SEQUIM — Opponents of the state’s proposal to turn Miller Peninsula into a destination state park said they will continue to push against it after it was spotlighted at a State Parks Commission work session and at a regular meeting.
No action was taken during the meetings.
Miller Peninsula, a 2,800-acre undeveloped park east of Sequim, currently includes a trail system maintained by Back Country Horsemen through second-growth forest.
If the state’s plan comes to fruition, it will have more trails, a visitors center, a nature playground, interpretive elements, a multi-purpose open space area for community events and learning opportunities, picnic shelters, RV camping, standard bike and tent sites, standard park cabins, two bunkhouses for field trips and six to 10 treehouses or free-standing structures among trees, a first for a state park.
Some who disagree would like the state to consider a simpler plan: a day-use park with educational opportunities. Dissenters have included those who live nearby, park users and other Olympic Peninsula residents.
Although some expressed concerns that plans for a full-service park will continue to move forward despite their long-held objections, it is possible they won’t, at least not in the near future. An exchange between commissioner Holly Williams and Parks Director Diana Dupuis after a detailed presentation about the proposal seemed to put those plans in question.
Regardless, members of Friends of Miller Peninsula State Park and Preserve Miller Peninsula State Park Coalition indicated a determination to keep fighting the proposal.
“We’re hoping to organize to the extent that there are enough concerned citizens of the Peninsula that we can kind of coalesce around this,” said Warren Wilson, who lives near East Sequim Bay Road and is the newest member of Preserve Miller Peninsula State Park Coalition’s Steering Committee.
The group has about 500 members and a website, preservempsp.wixsite.com/millerpeninsula.
“Bringing people on board is kind of our primary focus,” Wilson said. “And then, hopefully, with that, we will bring awareness to the (Parks) Commission. I would say that we are very hopeful.”
The workshop, held Jan. 29, included a slide presentation on the project by Parks Planner Lauren Bromley. She updated the commission on the process to develop a Classification and Management Plan (CAMP) and a Master Plan, along with an associated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Her report detailed strides that have been made as well as goals for 2025, including selecting a preferred Master Plan development.
Debi Maloney, also a member of the Preserve Miller Peninsula State Park Coalition, said the plan that was presented, with the CAMP’s land designations, was different from what had been presented previously. The last public meeting for the Miller Peninsula project was in October 2022 at 7 Cedars Resort in Blyn. It drew about 300 people.
“That was the last time people were really able to express their opposition,” Wilson said.
“We’re confused as to how they can make those designations … without having completed the Environment Impact Statement,” Maloney said.
She noted that, according to Bromley, another $300,000 is needed for the EIS, despite a one-time allotment of $600,000 last year from the governor and the Legislature, which was supposed to include the EIS.
Desires, concerns
Bromley said in a statewide survey that drew more than 800 responses and at a public engagement event held at the Big Horn Outdoor Show in Spokane, both conducted in 2023, many participants expressed a desire to see overnight accommodations at Miller Peninsula as well as more trails and interpretive elements.
She said concerns have fallen into six categories: traffic on Diamond Point Road, overdevelopment, water availability, forest fires, emergency response and climate change.
Wilson said “many issues are at play here” and that the Preserve Miller Peninsula group has been trying to get data from the state’s hydrologists so the group can hire its own expert to compare data.
Williams asked Bromley if the commission could “scale down” the project or “go up incrementally.” Bromley indicated that could be done and said the first step for being able to move forward is to complete the EIS.
“We can’t move forward with any kind of development until that happens,” she said, adding that the state “could start with bike and tent sites and basic utilities and not move forward until funding is available,” a process that could take years.
The workshop did not include comments from the public, but speakers were allowed at the commission’s regular meeting the next day. Four people spoke against the state’s plans for Miller Peninsula: Maloney and Darlene Shanfeld, who participated virtually, and Sue Gilman and Ellen Massey, who addressed the commission in person.
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Kathy Cruz is the editor of the Sequim Gazette of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also is composed of other Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. She can be reached by email at kathy.cruz@sequimgazette.com.
