by Minnie Knych
All residents of the San Juans should be aware of the very real implications of the recently leaked information in a US Department of the Interior document revealing an intention by the National Park Service to possibly seek Congressional Authorization to declare The San Juan Islands as a National Monument.
Although there are claims that “it will only include current federal properties of NPS and BLM” or that it will somehow increase tourism and local business, ask yourself why such a declaration was quietly proposed. The federal government already has complete control of the 900 acres of federal lands in the San Juans. What is the intended result of National Monument designation?
This designation will increase the government’s ability to condemn and otherwise control your property and lives through eminent domain, buffers and/or other government mandates that authorize federal government to increase its authority over our homes and properties at the expense of our state and local governments. The San Juans are a pristine and desirable place to live because of our local residents who have been good land stewards.
A declaration of our beloved islands as a National Monument sets in motion a host of future actions. History has shown that a process of growing federal controls over everything from local road and private shed construction to sewer projects, docks, boating, and a host of other local and private activities follow this kind of designation. Additional properties will be identified by federal realtors and funding will be secured opportunistically for select parcels as well as the consolidation of scattered parcels. Federal interference by federal politicians and federal bureaucrats will steadily increase over our unique island communities while the authority and jurisdiction of our State and Local governments will decrease to the detriment of our rights and our way of life.
Claims of more tourism and business are not to be believed as people tour and spend their money in visits to and in private communities run by local governments that are responsible to local voters, rural economies and local businesses; not federal enclaves run by bureaucrats and government concessionaires. Federal bureaucrats are responsive to federal overseers and the organizations that lobby them. They come from and go to other areas as career opportunities devised by federal politicians and their appointees find convenient.
Please consider the unintended consequences of this National Monument designation. Help us do all we can to “save” our community in the San Juans. We must keep our San Juan Islands under the county, state and local authority that has allowed each of us to make this the desirable place to visit and raise a family that it has become without federal interference and control.
Minnie Kynch lives in Friday Harbor.
