PORT TOWNSEND — Is there a link between the United Nations, Olympic National Park and possible control of Jefferson County shoreline regulations and water policy?
Republican District 3 county commissioner candidate Jim Boyer, who has called his opponent an “enviro-wacko,” suspects there is a connection through the U.N.’s Biosphere Program.
“I am interested in what is entailed and how it manifests itself into the control of our water for farmers and in the Chimacum Valley and Snow Creek Watershed and how these different entities intertwine,” Boyer, a 64-year-old Port Ludlow home-builder, said Thursday.
“I have concerns about why it seems like we have subordinated our sovereignty to an international body that makes its own rules,” he added.
Boyer, running against incumbent Democrat John Austin in the Nov. 2 general election, was the top vote-getter in the Aug. 17 primary election, which included Democrat Diane Johnson.
Olympic National Park is among 500 sites worldwide that are in the Biosphere Program, which is overseen by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, known more famously by its acronym, UNESCO.
The sites “serve as places to test different approaches to integrated management of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine resources and biodiversity,” according to the U.N. website, www.un.org.
“It’s an honorary sort of distinction that basically recognizes the unique and world-class attributes of the resources here,” park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said.
“There’s no regulatory conditions or situations that are part of that program.”
Boyer was researching the participation of North Olympic Peninsula governments in the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives when he became concerned about the Biosphere Program, he said.
ICLEI, an international association of local governments, “provides technical consulting, training, and information services to build capacity, share knowledge, and support local government in the implementation of sustainable development at the local level,” according to its website, www.iclei.org.
“There is a link to all these things that makes me curious,” Boyer said.
“I would like to know why all these guys are tied together and who’s making the rules.
“I just have concerns in reading what is on their websites and in public information and having seen how the process went on here with the shoreline master program, and WRIA [Water Resources Inventory Area] 17, where citizen input was somewhat ignored and special interests were given a lot of leverage in directing what the final outcome was,” he said.
“They seemed very intent on pushing an outcome they had decided on ahead of time, and I know from having been through different educational experiences that a lot of those people involved in those governmental bodies are also very involved in different groups like Futurewise, and there is an agenda behind those groups.”
Jefferson County is not a member of ICLEI but shares software that ICLEI provides the city of Port Townsend through the city’s $1,200-a-year membership in the organization.
The software measures carbon emissions.
ICLEI does not regulate any city or county operations.
Along with the software, “all we get is a newsletter,” City Manager David Timmons said.
Washington-based Futurewise works “to ensure that local governments manage growth responsibly,” according to its website, www.futurewise.org.
WRIA 17 encompasses the Quilcene-Snow watershed and includes eastern Jefferson County. District 3 includes southeastern Jefferson County.
Water-use regulations for WRIA 17 were established through the state Department of Ecology. The agency said it wants to ensure enough water is available for salmon habitat and human consumption.
“Citizen input was not ignored,” said Austin, 69, of Port Ludlow.
“People feel very strongly about wanting to have access to water, and I think they don’t like to have people telling them how much or how little they can have.”
Boyer has blogged about his opinion of Austin on the online political forum, www.freerepublic.com.
His handle is “baynative,” which is used by at least one other person, he said.
Boyer confirmed that on the forum he said Austin is “our most liberal enviro-wacko county commissioner.”
“I used the same kind of slang that people use against me,” Boyer said.
“I will plead guilty to hyperbole. I probably should have said irresponsible.”
Boyer said he was referring to the Austin’s vote earlier this summer that prevented the state Department of Natural Resources from auctioning, for logging, two parcels of more than 60 acres of timber land between Gibbs and Beausite lakes three miles southeast of Chimacum.
The timber value of the property, located near a Kiwanis camp, was $325,000, DNR Olympic Region Manager Susan Trettevik said Thursday.
Under the arrangement with DNR, the agency will find a comparable parcel elsewhere in Jefferson County.
“I don’t think that’s a sound decision, and yeah, I call that wacky,” Boyer said.
The county has been prevented from generating revenue and is out $45,000 in DNR transfer fees, Boyer said.
Austin, who said he does not post comments on political blogs, suggested Boyer should do his homework.
“I think land use law is extremely complicated, particularly land use law referring to our DNR-managed properties,” Austin said.
“I don’t think Mr. Boyer understands the complexity of the timber management regulations for the DNR, and I don’t blame him because they are complex, so I can see how he would not understand this particular transaction, which I did see as a terrific opportunity for the county at virtually no cost to complete a county park that would incorporate Gibbs Lake and Beausite Lake county parks,” he said.
“We would have lost it if the timber had been cut, and I was responding to a very real concern that frankly dozens of volunteers and workers at the Kiwanis camp had expressed,” Austin said.
“We are going to get our income, and get our income off our forest to a greater level than if there would have been a timber sale at today’s prices.”
He compared Boyer calling him wacky to Winston Churchill saying Mahatma Gandhi looked “half-naked” because of Gandhi’s style of dress.
Gandhi responded that Churchill was a very funny man “and didn’t get hooked into taking these statements personally,” Austin said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.