Save a Forest in Southworth, WA

Background Info

Deforestation causes climate change, and the Southworth community in Port Orchard, Washington is not immune to this reality. Local forest canopies protect all of our homes and public spaces from the worsening effects of global warming, and Southworth has few remaining forests of any significant size. Converting more forest acreage to agricultural operations only mortgages our future with a payment that someday will be impossible to afford.

Aerial photo of the forest removal so far in Southworth.

In 2016, the Clemmensen family purchased one of Southworth's only remaining large, forested parcels at 11004 SE Southworth Dr. with the intent of restoring its acreage to a healthy conifer habitat, removing homeless encampments, decades of dumping, and noxious species. This work can be viewed from Southworth Dr. atop the hill about two blocks west of the ferry terminal.

Not long after, the larger, forested real estate behind the Clemmensens at 11090 SE Southworth Dr. and adjoining Level Lloyd Ln. was purchased by Meghan and Clint Edwards, who clear-cut and re-graded their forest without the proper Kitsap County permit. The County is requiring Edwards to obtain an "after-the-fact" permit to legalize their actions. Edwards plans to replant only a very small portion of the forest they destroyed, and they now propose removing up to 70 additional trees within a disputed easement in the Clemmensens' forest as well.

The Southworth community is asking for your help to urge Kitsap County to consider the impacts of deforestation in Southworth and require that the clear-cutters replant a buffer of conifers around the perimeter of their acreage and not remove an additional 70 trees from the Clemmensens' forest restoration project. You can make your voice heard to permit reviewers at Kitsap that are considering a corrective permit for the Edwards, and you can support the Clemmensens' restoration and legal efforts to stop the further deforestation via GoFundMe.

The Longer Story

The Clemmensen family is restoring the neighboring forest.

When the Clemmensen family purchased 11004 SE Southworth Dr. in 2016, the vacant 5-acre lot was known in the community for its homeless encampments, illegal dumping, and unhealthy forest. Two blocks from the ferry terminal and highly visible from Southworth Dr., the land was used extensively by the public, and garbage ranging from small plastics to concrete, batteries, tires, mechanical parts, barbed wire, and political signs littered the area.

Cleaning the garbage required years of careful removal of blackberries, holly, and scotch broom that dominated the property's thinning forest and covered the extent of the garbage, a process that continues today. As sections of the acreage were cleared, the Clemmensens began planting a new generation of conifers to replace the ailing big leaf maples, alders, and cherry trees that are dying out. Each young tree requires deer protection, as they had been killing the younger conifer generation for years via rubbing and snacking.

By arborist recommendation, the property is being reforested with a combination of Douglas fir, Grand fir, Western red cedar, Giant sequoia, Western hemlock, and Sitka spruce. They join some resurgence of big leaf maple and native shrubs. With climate change posing challenges for the cedars and hemlocks in our region, an emphasis is placed on fir, spruce, and sequoia (redwood) trees to ensure long-term survivability. From 2019 to now, hundreds of trees of at least a half-gallon size have been planted, and about 80% have survived thus far.

In Southworth, we have witnessed significant tree loss in recent years, whether caused by wind, drought, Puget Sound Energy, or development. We are losing high-profile mature trees in the area all the time. The process of planting large quantities of potted trees to replace our canopy is expensive and time-consuming. Mature trees can loan nutrients to each other via their roots, but young trees need watering in these record dry and hot summers, and the deer will nibble or rub many of the survivors to death. But the effort is well worth preserving whatever forest cover possible for the community.

Huge quantities of garbage have been pulled from the understory next to Southworth Dr. to make way for new trees and shrubs. This is one pile of many.

The Clemmensens are teaching their sons to be stewards of the forest and have planted hundreds of trees together so far.

Much of the forest in the background of this 2017 photo was killed by clear-cutters who then proposed removing the remaining trees to build a new road to their agricultural operations.

Behind 11004 SE Southworth Dr. is 11090 SE Southworth Dr., which was long one of the largest forested properties in Southworth, its magnificent trees visible from the ferry terminal uphill of Level Lloyd Ln. Owned for many years by Mike and Deidra Kelly, this property's forest was beautifully maintained around a single residence, largely absent noxious weeds and home to a significant crop of sword ferns, native huckleberries and other evergreen shrubs, and younger trees, particularly cedars.

In 2017, Meghan and Clint Edwards purchased the 11090 SE Southworth Dr. forest despite their desire to operate a farm and pasture. Clint Edwards filed a Forest Practices Application with the WA State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to cut the majority of their forest. Abandoning that, Edwards instead secured a Kitsap danger tree permit in 2019 that allowed them to cut trees within 150 feet of inhabitable structures but leave the stumps, preserve the forest understory, and replant with conifers. Their site map showed no cutting on their northern-most acreage. Instead, they clear-cut roughly four acres, removed the young trees and ferns, and re-graded to produce their pasture. The forest habitat was destroyed.

