The North Sound Conservancy (NSC) is a non-profit umbrella organization or coalition made up of individuals and organizations concerned about land use decisions within Skagit and Whatcom Counties, especially those involving the establishment of public parks, park districts, and the management of public lands. Membership is open to both groups and individuals who share the Conservancy’s stated objectives.

What are the objectives of the North Sound Conservancy?

The following are the six key objectives of the NSC, as approved by its Board of Directors:

a. Promote good stewardship of the Chuckanut Mountains and adjoining rural areas located in Skagit and Whatcom Counties, Washington (the “Region”) through cooperative efforts between private and public interests, recognizing that both have an important role to play in the preservation of the Region for future generations.

b. Improve the quality of existing parks in the Region and promote the expansion of such parks through the conversion of selected, publicly owned lands (such as those managed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for the State of Washington) to permanent park status.

c. Encourage private owners of agricultural and forest lands located within the Region to follow best management practices so as to preserve the essential character of such lands, and limit future growth in such areas to that authorized by existing zoning ordinances and comprehensive land use plans.

d. Consistent with the requirements of state law, limit any new park districts proposed by citizen initiative to discreet, identifiable geographic areas containing similar population densities in order that residents of densely populated neighborhoods cannot arbitrarily impose their will on the residents of lightly populated areas by creating “gerrymandered” park boundaries that bear little or no relationship to existing geographic or political boundaries. To the extent that any proposed park district created by citizen initiative spans more than one county or other existing political subdivision, condition approval of any such district on the affirmative majority vote of the residents of each county or political subdivision that will be included within the district.

e. Ensure that new or expanded parks are funded not just by the residents of the proposed park district, but by all those who benefit from them, either through the use of general tax revenues, and/or the collection of user fees.

f. Avoid the creation of additional layers of government bureaucracy that will only result in (i) uncertainty regarding who has ultimate responsibility for maintenance of public lands and parks within the Region, (ii) duplication of efforts by agencies with overlapping responsibilities, and (iii) the waste of scarce public resources.

Roger Mitchell, President
Bob Rauch, Vice President
Leslie Braun, Secretary
Nancy Meyer, Treasurer
Ellen Cooley, Member
David Gregory, Member
LaDonna Herman, Member
Garey Vodopich, Member
Mary Ann Welding, Member