Growth versus, well, growth

Published 12:00 pm Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Like vintage Spy vs. Spy comics from “Mad” magazine, we’ve noticed the unsettling trend of “nature loving” residents, who are trying to get the upper hand on living the dream only to catch a well-timed mallet in the kisser, so to speak. We’re talking about the growing practice of clear-cutting residential lots in wooded areas.

Businesses like Olympic Property Group harvesting are one thing. Cutting down trees is their trade and livelihood. In short, they know what they’re doing.

It’s the wide-eyed new property owners who concern us.

Those looking to shave a few hundred or thousand dollars off a land purchase by agreeing to have everything on it felled.

“We can just replant,” they must reason, somehow convincing themselves that the 100-foot cedar their contractor just toppled can easily be replaced. Those size trees take what, 10, maybe 15 years to grow?

The trend is disturbing and we fear residents are unwittingly destroying one of the primary reasons they moved to North Kitsap: its scenic beauty, i.e. the trees. Those and its waterways are certainly the most visible natural aspects that come to mind whenever anyone from this area talks about what they love about living here.

Our quality of life is directly tied to the well-being of our environment. Turning your entire lot into as much money as possible is tempting, no doubt, but given the size of many of the trees involved and the time it takes them to grow, we hope residents and future residents will start doing a little rethinking.

Like we said, cutting has its place, but it is largely up to the individual property owner to ensure it remains in check.

It’s an interesting phenomenon:

John Q loves nature.

John Q is drawn to rural North Kitsap’s woodsy feel and natural surroundings.

John Q has every single tree on his property felled to make room for a 3,500-square-foot house he’ll share with his wife and daughter — Jane and Jenny Q, respectively.

The large house takes up most of .25-acre lot and Jane Q’s garden consists of three semi-grassy hills (which deftly hide the septic system) and a few trees that’ll shield the family jacuzzi from the neighbors in, oh about, 20 years.

John Q has a fence built instead.

Their dream of building a home in rural North Kitsap has come true.

Their arriving neighbors follow suit and within three years, the neighborhood is devoid of large trees altogether. John Q and family declare that the area has lost its woodsy feel and move to an even more rural locale where they repeat the cycle.

OK, so it’s rather odd. But it seems to be the thing to do. No longer are older trees seen as adding to a home’s aesthetic value. Instead, they are merely in the way of contractors and fair game to be knocked down on a whim. If they can be sold immediately, all the better.

In the meantime, North Kitsap is looking more and more like the east side of the Puget Sound. So who’s really winning the Growth vs. Growth battle? In the short term, the transient landowner; in the long run, nobody.