HEADLINES & HISTORY SINCE 1879
Goldendale, Washington
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2023
Vol. 144 No. 32
$1.00
CEASE head’s complaint against PA dismissed Wagner complaint agaist Quesnel centered on purported offensive text
CONTRIBUTED
COMMUNITY SUPPORT: Washington State Trooper Anthony Maton was seriously injured in an on-duty accident near Goldendale. Now the community has organized a fundraiser dinner and silent auction to provide financial resources toward his medical expenses.
Dinner, auction to be held for Maton LOU MARZELES EDITOR
Washington State Patrol Trooper Anthony Maton’s world changed in a heartbeat the morning of June 19 this year when, in the line of duty, his patrol car left the road on SR 142 outside Goldendale and struck a tree, injuring him severely. Supporters hope to change his world again this Saturday, August 12, when they hold a fundraising dinner for him. The event, a spaghetti dinner and dessert silent auction, will be at 5 p.m. at the Better Living Center, 59 Bickleton Highway, in Goldendale. That’s at the Seventh-day Adventist Church. There is a $20 suggested donation. The silent auction starts at 5 p.m., with dinner from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Auction winners will be announced at 6:30. The young two-year trooper sustained multiple broken bones and a serious head injury in his accident. Janet Matulovich, one of the fundraiser’s organizers, says he’s showing signs of improvement. She is one of several people who went into action to help. “It’s a group of law enforcement wives who helped put this event together,” Janet says. “We wanted
See Maton page A8
Council hears on runaway BPA rate increases RODGER NICHOLS FOR THE SENTINEL Among the items on the agenda at Monday’s Goldendale city council meeting was a report from Jim Smith, general manager of Klickitat PUD. He noted that electrical demand has grown to the point where Klickitat PUD customers are using more than the Bonneville Power Administration allows them to buy at cost, which has been around $35 per kilowatt hour. Usage has risen 20 percent beyond that rate, he reported. In the past, he said, the utility could go on the open market and buy additional power at perhaps $40 per kilowatt hour. “That’s not the same anymore,” Smith said. “We just signed contracts for the next two-year rate period for Bonneville for $60. The open-rate price in the markets this year was $250. We think we made the right decision for two
See City page A8
LOU MARZELES EDITOR
LOU MARZELES
DUAL EVENTS: The Nazarene Church’s annual Back to School Bash was held on the courthouse lawn Saturday. Even the unusual August rain didn’t deter event organizers and attendees as multiple back-to-school supplies were handed out while kids enjoyed nearby bouncy castles. Above, the event workers gather at the music tent to start the day with a prayer. Also occurring that day was a late-organized new Walk for Life to raise funds for Goldendale’s Pregnancy Resource Center. Right, the walkers head out on their circuit around Goldendale.
The SDS sale and its aftermath CITIZEN SANDY News analysis by Sandra DeMent
It has been nearly two years since the SDS timberlands, lumber mill, and related properties were sold to a consortium of partners in a complex and extremely sophisticated deal. The parties brought a mix of interests and combined their expertise in finance and forestry to produce a working partnership that seems to be holding together well. To recap: • SDS owned 96,000 acres of timberlands in nearby Washington and Oregon. • SDS owned a lumber mill in Bingen, including a fleet of barges to transport logs, wood chips, and sawdust to customers further down the Columbia, and a rock quarry on Fisher Hill Road. • SDS owned a wind turbine project, called Whistling Ridge, in Skamania County, and had secured many of the regulatory approvals necessary to develop a wind farm. • SDS owned other investments including several Best Western hotels, and office/retail space in White Salmon. The acquiring entities were: • The Conservation Fund (TCF), a national organization headquartered outside Washington D.C. that has focused on conserving forests and farmlands nationally against subdivision and development. TCF created Lupine Forest LLC to own and manage its 35,000 acres of former SDS timberlands near the Columbia Gorge. TCF used its Green Bond program whereby investors purchased bonds with the expectation they would receive their principal plus interest after ten years. TCF used its green bonds and borrowed funds to acquire its portion of the SDS timberlands, but TCF does not plan to own the forests on a long-term basis. Their local partner is the Columbia Land Trust, which plans to acquire approximately 13,000 acres of the Lupine Forest properties once they are able to raise the funds to buy out TCF. In the interim, TCF appointed American Timber Management to manage Lupine Forest properties. • Twin Creeks Timber, LLC,
another new entity, is co-owned by Seattle-based Silver Creek Capital Management and by Green Diamond Resource Company. Together they own the balance of the SDS timberlands, approximately 61,000 acres. Green Diamond, in addition to having an investment interest in Silver Creek also serves as the forest manager of the Twin Creeks forests, deciding how much timber to cut and whether to sell any holdings. Both Silver Creek Capital Management and American Timber Management are Timber Investment Management Organizations (TIMOs). TIMOs are investor funded organizations that conduct logging, sell carbon offset credits, and even sell land outright to real estate land developers, in order to generate funds to reward investors in the TIMO. There is, therefore, a focus on generating a return for the owners of timberland. Teacher retirement funds and other public pension monies play a major role as Silver Creek investors. • The third of the acquiring entities is Carson-based lumber mill WKO, Inc. (Wilkens, Kaiser & Olsen, Inc.), which now owns the Bingen lumber mill. Part of the assets acquired by
