Lemonade from a Lemon

            To understand the significance of Brian Adams recent visit to Youngs Park on the north end of Guemes Island, a bit of background is appropriate. 

            Brian Adams is the Parks Director for Skagit County- currently, but Mr. Adams retires at the end of this March.  He had come this last time in his official capacity to Youngs Park on Guemes to fulfill a promise he made at the end of the Youngs Park debacle which found Skagit County Public Works converting over an acre of the upper park area to a gravel storage yard. 

            This project began in April, 2022 as County Public Works arrived unannounced with a large excavator and began clearing the forested land to what Brian Adams had been told would be a 60 ft x 60 ft storage area for crushed rock used for island road repair.  This crushed rock had traditionally been stored at the northeast corner of the Guemes Island School House Playground. By the time the project was completed, the small lot turned out to be more like an acre of cleared land with the forest debris piled up along the west perimeter of the large clearing and many dump truck loads of crushed rock piled in its center. 

            This entire project had been completed before the opening of the new stage at the Guemes School House Park in May of 2022.  Permits for the project, including the question of environmental impact, were not submitted until December, 2022.  The permits were left to the Parks Department to submit, a surprise to Brian Adams. He was saddled with the project which was passed to him by the Public Works Director, Grace Kane, who said the land was his responsibility.  What followed was a drawn-out process further entangled in February, 2023 with the County Hearing Examiner issuing a Determination of Non-Significance regarding the environmental impact of converting a once forested acre of the 20 acre park to a gravel storage depot.  By the end of 2023, after a major effort by the Guemes Island Planning Advisory Committee (GIPAC) including letters form their attorney and many letters from islanders plus a petition with over 900 signatures supporting Yadi Young’s plea that the park in her Medal of Honor  husband’s name, not be turned into a gravel dump.  The County finally relented and agreed to “restore” the area.  At the time of the final resolution, Brian Adams said he wanted to make something of the mess left to him by creating a forest interpretive trail through the 20 acres featuring art work hopefully from Guemes Island’s artistic community.

            A senior member of the Skagit County Parks Board accompanied Adams in the recent visit. They discussed the project with a note that it not be forgotten after Adams’ retirement.  As we stood looking at the flattened acre of once forested land, Adams explained that he will be hiring a land scape architect, likely from Anacortes, to draw up a plan, including a minimal parking area, to access the forest trail.  He also will bring in Washington Trails Association to construct the forest path. Both men were aware of the successful example set by Dogwoods on Guemes creating such an island forest trail open to the public. This plan he hoped would capture Yadi Young’s husband’s express desire to provide a completive place for veterans to come to for a rejuvenating natural experience.

            After discussing the plans, the two headed down the hill to the section of Youngs Park along the beach to view a bird-like sculpture recently installed in its south-west corner.