ShoreBank seeks indication of support

Whether or not Wahkiakum County is included in a proposed Columbia/Pacific National Heritage Area (NHA) will be decided very soon.

ShoreBank Enterprise Cascadia is wrapping up a feasibility study to be submitted to the National Park Service on the proposed NHA. The proposal came out of regional efforts to promote tourism and related business during the bicentennial of the Lewis & Clark Voyage of Discovery.

Businesses, chambers of commerce and similar organizations have promoted the idea as a means of marketing the region and also helping individuals, businesses and agencies preserve the region's unique sites and industries.

The proposal has drawn opposition from property rights advocates who claim the NHA will lead to severe restrictions on individuals' rights to use or control their property.

Jay Flint, ShoreBank's Columbia Pacific Strategy Coordinator, visited Cathlamet Tuesday to address the issues.

A statement from the organization may be found on Page 2.

Flint said ShoreBank has received many letters from citizens opposing the proposed NHA, and there have been many letters from people opposing including Wahkiakum County in the NHA.

If the county is going to continue to be included, the agency needs to see letters of support, especially from the Wahkiakum County board of commissioners, he said.

"We want to make sure this has the broad support of the people in the area," he said. "If we get support from the county commissioners, we'll continue."

Flint will visit the board of commissioners next Tuesday, 1 p.m., to present the proposal and seek a letter of support.

While the deadline has passed for comments on the feasibility study, people may write Flint at ShoreBank Enterprise Cascadia, PO Box 826, Ilwaco WA 98624, or they may email him at jflint@sbcac.com.

ShoreBank is a private, not-for-profit organization that offers financing for projects that wouldn't normally receive bank loans, he said.

Their loss rate is less than 3 percent, he said, and the organization has pumped over $95 million into projects in Washington and Oregon since it formed in 1995.

Business groups asked the organization to assume the lead role in the proposed NHA, he said. ShoreBank's goal would be to help people maintain regional features that are unique to the area's heritage.