One of the unanswered questions was whether the timberlands would continue to be open to public access. the consortium is the name and trademark, “SDS.” WKO appears to have decided that the SDS name has real value in the lumber market, and accordingly, rather than re-name the mill operation, is continuing to use the SDS name and freshen up the SDS logo on the buildings at the mill. TCF and Green Diamond agreed to send their logs to the Bingen mill for ten years, assuming the mill continues in business. When the sale was announced in late 2021, one of the unanswered questions was whether the timberlands would continue
to be open to public access. Under SDS ownership, most of its timberlands were open for hiking, hunting, fishing, and other recreational uses. (Camping is generally not allowed on timberlands unless special permits are obtained.) According to TCF, the practice of open public access will continue. Also, ranchers who previously entered into cattle grazing agreements with SDS have been renewing those agreements with TCF and Green Diamond. TCF recently held a community tour, showing local landowners what they are doing on the timberlands they acquired along the Klickitat River watershed. A spring tour focused on the White Salmon River watershed, where TCF owns sizeable contiguous acres. The TCF goals differ from traditional commercial timberland owners such as Green Diamond. They are managing Lupine Forest to achieve the following: • Conserve and enhance Oregon White Oak habitat; • Improve habitat for Northern Spotted Owl and Western Gray Squirrel; • Transition forested stands to a more fire-adapted and fire-resilient condition; • Promote complex heterogeneous forests; • Continue to provide recreational, water quality, and economic benefits to the community. Of the 13,000 acres that the Columbia Land Trust hopes to acquire, roughly 7,000 are mixed forests, including significant stands of oaks. In their thinning operations, the loggers’ instructions now include “oak relief” by removing Douglas firs and pines that are growing too close to the oaks. Oaks rarely exceed 100 feet in height, but pines and firs can grow taller, blocking sunlight and eventually killing the oaks. The result is a more heterogeneous forest. In general, loggers working in the Lupine Forests are aiming to achieve a standard of 20 trees per acre, spaced roughly 30 feet apart, and limbed up to minimize “fire ladders.” In 2022, American Forest Management treated approximately 1000 acres in this manner. In 2023, they anticipate doing another 1900 acres. This initial thinning process can result in 30 to 40% of wood removal. TCF and Ameri-
See SDS page A8
Goldendale resident Greg Wagner recently sent a complaint of outrage about Klickitat County Prosecuting Attorney David Quesnel to the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) claiming Quesnel used an extreme expletive in a text to him. Wagner heads the controversial anti-solar development organization CEASE (Citizens Educated About Solar Energy). Quesnel says he can prove he never sent the text in question. Wagner’s complaint was summarily dismissed by the WSBA. Wagner filed a complaint on June 20 to WSBA’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel against Quesnel. “On January 12, 2023, Mr. Quesnel volunteered to write a Short-Term Rental [STR] ordinance,” Wagner’s complaint began, “and stated he would have that completed within 45 days. After the 45-day deadline had elapsed, I sent him several emails asking when he would complete the ordinance but never received a reply. On May 30, 2023, I sent the attached text message to him asking a question and making a suggestion. You can read the series of texts and his vulgar reply. I asked for an apology but received none. My texts should not have generated the vulgar reply I received under any circumstances. I feel that Mr. Quesnel replied in an inappropriate, unprofessional manner, his conduct is inexcusable, may have violated Rules of Conduct, and may be unethical. I do not believe his conduct is in accordance with WSBA standards, should not be condoned, and ask that appropriate disciplinary action be taken.” Wagner then produced screenshots of his purported text exchanges with Quesnel. First he stated Quesnel had failed to write the ordinance in question. “Is your intentional delay in writing the ordinance a method to protect Jake [Klickitat County Commissioner Jacob Anderson], as he has the only STR complaint? As my paid public servant, it’s time for you to write this ordinance.” Wagner’s screenshot then shows a supposed response from Quesnel saying, “I’m so sorry.” Wagner responded, “No, the citizens of Klickitat County are sorry for having you as a PA.” According to Wagner’s screenshot, Quesnel is purported to have then fired off a two-word, very blunt expletive. Wagner writes back, “Mr. Quesnel, you owe me an apology for your vulgar remark.” Wagner says the text exchange was between his cell phone and Quesnel’s county cell phone that has a number listed in Quesnel’s official county information. But county phone records from U.S. Cellular show no texting activity on Quesnel’s cell phone during the entire month the texts were supposed to have occurred. Informed of this, Wagner responded, “My phone text message began Tuesday, May 30, 2023, at 1:01 p.m. and does not show the phone number sent to. I only know his county phone number. It was his phone, and I can only assume they are his texts.” “I have never exchanged texts with Mr. Wagner, ever,” Quesnel says. The WSBA dismissed Wagner’s complaint in a letter dated July 20, 2023. “In your grievance, you provided a copy of a text message sent by Quesnel that contained an expletive,” the WSBA wrote. “As a general rule, a lawyer is not subject to discipline for acting in a
See Text page A8