The Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust has recently received inquiries about our position on the proposed Snoqualmie Tribe casino. While we don’t have a position regarding the casino, we have had occasion to talk with members of the Snoqualmie Tribe about this project, and I’d like to pass along our experiences.

For the past 10 years, the most important goal of the Greenway Trust has been to protect the farm and forest landscapes along I-90 to provide places for wildlife, recreation, great scenery and continuing natural resource economies. Without a plan for protection, these open spaces would slowly convert to urban uses. Once development enters isolated spots in the forest corridor, the combination of population, rural land prices and transportation accessibility creates a nearly unstoppable pressure for more development.

Two years ago, when we read of the Snoqualmie Tribe’s plan to buy 2,000 acres of private forest land in the Raging River basin for economic development, we were worried. Millions of dollars have been invested to protect public forestry in this area along I-90, but a few intensive developments could easily undo those efforts. We contacted the Tribe and were, frankly, relieved when they were interested in talking.

We met with tribal representatives and described Greenway history and our goals for forest and watershed conservation. Members of the Tribe voiced strong support for the Greenway concept and the goal of saving sustainable natural systems in the Upper Valley. Given that shared interest, we encouraged them to look for a site in an urban or planned urban area where a heavy-use facility would not be so disruptive and where urban services were already available; but not in the middle of the Forest Production Zone.

We had begun this discussion with the idea, “Why can’t the Tribe do forestry or fishing for economic development?” But we came to understand their unique needs. They have waited a long, long time for recognition as a tribe, holding their members together with hope and promises of something better. They need health care and education facilities and a center where they can begin to build their culture again. Recognition by the U.S. government brings a legal basis for a community but does not bring the dollars for those needs. So while Tribal leaders began to accept Greenway goals, we came to understand the timing and scale of their needs for economic development.

They readily expanded their search for development land and we tried to help them find alternatives. In one case, when a forested parcel along I-90 appeared available and attractive to them, the Tribe’s development team turned its back on it. They had taken the connected forest corridor goal seriously and they were willing to keep looking. They found the site they now have on their own; it is probably not the most perfect for them because it doesn’t have commanding visibility on a major freeway. I think that has been a compromise on their part, made willingly as they try to blend their needs into both the community and the surrounding forests.

From the viewpoint of good growth management, the Tribe’s current site has virtues. It’s situated in the city’s designated urban growth area and is therefore destined for change regardless of the casino. (Current zoning would permit a density of five units per net acre requiring a mix of residential uses. The casino site, being larger than 10 acres, would require at least three housing types including single family, duplexes, condominiums and town homes.) The proposed site is also close to existing sewer and water utilities and takes the major amount of its traffic off a close-by interstate exit.

For neighbors who have consciously chosen to live in and who love the quiet character of rural areas, such change is profound and disturbing. Coping with complex traffic and environmental changes without the voice afforded by the usual planning process is potentially difficult and intimidating. But on the edge of an existing town with a growing population, it can be a reality of life. Then the questions become, can we creatively manage and mitigate the impacts and set some of the landscape aside as we grow? Designated urban growth areas and protected open spaces such as the Greenway seem to be the best answers our society has developed so far. We can also set some design standards and seek compromises so that different styles and land uses can better coexist.

We have watched the Tribe consider many sites from Seattle to the mountains, some in congested urban areas, some on the edge of nowhere. They could have made quick decisions two years ago without regard to the impacts, but they didn’t. They took a long time apparently trying to find a site that works well for them and the whole community. It has been our experience that the Tribe is willing to listen to the desires of others and is sincere and flexible in responding. We think there is good reason to expect that they will continue this willingness to work with their neighbors so that what they build on the hill above the Valley will have a net positive effect for them, and therefore, for all of us.

Nancy Keith is executive director of Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, based in Seattle.