S.O.S. LETTERS

This letter was sent registered mail on 11/17/07.

After 4 months waiting, The POCD has finally answered our letter.

Pend Oreille County Conservation District

Diane Wear

District Board Chairman

PO Box 280

Newport, WA 99156

Dear Ms. Wear

In August of this year residents of Sacheen Lake attended your monthly meeting and gave the Board this list of questions. I am writing to ask for a written response to the outstanding questions. As we discussed, the POCD is an important entity for the county, and there may be things we can all do to insure its survival and functionality.

1. What is the process of determining if a project qualifies under a grant? For example, hiring a hydrologist to determine the best way to reduce flooding at Sacheen Lake did not qualify, however larger beaver tubes did qualify. How will the checks and balances be organized for the next $75,000 in grant money?

2. Will the POCD help with the Beaver Tube Project and assist with the quality monitoring process asked for by the Pend Oreille Planning Commission?

3. Will the Conservation District be doing a translation of the Wetland Delineation applicability to Sacheen issues?

4. Per the grant stipulations, who is writing grants for us in the West Branch LSR Watershed? What consideration is being given to Sacheen? What was the rationale behind Russ Fletcher declining to help write the permit applications for the Sacheen Tube Project?

5. Is the current progress report for the Watershed Committee (and Ecology) ready?

6. Is there any money left from the County funded beaver dam reduction project last year?

7. Has anyone from POCD been downstream since the delineation final report and the tube project application and approval?

8. How will the next $75,000 in funding be apportioned?

Finding common ground that we all can all work from to reduce flooding at Sacheen Lake would be beneficial to both the Lake residents as well as the downstream neighbors. Thank you for your attention to this requisition. We look forward to hearing your response.

Kindest regards,

Jason Sargent

President

Save Our Sacheen

Cc: Bruce H. Erickson

Attorney at Law

Pend Oreille Conservation District

P.O. Box 280· Newport, Washington 99156· Telephone: (509) 447-5370· FAX: (509) 447-0371

March 4, 2008

Dear Save Our Sacheen,

This letter is in response to the written questions received at the November 2007 Board of Supervisors meeting.

1.        Projects are normally solicited by the landowners within the district, based on available grants and lesser monies available from the Washington State Conservation Commission. These are OUT main sources of funding. IfPOCD has the manpower and/or the monies to complete a project, it is taken under consideration by the Board, provided it qualifies under the scope of the grants, which also dictates the checks and balances. We are, at times, also solicited by other entities to provide oversight and/or facilitation.

2.        The beaver tube project at Sacheen was put forward by the Sacheen Sewer District and the West Branch Little Spokane River Committee, a sub-committee of the WRIA 55/57. POCD has access to CTED (Community Trade and Economic Development) monies to do Beaver Mitigation projects only, but these monies are for "bricks and mortar" type projects and allows no administrative cost or studies, i.e. hydrology. POCD has been and continues to work with the West Branch Committee. The Sacheen Sewer District and the county are also represented on that committee.

3.        The Shannon and Wilson Wetland Delineation presentation to the WBLSR Committee was held after we received the finalized report. We understand it was excellent and well received

4.        5.6.8. Russ Fletcher resigned in June of 2007, before you posed these questions. Therefore, we are not certain what you refer to when you state "per the grant stipulations, who is writing grant for us'!" Due to this, we are not able to answer your question regarding writing permit applications or the progress report. Andrew Huddleston now represents POCD at these meetings. Andrew looked into the funding aspects and reported to the committee on Monday, February 25, 2008. The committee voted to extend a portion (213) of the monies, which total $12,000..$13,000 to retain the facilitator and the remainder for POCD administration of the CTED monies (approximately $75,000). The WBLSR Committee will decide how the project monies are to be used throughout the watershed. When those monies are gone, POCD will again have to seek monies for administration in order to be able to execute the CTED monies.

5.        No one from POCD has been downstream since Mr. Fletcher resigned Andrew intends to work with the landowner after the snow melts, to gain access and a better understanding of what is going on out there.

The POCD Board, as part of their 5 Year Plan, has continued to be involved in matters at Sacheen Lake and throughout the West Branch in order to solve, educate, and be proactive in matters affecting the watershed We thank you for your inquiry and appreciate the opportunity to continue to work with all landowners and groups at Sacheen Lake and the West Little spokaneWatershed.