Metropolitan King County council member Reagan Dunn said he is confident the county will find the money to purchase the 216-acres owned by Erickson Logging, Inc. on Squak Mountain.

Erickson purchased the property late in 2012 with the intent to harvest the timber. Public outcry pushed the issue to the forefront of local and county officials attention. In a letter dated Feb. 11 to David Tiemann with the Office of Rural and Resource Programs, Dunn states “I understand that the King County Parks Division is considering an application to purchase this land with Conservation Futures funds and I stand ready to be of assistance in the process.”

Dunn said an application will be sent in March. County officials do not make their final decisions until November. Tiemann said the conservation futures citizens oversight committee reviews applications for requests for money from the Conservation Futures fund. The committee will review and visit all projects requesting funds.

“They serve as an advisory body, only making recommendations to the county executive and county council,” Tiemann said.

Tiemann said the committee’s recommendations are usually followed. The Conservation Futures tax levy funds are collected from property taxes levied throughout King County and its cities for the purchase and permanent protection of open space lands. Dunn said the fund was used to purchase 7,000 acres in the Raging River corridor on the backside of Tiger Mountain a few years ago. Kurt Erickson, of Erickson Logging, Inc., said previously that he would give King County six months to come up with a plan to buy his property for the same amount a developer has offered him.

Dunn said he should be able to get an idea in May from the citizen oversight committee if the project has been selected. He said this is a high priority project so he wants to get it approved quickly. He said Erickson still hasn’t applied for a permit to log, and if he does the “floodgates will open,” with public resistance.

“We’re working on this expeditiously,” Dunn said. “That’s what Conservation Futures is designed to do.”

Dunn also mentioned using a supplemental appropriation, sort of like a bridge loan to lock up the property sooner.

“In the business of government a November timeline is pretty quick turn-around,” Dunn said. “Another option is a land-swap somewhere in the outskirts of the county.”

David Kappler, president of Issaquah Alps and Trails Club said acquiring the property has regional benefits for wild land recreational opportunities close-in to many of the urban Puget Sound cities.

“We are very pleased that council member Dunn is so supportive of acquisition of this critical property adjoining other King County property on southwest Squak Mountain,” Kappler said.

Kappler went on to say that this won’t be a cure to the flooding situation along May Creek, but the acquisition and other efforts by the county are most welcome by property owners finding their property underwater for ever increasing months of the year. The headwaters of May Creek are on Squak Mountain.