There were several assertions and inaccuracies in you recent op-ed about the role of the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust in the eventual preservation of nearly 2,000 acres of forest (and park) on the edge of North Bend. I’d like to address just one of those and explain why the Trust is involved.

The writer accuses the Greenway of being “unwilling to talk” to the opponents of the negotiated agreement that accepts a certain amount of mining in return for eventual preservation of the forest in perpetuity. He seems unaware of the many meetings, tours, letters and individual e-mails exchanged between the Greenway members and the Cascade Gateway Foundation (CGF). In fact, the CGF Web site displays some of the letters we have exchanged. They give a far more accurate picture of the role the Greenway can, and cannot, play in negotiating a plan that brings the most long-term benefits – in terms of parks and forest cover – to the most people. Forests preserved in the whole, the 100-mile Greenway corridor, will benefit people forever with a variety of environmental and social pluses – clean air and water, wildlife habitat and breathing room for a growing population.

The Greenway Trust is a group of local people trying to put together a vision that benefits everyone who lives along I-90, not just now, but for generations to come. Whether we live in Preston (as I do) or North Bend, or Issaquah, or Seattle, we are pledged to look at the whole picture and not just our piece of it. We knew it wouldn’t always be easy, and in the short-term there will be impacts from some of the trade-offs. But in 25 years’ time, the mining at Grouse Ridge will be over and the people who found they had built or bought their houses next to a legally-permitted gravel mine will find they own houses next to a forest park.

And that will be forever.

Maryanne Tagney Jones

Preston