In response to a proposed U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conservation plan that would ban all jogging and horseback riding on the Dungeness Spit and nearby upland trails, state Rep. Kevin Van De Wege (D – Sequim) is looking into legislation allowing the state to retake control of part of the Spit.
“My constituents are up in arms about this, because it comes across as Big Government restricting the public’s enjoyment of public land,” Van De Wege said. “I started researching the proposal, and I have to say I agree with my constituents. These new limitations go too far.”
Van De Wege believes the federal government’s reasoning for the proposed jogging ban – disturbance to wildlife – is shaky at best.
“They cite scientific investigations going all the way back to 1981 that seem to indicate jogging has the potential to disturb wildlife. If so, why has it been allowed to happen all these years anyway?” Van De Wege said. “Furthermore, how do they plan to police it? Will the feds start handing out citations to joggers?”
Instead of such a heavy-handed approach, Van De Wege favors signage along the trails to educate Spit users about protecting wildlife. He says most visitors to the Spit are walkers and hikers rather than joggers.
As for horseback riding, Van De Wege says an incident earlier this year along a shared trail between a horse and pedestrian resulted in serious injury to the pedestrian. That incident is behind the federal government’s proposal to ban all horseback riding.
“It was a very unfortunate accident and of course we want to minimize the chances of these things happening. But I think we can come up with other ways to protect both horseback riders and pedestrians besides a total ban,” Van De Wege said.
Van De Wege expressed his concerns in a November 30 comment letter to Kevin Ryan, Project Leader of the Washington Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Ryan sent a written response to Van De Wege, but did not indicate the federal government was backing down from its original proposal yet. The public comment period has been extended to January 28, 2013, but Van De Wege believes the online commenting format excludes those with limited Internet access, including many elderly citizens.
As a result, Van De Wege is pursuing possible action in the coming legislative session to potentially revoke an easement the state granted to the federal government for part of the Spit in 1943.
“If the state takes back the land, then the state decides what recreation happens on it,” Van De Wege said. “I strongly believe we should make every effort to keep all public land open to everyone and provide for as many uses as possible.”
The 2013 Legislative Session commences on January 14, 2013.