Fargher Lake might become an actual lake again.
A newly proposed wetland mitigation bank would restore a portion of Fargher Lake in north Clark County, in return for allowing developers to fill wetlands elsewhere.
o What: The state Department of Ecology is seeking comment on a proposal to construct and operate a 113-acre wetland mitigation bank in the Fargher Lake area. The comment period ends Jan. 7.
o To comment: Send written comments to Kate Thompson, Department of Ecology, P.O. Box 47600, Olympia, WA 98504-7600, or kate.thompson@ecy.wa.gov.
Fargher Lake has mainly existed as a geographic point of reference rather than an actual lake since farmers drained it for agricultural purposes beginning 80 to 100 years ago.
o What: The state Department of Ecology is seeking comment on a proposal to construct and operate a 113-acre wetland mitigation bank in the Fargher Lake area. The comment period ends Jan. 7.
o To comment: Send written comments to Kate Thompson, Department of Ecology, P.O. Box 47600, Olympia, WA 98504-7600, or kate.thompson@ecy.wa.gov.
That would change if state and federal regulators sanction the creation of a new wetland mitigation bank on 113 acres off Northeast 379th Street. It would mark the county’s second state-sanctioned mitigation bank, both organized and operated by Woodinville-based Habitat Bank Inc.
The company would disable drain tiles and allow nature to take its course.
“Once they start breaking the drainage tiles … we anticipate water will return to that site in just a couple of months,” said Curt Hart, a spokesman for the state Department of Ecology.
The agency announced a 30-day public comment period on the proposal Wednesday.
Environmental regulators have endorsed the concept of large wetland banks to offset the filling of scattered wetlands for new roads, homes and businesses. They see the concept as a better alternative than requiring developers to create smaller scattershot mitigation projects that generally don’t work very well.
The banking concept works basically like this: The “banker” spends money upfront to create, enhance or restore a wetland in a given area. Next, state and federal environmental regulators certify the bank and establish a service area. Developers who drain or fill low-grade wetlands within that service area may offset the damage by buying “credit” from the bank.
The bank is then monitored and maintained forever through conservation easements stamped to the property records.
In the case of Fargher Lake, Habitat Bank partner Victor Woodward said the company intends to purchase conservation easements on six parcels owned by three property owners. The company will then manage the bank in perpetuity.
Landowners include Perry and Cheryl Gilmour, John Deleganes, and Warren and Sara Sarkinen, according to county records.
Woodward said the company has so far invested about $2 million developing the concept and seeking permits for its two banks in Clark County: The one at Fargher Lake and another one previously approved by the Department of Ecology at the Port of Vancouver. Woodward said he expects to spend another $600,000 at Fargher Lake removing drain tiles and planting upland areas with water-tolerant native trees and shrubs.
The payoff will come when the bank is certified by state and federal regulators.
When that happens, Woodward anticipates the bank at Fargher Lake — officially known as the East Fork Lewis Wetland Mitigation Bank — will have 91 credits available for sale at a price to be determined by the market. Woodward figures developers will be willing to pay between $125,000 and $150,000 for one credit in the East Fork bank.
He said he’s already fielded calls from interested developers in La Center.
“We’re compensating the landowners to the tune of a couple of million dollars,” Woodward said. “They’ll be getting a significant amount of each sale.”
The bank would conservatively clear more than $8 million by the time it sells out, though Woodward noted that the bank will have to pay for monitoring and ongoing maintenance.
The bank will restore just a portion of the original lake, which spanned 500 to 600 acres, Woodward said. Hart said the lake is actually part of an ancient volcanic caldera, a type of depression formed when a large volume of magma is removed from beneath a volcano.
Erik Robinson: 360-735-4551, or erik.robinson@columbian.com.
