Methow Valley Citizens’ Council

What's So Special About the Methow?

Surrounded by Wilderness, Park, and National Forest, the beauty of the Methow Valley is treasured by both residents and visitors alike.

Unique among rural areas, the Methow is only five hours from the dense populations centers of the Puget Sound Basin yet it has largely escaped the rampant development across the rest of the west. Even with the opening of the North Cascades Highway in 1972, the area remains free from many of the trappings of urban America. But all of this is changing. We've been discovered and with many more visitors, residents, and businesses on the way, the need to plan is increasing.

All across the country, rural areas are buckling under the pressure from outside interests to develop communities which resemble the suburbs of American cities. In the zeal to make developments that are comfortable to everyone, the unique rural character of areas like the Methow are lost. Fast food chains quickly replace the local diner and the billboards block out the barns.

Those of us who appreciate the natural and rural beauty of the Methow and of Eastern Washington realize that this beauty is threatened. As a group, we can work together to safeguard our homes and community from residential sprawl, higher taxes, and unsustainble developments.

The Methow Valley Citizens Council formed in 1975 in response to massive development plans proposed by outside interests. The Council has over 200 active members, from natives to newcomers, permanent residents to visitors. We mail a yearly newsletter to all 4,000 valley residents each year. Our members are active in promoting county, state, and federal guidelines that have a positive effect on the local environment. The Citizens Council works to encourage appropriate zoning for rural settings, protections for air quality, water quality, wildlife and plant communities. The Citizens Council favors a low impact, diversified economy in which the valley's human inhabitants do their best to live within limits that preserve the rural character.

The following people serve on the Board of Directors:

The Methow Valley Citizens' Council
PO Box 774
Twisp WA 98856
phone: 509-997-4811

Board of Directors
Maggie Coon - Chair
Vicky Welch - Vice Chair
Paula Mackrow - Secretary
George Wooten - Treasurer
John Crandall
Peter Morgan
Isabelle Spohn

The Methow Valley Citizens Council has had a long and colorful history. A timeline was published on our website in 2000. Major accomplishments of the Methow Valley Citizens Council include the following (in chronological order):

• MVCC won an appeal against the Forest Service contesting the Twisp-Winthrop-Conconully Forest Plan designating Sandy Butte as a developed recreation site.
• MVCC successfully challenged a proposal to allow large water withdrawals on the Early Winters property when it was being developed by Aspen Ski Corporation.
• MVCC was the prevailing party in the United States Supreme Court appeal of the USDA Forest Service’s Final Environmental Impact Statement for a proposed downhill ski area and large resort complex in the Methow Valley. In that case, MVCC was awarded $211,000 for court costs.
• MVCC helped design Okanogan County zoning codes that provide for environmental mitigation in large subdivision proposals.
• MVCC led public efforts to incorporate five- and twenty-acre lot sizes for the Methow Valley floor and uplands, respectively, in local zoning ordinances.
• MVCC donated educational equipment to local schools and sponsored educational forums on a wide variety of topics, including a regional conference on environmental education. In 1992, we received a Bullitt Foundation Environmental Education Conference grant for $10,000 for converence, newsletters, help to schools, forums.
• In 1995 we received a Bullitt grant for a membership drive and computer equipement for $5000. In the same year, we received a $10,000 grant from Conservation Technology Support Program for GIS Computer Hardware, Software and Training from multiple funders.
• MVCC won a District Court appeal and received an extension of the permit approval required for a proposed new golf course in the upper Methow Valley. At the eleventh hour of the extension, the developer dropped plans for the proposal.
• MVCC successfully helped to design a conservation buyout proposal that stopped plans for a mega-resort and golf course in the upper Methow Valley. Approximately 1,000 acres of land were purchased and put into ownership of four conservation buyers who agreed to protect the natural character of the properties in perpetuity.
• MVCC was funded to administer the creation of a Watershed Council to steward biodiversity in the watershed and work toward the restoration of healthy fish runs. The Watershed Council eventually was funded by the State Legislature.
• In 1996 we received an emergency grant from Brainerd Foundation for $6,500 to fund a survey of aquifer recharge. MVCC conducted the ground water monitoring study by measuring static water levels over the course of a year on a hundred wells in the Valley. This project was eventually reproduced by a US Geological Survey study that found irrigation ditches to be a significant contributor to aquifer recharge.
• MVCC prevailed in Superior Court against Okanogan Public Utility District and the judge ordered the PUD to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement before they build a new transmission line. See our spring 2000 newsletter for details.
• MVCC went to the Washington Supreme Court to try and stop an unnecessary and expensive transmission line proposal from fragmenting remote wildlife areas. Although unsuccessful, the challenge brought attention to government abuse of authority and unified the Methow Valley in efforts to maintain affordable electric rates.