Dear Skykomish Valley Residents,

Lake Serene, Skykomish River Valley, WA

Happy New Year to you and your families! We wish you good health and prosperity.

We would like to inform you that in 2019 our organization will continue building constructive, positive and collaborative relationships between SVENA, private, nonprofit and government organizations. Most importantly, we are planning to go on with our work on reduction of toxic spraying and use of toxic substances in our watershed, a source of drinking water for our public and private wells. Healthy community, economy and ecosystem are our priorities.

The Skykomish River Valley is a part of the famous Cascade Loop with over 5 million cars annually on Hwy 2 (a National Scenic Highway). Many of those cars are filled with tourists. Wallace Falls State Park is a national and international attraction for over 170,000 annual visitors and is undergoing the Classification and Management Planning (CAMP) process. Stevens Pass Ski Resort is now owned by the Vail  Corporation, has over 450,000 guests annually and future plans of modernization and improvements. Snohomish County Parks, Recreation and Tourism is leading the Skykomish-Snohomish Rivers Recreation Planning Coalition. Local cities are working on revitalization of their downtowns and commercial districts. Opening of the Paine Field, also known as the Snohomish County Airport, will further improve accessibility and convenience for our tourism industry.  As you can see from these facts and numbers, Sky Valley is a magnet for millions of people, has a lot of attention from many organizations and has a big potential for development of balanced tourism and recreation industry, an economic engine of the Valley.

Skykomish River Valley, view to the East

We hope to work in 2019 with large landowners in the Skykomish Valley, on some creative compromises that can benefit those companies and also can strengthen our tourism and recreation industry.

Please share our message. We welcome your thoughts and ideas.

Warm regards,

SVENA Team