Notice of Land Conversion
Twisp River Ponds, 50 Twisp River Road, Twisp, WA 98856
Properties identified for conversion and replacement.
PURPOSE: The Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation (MSRF) is inviting public comment on its proposal to transfer ownership of a portion of the property to the Town of Twisp, in exchange for property owned by the town that provides increased opportunities for habitat restoration. The properties are identified in the attached map below:
COMMENT PERIOD: Comments will be accepted until August 8, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. Comments must be made in writing, and can be submitted to:
Chris Johnson, Board President
PO Box 755
Twisp, WA 98856
BACKGROUND: The Twisp River Ponds property (the ponds) is an approximately 3.09-acre property owned by Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation (MSRF) located adjacent to Twisp River Rd. and Borchard Lane in the town of Twisp (see map above).
The property includes public access to the Twisp River, developed walking trails, open space areas, and habitats restored in support of salmon recovery actions. Primary access to the property is provides from a primitive parking area located at 50 Twisp River Rd.
MSRF acquired the property with grant funding provided by the WA State Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) in December of 2002, and provided a Deed of Right to the State of WA for salmon recovery purposes. A boundary survey was completed by MSRF following acquisition to facilitate planning for future access and habitat projects. The habitat survey identified existing encroachments for public road and utilities existed over a 9,573 square foot segment of the ponds that prevent the use of that area to support intended salmon recovery and public recreational uses.
USE LIMITATION AND THE LAND CONVERSION PROCESS: The RCO Deed of Right includes restrictions that prohibit development or use of the funded properties for activities or uses inconsistent with the grant objectives. RCO has notified MSRF that the ongoing uses for access and utilities are inconsistent with those grant requirements.
The proposed remedy for addressing the identified non-compliance is to complete a “conversion,” of the portion of the ponds property from salmon recovery purposes to public utility purposes. Conversion of lands acquired through state and federal funding programs requires mitigate for the values lost through Conversion through the acquisition of other land with equal or greater fair market value and equivalent qualities, characteristics and location as a substitute for the converted property. MSRF and the Town of Twisp have identified an acceptable property to mitigate the Conversion, which is identified as the “Replacement
Property” on the attached map. The Conversion and Replacement property values have been determined to be comparable and to satisfy state requirements.
PROPOSED ACTION: MSRF is working with RCO and the Town of Twisp to complete the above described conversion and acquisition to mitigate for the loss of lands purchased for salmon recovery purposes.
Several alternatives were considered in developing the preferred alternative for resolving the described conversion.
Alternative 1 – Do Nothing. Under this alternative the segment of the Ponds Property would continue to be used for both public road access and public utilities. This is not considered a viable alternative because it would not resolve the conflict in land use identified by the survey.
Alternative 2 – Fee simple acquisition of other non-MSRF owned property of equal or greater value. Under this alternative, MSRF would be required to seek other (non-RCO) funding for the acquisition of a Replacement Property. The proposed Replacement Properties would need to support an identified restoration need and be approved by RCO for mitigation purposes. This is not considered a viable alternative as no properties were identified of similar value in the vicinity that would be suitable as a stand-alone restoration site.
Alternative 3 – Complete the proposed property exchange with the Town of Twisp described above. The town desires the MSRF owned Conversion Property in order to maintain and improve existing public utilities. MSRF desires a portion of the Twisp owned Replacement Property, which provides identified restoration opportunities and lies adjacent to MSRF owned property on the Methow River. This alternative has been selected as the preferred alternative.
