Legislators unanimous in youth camp support

District 19 legislators Rep. Dean Takko, D-Longview, Rep. Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, and Sen. Brian Hatfield, D-Raymond, on Monday promised to protect the Naselle Youth Camp after Governor Chris Gregoire proposed closing the facility in her 2009-2011 budget.

The camp is a medium-security facility that houses male and female offenders in an unfenced setting, The camp blends an academic curriculum with a forestry program in collaboration with the Department of Natural Resources and an aquaculture program with the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Hatfield commented that youths in the forestry program assist in firefighting during the height of the fire season. The camp also provides sex offender and outpatient chemical dependency treatment .The school also is the only facility to offer the full range of treatment, rehabilitation and education options provided in the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration.

The school is also the center of the local economy.

“Yes, we can and we certainly will talk about the adults – the men and women who stand behind the Naselle Youth Camp and who represent a driving force in the Naselle community and the Grays River Valley,” said state Rep. Dean Takko, D-Longview. “But let’s talk first about the children – the young people who have been served and who are being served at Naselle. Let’s ask what’s best for these kids whose lives will be ravaged if the camp is closed as proposed in the governor’s budget.”

Since 2002, 84 youths at the school have earned high school diplomas and 546 students have taken the GED test, with 83 percent passing. Public service by the juvenile offenders, valued at $134,200 annually, includes 1,000 acres of reforestation through planting trees; 600 acres of pre-commercial thinning; 80 acres of tree plantation maintenance, and site preparation of 100 acres.

Students also maintain 30 miles of forest road and provide 5,000 hours of firefighting each year.

Other contributions include 1,000 hours of maintenance at DNR campgrounds and other sites and trails; 1,000 hours on local community projects; 2,500 hours of litter pickup, and $25,000 annually in reimbursable work for various state and federal agencies.