The Upper Wenatchee Community Lands Plan is a major visioning project for the Upper Wenatchee River community. The catalyst for this effort is the potential transition of about 38,000 acres of forested land recently sold by Longview Fibre to Weyerhaeuser. Much of the Weyerhaeuser land is adjacent to U.S. Forest Service lands and may be for sale again in the near future. The Trust for Public Land, The Nature Conservancy, Chelan County, and Chelan County Land Trust, gathered input from the community to develop a shared vision to guide decisions about conservation, recreation and development lands. This effort is modeled after two similar highly successful landscape-level plans – the Wenatchee Foothills Community Strategy and the Stemilt-Squilchuck Community Vision.
Year Published2016
StateWashington
Landscape ContextInland
Housing DensitySuburban, Rural
Funding TypeBoth (Public and Private)
Habitat FocusForest, Shrubland
Organizations InvolvedThe Trust for Public Land, Chelan County, The Nature Conservancy, and the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust
ValuesOpen Space/Habitat, Recreation, Working Land, Biodiversity, Employment
Stakeholder InvolvementStakeholders were fullt integrated throughout the process.
Planning ProcessA stakeholder group met several times over a year and a half. There were also three community meetings and an online survey to gather broader public input. Maps were created with the help of a Technical Advisory Team. he project conveners honed in on a list of action step ideas and vetted it with community members by attending and discussing at civic meetings.
Desired OutcomesThe Greenprint aims to support an economy supported by local jobs and businesses, vibrant recreation opportunities, thriving populations of fish and wildlife, and reduced threat of catastrophic wildfire.
Local leaders want to take a proactive approach to guiding the future land uses within the watershed given potential large-scale land sales.
