with its plans for conservation and public access by focusing on the cleanup, not managing a host of law enforcement activities for many more years. Camp Bonneville is a beautiful, wild place that has experienced much abuse in its history, and it was provided to the County with the intent of remediation and the purpose of natural resource conservation.

        We must not revert to the past. It is finally time for the County to take the decisive actions necessary to realize the future for Camp Bonneville, starting with the Council declining to move forward with new law enforcement agreements and creating an actionable plan to accommodate the Clark County Sheriff’s Office’s needs at a new, appropriate location…”

        As we reported, the council voted down the FBI’s continued misuse of Camp Bonneville last week. We thank the council for that vote, and hope that they will continue in the right direction by voting down agreements for use of Camp Bonneville with the ATF, SWAT, and Portland Bomb Squad this week. Of note: the county has not provided the public copies of these draft agreements.

        If you support FOCC’s position on this issue, please share your thoughts and concerns about Camp Bonneville with the Clark County Council here PRIOR to the meeting at 1pm on Wednesday:

        https://clark.wa.gov/councilors/write-councilor

        You can also call in or show up to testify for up to 3 minutes on this agenda item at the council meeting.

      • Discussion of the agenda for the upcoming joint work session with the cities regarding the Comp Plan Update.
      • There are a couple of interesting work session requests, as well as “Forestry Commission Update”.
  • Commission/advisory board meetings this week:
  • Other happenings:

    • Tomorrow, Tuesday 8/26, the Commissioner of Public Lands (Upthegrove) is holding a press event at 11:30am to announce DNR’s next steps regarding their inventory of mature forests. Look for a press release in the News section of DNR’s home page, and more details on the Commissioner’s page.

    • COUNTY SEEKS VOLUNTEERS TO SERVE ON THE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Clark County is seeking applicants to fill four positions on the nine-member Clark Communities Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. More information here: https://clark.wa.gov/community-planning/bpac-members
    • The Clark County Council is seeking volunteers to fill two openings on the county’s Planning Commission. One position is for six years and expires Dec. 31, 2031, and one position is for a four-year term that ends Dec. 31, 2029. Both positions begin Jan. 1, 2026. The Planning Commission is a seven-member committee that makes recommendations to the council on land-use planning, zoning and development in unincorporated Clark County. The commission also makes recommendations on issues such as growth management, roads, public facilities, development regulations and applicable county ordinances. To apply, send a letter of interest and résumé to Jake Goodwin, Clark County Council Office, PO Box 5000, Vancouver, WA 98666-5000 or jake.goodwin@clark.wa.gov. Application deadline is 5 pm Friday, Sept. 12, 2025. Learn more about the Planning Commission on the county’s website at https://clark.wa.gov/community-planning/planning-commission.
    • Climate Planning development: At a recent work session, the Clark County Council was asked for guidance on setting the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction target for a draft of climate policy recommendations that will be presented to the public for feedback. They were presented three options:
      • Option 1: Default statewide target (most conservative option), net zero by 2050. Staff recommended this as a placeholder for the draft.
      • Option 2: Net zero by 2045. More ambitious.
      • Option 3: Net zero by 2040 (matching the City of Vancouver. Very ambitious. Staff noted that Option 3 can create more of a sense of urgency and provide more near term benefits, such as better air quality sooner.

        Councilors Little, Yung, and Belkot (Fuentes not present) directed staff to use Option 1 for the draft (Chair Marshall wanted Option 2, while no one supported the most ambitious Option 3); however, their reasoning made it clear that they were in support of this being the ultimate GHG reduction target—not just the target to be used for the draft. If you want to see the council choose a more ambitious GHG reduction goal for Clark County, you’ll need to make sure they hear from you! Easy contact form available here: https://clark.wa.gov/councilors/write-councilor

        We’ll keep you posted on what’s next for public participation in the climate planning process.

See you next week!
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