By Matt Hamilton Our beloved Lake Kapowsin may be gone. For those folks trying to keep up on the issue of the state Department of Natural Resources' (DNR) attempt to place Lake Kapowsin in a permanent "preserve," the issue is mostly settled Environmental concerns in, and people will be kept out I have sat on DNR's community board since September. The meetings were held mostly during the day and sparsely attended. I have read volumes of what they intend to do to the lake. And to sum it up ,just like your mother's favorite strawberry jam preserves, the lake will be sealed forever as a preserve for the future. I started fishing on Lake Kapowsin over 50 years ago. My sons have all drowned worms in the beloved lake in the hope of catching a fish. Both Kapowsin Elementary School and Graham-Kapowsin High School are named after the lake. Many Scout troops have made cleanup efforts around the lake for generations. At 550 acres, it is the second-largest lake in Pierce County, and this may all be lost. By the stroke of a pen in Olympia, the public access to the lake could be forever shut at the Department of Fish and Wildlife boat launch access. You say it can't happen? Did you read the preserve documentation? From 2003 to 2006, I helped shepherd the Graham Community Plan through the planning process. And on Oct. 10, 2006 the plan became a reality. Part of that plan was to make Lake Kapowsin a 1,000-acre park. We badly need park lands here; also, we would be taking pressure off Mount Rainier National Park, which has been loved to death. We are experiencing massive growth in Pierce county at 8,000 new people per year. As we try and plan for the future, our elected folks are doing their very best through these troubling times. I have not met one elected person of any political persuasion that thinks keeping Lake Kapowsin as a future park is a bad idea. We are in the hands of state Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark's staffers at tDNR. We can only hope that they give us a one-year extension on the preserve decision so we can get good old-fashion public input. Not less than five people, none of which are elected or live in Pierce County, will determine Lake Kapowsin's fate. The very name Kapowsin comes from a friendly local Indian chief that helped early settlers survive a harrowing winter here. In the spirit of Chief Kapowsin, lets hope our lake survives a DNR winter. Matt Hamilton lives in Graham.
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