Ueland Tree Farm

South Access Route

With your support it will happen

August 10, 2015

In 2011 when the Ueland Tree Farm (UTF) Mineral Resource Conditional Use Permit (CUP) was approved, we heard from numerous members of the local community that they would prefer that gravel truck traffic go out via Werner Road. Some people also were concerned that the proposed processing facilities were not far away from the Lebers Lane entrance to the tree farm. 

Partly in response to those comments, we spent a considerable amount of time and resources investigating the practicality of creating a south access route to our tree farm. The steep hillside, along with the Navy’s requirement to have a long visibility corridor in both directions when crossing the railroad tracks, made this a particularly challenging issue, one which had not been adequately addressed in past studies (dating back more than two decades). Once we found a route that met environmental and Navy requirements, we also needed to consider the feasibility of acquiring legal access across parcels owned by six different parties, including the Navy, the City of Bremerton, an existing quarry, and an industrial site. After nearly three years of effort and investment, we made sufficient progress by August 2014 to propose a CUP Modification to Kitsap County.

The CUP Modification proposes to:

· Remove Gravel “B” from the project. Gravel “B” will not be developed as we donated a conservation easement to The Mountaineers’ Foundation. UTF is requesting that parcels subject to the conservation easement, and other parcels not directly related to the project, be removed from the proposal.

·  Allow us to shift transport of rock and aggregate from Lebers Lane/Northlake Way to Werner Road. UTF anticipates maintaining the Lebers Lane access route for employees, service and maintenance vehicles, as well as our ongoing timber operations. UTF requests that if the mineral access route changes to Werner Road the conditions in the CUP that apply to Lebers Lane/Northlake Way related to using it for the mineral access route also be removed from the CUP.

·  Allow us to move the aggregate processing facilities off-site. UTF requests that if the facilities are moved off-site (for example, to the existing Kitsap Quarry) the conditions in the CUP that apply to the processing facilities at Gravel “A” also be removed from the CUP.

On August 27th at 10:00am, we will present our proposed modification to the approved Ueland Tree Farm Mineral Resource Development CUP to the Hearing Examiner. We hope to receive community support as it is directly responsive to requests from the community. If you agree these changes are positive developments, we would greatly appreciate your attendance (and participation) at this hearing. This hearing is not about the mining project itself (that already has been approved), rather if UTF should be allowed to shift the mineral access route and location of the processing facility. 

 As always, if you have any questions please call Mark Mauren at (253) 307-5900 or read the material in the “CUP Modification” folder on the front page of our website.