Edwards has stated that their total conversion was "inadvertent" despite overwhelming evidence indicating otherwise. For their danger tree permit, Edwards had also promised Kitsap County that they would not remove trees within 250 feet of any wetlands. Sadly, they cleared and graded very near the edge of a Category IV wetland containing a stream. Edwards did not survey their boundaries prior to their devastation of the environment, causing tree removal and/or re-grading on the Clemmensens' property to the west and the Keith property at 11128 SE Southworth Dr. to the north. No remorse or empathy has been expressed by Edwards to these neighbors.

If Edwards had obtained the proper Kitsap permit for their forest removal, the Southworth neighborhood would have been notified about the planned conversion and given the opportunity to comment to the Kitsap County Department of Community Development (DCD). Surveys and buffers would have resulted. The Clemmensens were among multiple parties, including the WA State DNR, to alert the DCD of the violations in progress, but DCD environmental planner Steve Heacock neglected to stop Edwards. Instead, he assured that they would be required to replant; he later changed his mind. Heacock is now the manager responsible for making environmental decisions on the Edwards' "after-the-fact" permit.

The trees in this area were outside the approved cutting zone in 2019, and Edwards violated code by removing all the stumps, young trees, ferns, and other understory. An eagle nest was also suspected on a tall tree removed in this area.

Some of the slash (branch) piles were burned by Edwards or their contractor, another violation of the law, before an officer or fire marshal stopped them.

Neighbors were not properly notified or allowed to comment to permit reviewers as required by environmental laws prior to this destruction. The space shown in this photo alone could house a typical golf course fairway.

Since the clear-cutting, trees on neighboring properties have become stressed. A surprisingly persistent wind from the southwest now blows across the Edwards' property onto neighbors to the west and north, bringing dust and heat not experienced before in those locations. Three neighbors lost trees of all sizes next to the clear-cut in 2021 and 2022, and mature cedars in that area are dying back faster than other local cedars during recently dry summers. Noxious weeds now proliferate in the neighboring forests.

Drainage problems are also caused by unpermitted deforestation when no engineering is done ahead of time. In this case, swales have carried excess stormwater from the northeast corner of the clear-cutters' property towards new pools west of Level Lloyd Ln. during the major winter storms of 2020 and 2021. Muddy water has poured from the property into the stream that then crosses into the forests owned by the Starkel and Clemmensen families.

After Edwards had finished their land's conversion to pasture, only then did the Kitsap DCD cite them with multiple violations and put a stop-work order on their property. Edwards applied a year later for a Site Development Activity Permit (SDAP) to "correct" their violations. But while the DCD is requiring them to restore a buffer along the wetlands on a small portion of their land, the County has not yet required the environmental protection of tree buffers for the other neighbors on Southworth Dr. or Level Lloyd Ln. The Kitsap Conservation District farm plan required of the Edwards is too vague to protect the community, either.

Edwards' supposedly corrective SDAP permit currently under consideration by the County also proposes to kill up to 70 more trees in a disputed easement through the Clemmensens' forest so that they can build a second driveway entrance to their property that would be dedicated to a proposed barn of significant size and adjoining parking area, possibly suggesting accessory agricultural use such as distribution or a point of sale. Losing those trees would expose the remaining vegetation of three neighboring Southworth Dr. properties to even more damaging wind and heat. Neighbors' rural enjoyment of the forested area would be lost as well.

A stop-work order was finally posted by Kitsap County only after the forest destruction was complete.

Edwards assured the County that they would not cut within 250 feet of wetlands, but they tore the forest to bare dirt close to the edge of them.

Edwards filed a legal claim against the Clemmensens stating that the young trees on the right side of this photo are obstructing their access and they, along with the large trees behind them, should be removed.

The restoration efforts by the Clemmensens near the forest destruction are imperiled by these clear-cutters, and other neighboring properties have already suffered as a result of that same removal of canopy. The Clemmensens brought legal action against Edwards for negligence (not getting the right permit), nuisance (the impacts of wind, heat, and dust), and timber trespass (for cutting and re-grading on Clemmensen property). Other neighbors did not have the financial means to defend themselves against Edwards in court. The legal case continues to weave its way through the courts, and additional claims are possible in the future as impacts worsen.

The end goal of the Southworth community is for Kitsap County to require Edwards to replant a buffer of conifers and forest understory around the perimeter of their property to provide environmental protection for the community in the future. They also seek answers about the extent of Edwards' future operations. Neighbors never had an opportunity to protest the clear-cut ahead of time and deserve protection as temperatures continue to rise each summer. The Clemmensens also seek to install a solid boundary fence and save the 70 trees on their property that Edwards is targeting next, both of which protective actions Edwards has sued to stop.

If you care about land use equity or this deforestation in Southworth and wish to get involved, you have a few options. You can contact the reviewers of the Edwards' SDAP permit at the County by email and express your desire to protect Southworth by requiring Edwards to replant substantial, effective buffers around all affected edges of their property. The first button below provides the contacts of those Kitsap reviewers and supervisors. Also, you can donate to the Clemmensens via GoFundMe to support their legal challenge of the clear-cutters and their ongoing reforestation efforts on their own property.

From the side of Southworth Dr. on the hill above the ferry terminal, you can see restoration efforts underway in the Clemmensens' forest after extensive garbage clean-up from encampments.