News From Your Friends

What’s on our Radar – Week of April 14th, 2025

URGENT Call-to-Action on the Clark County Comp Plan Update for the Clark County Council meeting TOMORROW, Tuesday, April 15th at 10am! View the action in the link or read on below: https://friendsofclarkcounty.org/%f0%9f%9a%a8-call-to-action-to-save-6000-acres-of-ag-forest-land-in-the-clark-county-comprehensive-plan-update/

• Last week:
  
  • If you missed last week’s Radar, you can get caught up here: https://friendsofclarkcounty.org/whats-on-our-radar-week-of-april-7th-2025/

• • The Clark County Climate Community Advisory Group held its FINAL meeting! Next, their recommendations will be considered for adoption by the Planning Commission and then the Clark County Council. We will let you know about the advocacy opportunities along the way! The final draft goals and policies have not yet been posted but we are looking out for them. Watch the final meeting here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRghyw8IubQ

• • There was a Development and Engineering Advisory Board (DEAB) Annual Report to the Clark County Council. View the League of Women Voters’ Observer Corps notes here: https://lwvclarkcounty.org/content.aspx?page_id=2507&club_id=160612&item_id=5126&pst=27835
    Watch the session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5l2V–WX0Y

• • Clark County held a Forestry Work Session (prompted by Mary Goody of FOCC) that was fascinating. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8cbNwWiHtQ

• • Dabbler: Last Wednesday, the Council was informed that the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition and Friends of Clark County did not receive a Preliminary Injunction against logging of the Dabbler; however, the hearing will still take place on the merits on June 26th at 3pm at Clark County Superior Court before Judge Vanderwood. Yes, you’re reading that right—logging will be allowed on the Dabbler BEFORE the legal process has even had a chance to play out…
    

• • The Parks Advisory Board held a meeting. More on that here: https://clark.wa.gov/public-works/parks-advisory-board

• This week:
  

• • 🚨 CALL-TO-ACTION on the Clark County Comp Plan Update by TOMORROW, TUESDAY, April 15th at 10am:
    You may recall that the Council recently gave direction to amend the scope of work for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the 2025 Comp Plan Update regarding the hasty resource lands study and the site specific requests (SSRs) for mining. If you need a refresher, you can review our social media post on this topic here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16KVP7GVs2/

    This was almost a huge win for Clark County’s water, air, climate, resiliency, quality of life, and more—however, private industry interests worked around the clock to stop this Amended Resolution from passing as planned. As a result, some Councilors recently indicated a willingness to change their decision and tabled the vote until this Tuesday, April 15th at 10am, leaving the door open to sacrifice 6,000 acres of Clark County’s agricultural and forest land in the Comp Plan Update.

    FOCC, our partners and supporters must generate a BIG showing of support for the Amended Resolution to the Comp Plan DEIS to pass. Email written comments or plan on testifying in person at the Public Service Center in downtown Vancouver or online (scroll down to locate the address and Webex Link for the Tuesday, April 15th 10am meeting. The Amended Resolution is Separate Business Item #2). Follow the link for some talking points, and be sure to include the main statement at the top to be clear about what you support! Don’t have time to write and email? You can use Friends of the Columbia River Gorge’s form letter instead. Link to action here: https://friendsofclarkcounty.org/%f0%9f%9a%a8-call-to-action-to-save-6000-acres-of-ag-forest-land-in-the-clark-county-comprehensive-plan-update/

• • At the 10am 4/15 Clark County Council meeting, appointments and letters of acceptance for members of the new Agricultural Advisory Commission will come before the Council!

  • On Wednesday 4/16, the second Work Session at the 9am Clark County Council meeting will cover the Comp Plan Goals and Policies as well as the Community Framework Plan. Council Time will start at 1pm, and we will be looking out for a report from Chair Marshall and Councilor Little regarding their meeting with Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove about the Department of Natural Resources’ management of Clark County’s trust lands.

  • Thursday, 4/17 at 6:30pm Planning Commission hearing on the Chelatchie Bluff SMO:
    The Clark County Council recently gave unanimous direction to move forward with repealing the Chelatchie Bluff surface mining overlay (SMO) over environmentally sensitive forest land in response to FOCC’s win at the Washington Court of Appeals, which would bring the County back into compliance with state law. The matter will now come before the Planning Commission at a public hearing on Thursday and then go back to the Clark County Council for a hearing. This is a BIG DEAL! If you care about this issue, please consider preparing to submit written public comments or testify at the Planning Commission hearing on Thursday! More details here: https://clark.wa.gov/community-planning/planning-commission-hearings-and-meeting-notes
  • Deep dive into the week’s meeting agenda, including how to participate, here: https://clark.wa.gov/councilors/clark-county-council-meetings

• Ongoing action items:
  • CALL-TO-ACTION on the Clark County Comp Plan Update April 15th at 10am above.
    

• • Chelatchie Bluff SMO action above.

• Public resource: Reminder about a great public resource! FOCC’s own Jackie Lane tracks Clark County’s land use activities in a publicly available document here, so be sure to bookmark it. We’ve recently added many important Comp Plan target dates leading up all the way to the end of the year: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10cpQ2gWr86wLyIlRvhgI9eRF8aesDYIZ/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108071388396855006181&rtpof=true&sd=true

See you next week!
Karissa
FOCC Community Outreach