Navy SEALs to stop using Washington state parks after residents voice fears of seeing ‘armed men’

NY Post ^ | January 27, 2022 | y Michael Lee

[BenLurkin]

“It is difficult to find peace in the woods when armed frogmen might be lurking behind every tree,” lawyers for the Whidbey Environmental Action Network, the group behind the lawsuit against the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, argued in a legal brief filed last month.

The Navy has used Washington state coastal parks for over 30 years for SEAL cold water training and other special operations exercises, with leaders saying the area offers the perfect environment to simulate what the elite forces may encounter on difficult operations overseas.

“I do not care to catch a glimpse of apparently armed men skulking around and I DEFINITELY do not want to risk having my young grandchildren see such a sight,” a resident wrote...

“In these days of great division in our civil society, we don’t need stealthy men in camo uniforms toting toy guns around our State and County Parks,” another commenter said. “People frequent parks to escape tension, not to encounter more. Keep the Navy commando training out of our parks!”

“The Navy’s plan is to use larger, gasoline-powered UAV’s as well as smaller, electric-powered types. This offers significant potential for direct and indirect injury to birds as well as auditory disruption to the experience of park visitors.”

[Boogieman]

Send em to the red states. People there would enjoy the free show, not whine about it.

[PIF]

Washington Wimps and NIMBYs strike another blow for ending the military that kills people and breaks things, after tolerating and even welcoming the same activities for 30 years.

Time to disband the military so the public can feel safe in their homes

[al baby]

A few years ago we were leaving the port of San Diego on a cruise ship we where just about out of the harbor and go surrounded by teams if seals in go fast boats they were all blacked out it was just a drill but it was so cool then they lite themselves up and watched us depart We loved it

[AndyJackson]

Time to disband the military so the public can feel safe in their homes

Right after we have a nuclear war with Putin to show him who runs things in the world.

[gundog]

Coast Guard needs to quit tossing dummies out of their choppers, too. /s

[dljordan]

Why are we afraid of these people?

[glorgau]

What if they see a bear? Would that mean the park service bans bears from the park?

[Fedora]

https://www.whidbeynewstimes.com/news/wean-left-its-mark-in-three-decades-of-advocacy-litigation/

Edain said WEAN is funded by its members and is fortunate to have supportive “enviro-mafia” attorneys who don’t demand immediate fee payments.

https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/index.cfm?fa=opinions.showOpinion&filename=529238MAJ

Title of Case: Whidbey Environ. Action Network, App V. Island County, Respondent

Counsel for Appellant(s) Bryan James Telegin Attorney at Law 1424 4th Ave Ste 500 Seattle, WA, 98101-2258

https://casetext.com/case/whidbey-envtl-action-network-v-growth-mgmt-hearings-bd-1

WHIDBEY ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION NETWORK, Appellant, v. GROWTH MANAGEMENT HEARINGS BOARD, Additional Party, Island County, Respondent: Bryan James Telegin, Attorney at Law, 1424 4th Ave. Ste. 500, Seattle, WA, for Appellant.

https://www.bricklinnewman.com/attorney/telegin-bryan/

Bryan Telegin earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Lewis & Clark Law School, where he earned his certificate in environmental and natural resources law and was inducted into the Cornelius Honor Society. Before joining Bricklin & Newman, Bryan worked as a solo attorney and as a contract attorney for the Earthrise Law Center (formerly the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center of Lewis & Clark Law School). Bryan has represented non-profit corporations, environmental organizations, and neighborhood groups in a number of environmental cases before the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, the Oregon Court of Appeals, and the Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council. To date, Bryan's work has focused on issues arising under the Clean Water Act, including widespread thermal pollution problems threatening many of the historic salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest, and the illegal disposal of sewage sludge on sensitive farmlands. In addition, Bryan has experience with issues arising under the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area Act.

Bryan holds a masters degree and a B.A., with highest honors, in philosophy from the University of California. Bryan is admitted in Washington, Oregon and the United States District Court for the District of Oregon and the Western District of Washington.

[Geoffrey]

When my son was at Ranger school, there was a story about a guy on solo landnav who came across a cemetery, and he promptly decided to take a nap near a gravesite with lots of flowers....he woke up later and startled a funeral in process. He was fully kitted out and hid himself as best he could so his nap wouldn’t be interrupted...I believe the story dates back to the mid 80’s.

I suppose there are great many seal stories in Washington. I would love to come across a few while enjoying the woods. Great men if they have the time to tell a few stories.

[Rinnwald]

To be fair, the purpose of state parks is not for military training. The Navy has Indian Island and numerous bases around the Puget Sound. I don’t know if the Navy notifies the public about park operations, but it should

That said, the NIMBYs are strong around Whidbey Island, protesting the sound of training naval jets out of the NAS. The jets can’t be reasonably expected to train above bases only.

[WASCWatch]

I graduated from Oak Harbor High School in 1971. The citizenry is overwhelmingly in support of these activities.

[algore]

I saw some articles about this last year, looks like there is a whole ‘club seals in parks’ movement

https://notinourparks.org/in-the-news

Drank and Dank are still ok as far as I know, maybe

It has been a very long time since I have thought about visiting Seattle, or what might make me want to do it.

[Myrddin]

Alternate suggestion: remove the "park" designation from the land. Exclude the snowflakes. That will eliminate the concern about seeing armed men skulking around.

[Dacula]

There are no Red states on the west coast.

Send em to the red states. People there would enjoy the free show, not whine about it.

[moovova]

Can't remember exactly where I first found out about this...probably at FR...maybe even you that posted it...

"The shooting range where you fire over a busy road" (Switzerland)

[Larry Lucido]

At Benning I was on landnav at night and it never occurred to me to just hunker down and take a nap since it was so damned dark. I did stop and get down and take out my compass and realized I could then hear some Special Forces dude’s commo equipment on really low volume about 10 yards or so from me. Meaning he could have heard me from a hundred yards away. I would have been so dead.

[GingisK]

Come on to Georgia, you wonderful guys. Our forests are better and the people are Americans.

[ManardG]

I live in an area with a lot of 70+ year olds. Most of us have grandchildren. I know what the grandchildren would think, they would be thrilled to watch.

As for our crowd, most of us would be honored to witness these great young men being trained.

[Bonemaker]

How tender.

[CodeToad]

It’ll probably really tick off these homosexuals that the USAF uses several cities in Washington State for urban SERE training.