News / Clark County News

Washougal’s port, wildlife refuge swap land to smooth property access

Contract between the two agencies to be finalized within the next two weeks

By Shari Phiel, Columbian staff writer

Published: July 24, 2024, 5:00pm

2 Photos

Lingering fall color is seen at Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge as low-lying clouds provide a scenic backdrop in December 2023. The Port of Camas-Washougal and U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s negotiations for a land swap are nearly complete. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian files) Photo Gallery

A land swap between the Port of Camas-Washougal and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that may expand the port’s inventory of usable land near Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge is nearly a done deal.

David Ripp, CEO for the port, said he expects a contract between the two agencies to be finalized within the next two weeks.

“We’re just waiting for the documents to be completed,” Ripp said Tuesday. “The (port) commission has signed off and approved it.”

Fish and Wildlife and port officials began talking about a land swap after realizing that one of the levees to be built during the Steigerwald reconnection project in 2021 might divide some of the land near the west end of the refuge. The two agencies decided to wait until the project was complete to determine how the two properties were affected.

Once the project was complete, port and Fish and Wildlife officials realized each had an area of land bisected by the new levee.

“When the new levee was built, it cut off access to a portion of our property on the east side of the levee. And vice versa to the wildlife refuge’s portion of their property on the west side,” Ripp said.

He said access was cut off to about 11 acres of refuge land and about 18 acres of port property.

The port’s 18 acres is valued at $72,000 while Fish and Wildlife’s land is valued at $242,000, meaning the port would have to pay Fish and Wildlife $172,000 to complete the exchange. The port plans to use funds from its reserve account to pay for the land swap.

What the port plans to do with the property once the land exchange is finalized has yet to be determined.

“It’s right adjacent to our Steigerwald Commerce Center, our business park. Now, we’ll have a contiguous piece of property,” Ripp said. “We need to do an analysis to see if there’s any environmental concerns or issues.”

Although some of the property will need to be designated as wetlands, Ripp said some of the property may still be suitable for development. He said the property could potentially be used for mitigation for other future projects.

This story was made possible by Community Funded Journalism, a project from The Columbian and the Local Media Foundation. Top donors include the Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund, Patricia, David and Jacob Nierenberg, Connie and Lee Kearney, Steve and Jan Oliva, The Cowlitz Tribal Foundation and the Mason E. Nolan Charitable Fund. The Columbian controls all content. For more information, visit columbian.com/cfj.

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