NGO pushes for 3 Crabs property grab
Reparations ramp up
A powerful network of NGOs and special interests is pushing Clallam County to seize private beachfront property under the guise of "ecosystem resilience" — but it's really about implementing reparations. As elected officials quietly align with activist agendas, residents are left vulnerable to losing their homes without fair compensation.
A second organization is calling on the Clallam County Commissioners to seize private property along 3 Crabs Road and evict residents. This time, it’s the Coastal Watershed Institute (CWI), a Port Angeles-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) whose mission is to “promote partnerships that foster understanding, protection, and long-term wise management of our natural ecosystems.”
In a blast email sent to supporters, CWI voiced support for the Clallam County Marine Resources Committee — a county agency — which recently advised the Commissioners to force residents to “move out of these highly dynamic zones that should never have been developed in the first place.” The email warned that “any other actions are, at best, folly, and will only further destroy the exact reason we all live here.”
“Please do take a minute to let the Clallam County Commissioners know that you support these recommendations, and take a minute to say thank you to county staff and the Clallam MRC,” the email urges, before providing contact information for the Commissioners.
Media channels and NGO networks
While the email was sent by Anne Shaffer, PhD, Executive Director and Lead Scientist of CWI, the letter was posted by Al Bergstein, who operates Olympic Peninsula Environmental News (OPEN), an independent platform that reports on environmental issues, events, and policies affecting the Olympic Peninsula. The site is not officially affiliated with the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, though it frequently covers the tribe’s environmental initiatives and partnerships. For example, OPEN has reported extensively on the tribe’s efforts to co-manage the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and re-establish oyster farming in Dungeness Bay.
Deep ties between NGOs and reparations
Coastal Watershed Institute is closely connected to the Strait Ecosystem Recovery Network (SERN), an NGO whose fiscal agent is the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. SERN funded the infamous 2021 workshop in which it was determined that beachfront property owners should be evicted — while ensuring they would not be compensated at fair market value for their land.
SERN’s membership roster includes powerful local groups such as the Clallam Conservation District, CWI, Dungeness River Management Team, multiple local tribes, Commissioner Mark Ozias’ North Olympic Development Council, North Olympic Land Trust, Cheryl Baumann’s North Olympic Lead Entity for Salmon, and Puget Sound Partnership — all institutions that broadly support the SERN agenda.
SERN’s homepage highlights its mission, including "repairing relationships" due to "unfair dealings" and "oppression" from "Colonization." This concept of "repairing relationships" is a modern expression of reparations.
Make no mistake: the seizure of private property along 3 Crabs Road is not solely about "ecosystem resiliency." It is fundamentally about implementing reparations through targeted property takings.
Commissioners’ alarming reliance on special interests
The most alarming development is the pattern it reveals: our elected Clallam County Commissioners increasingly rely on special interests and NGOs to drive their decisions — often bypassing direct public accountability.
Leaked emails showed that plans for a new “culture tax” were born from coordinated efforts between multiple commissioners and arts executives, aiming to manufacture the appearance of grassroots support while dismissing taxpayers as the “vocal minority.”
Similarly, the Commissioners abruptly halted the multimillion-dollar, decades-long Towne Road infrastructure project after receiving 98 signatures asking for its cancellation — ignoring the fact that 140 signatures had been collected in support of the project’s completion. Their decision cost county taxpayers millions and contributed to one family losing their home and pets to fire before becoming homeless.
This Friday, the Commissioners will meet privately with the Quileute Tribe to discuss federal grants and the land-into-trust process. Requests for public access to the meeting have gone unanswered. Held in La Push without a virtual attendance option, the session reflects an ongoing pattern of secrecy. It's particularly notable given that the Commissioners have repeatedly declined opportunities for meaningful two-way dialogue with their constituents, citing full schedules and limited county resources—yet they are willing to drive 90 minutes to meet with a sovereign nation.
Meanwhile, the Commissioners — silent on the 3 Crabs residents’ plight — have cancelled today's work session due to a “lack of business.”
More changes coming
Don’t worry — the County isn’t done working. They’re hard at work updating Clallam County’s Flood Maps.
Maybe your property will be the next to be sacrificed on the altar of "ecosystem resilience" — or, more accurately, on the altar of reparations-driven land policy.
NGO's are the way the democrats work now. Free money to pass around to their friends. This is some serious corrupt bull 💩. When will people wake up.
Taking other people's property in the name of now what, ecosystem resilience... Bumper sticker after bumper sticker. Today it's 3 Crabs tomorrow it will not stop. If 3 Crabs are the oppressors today you think it's just about a beach? No, the entire state and anywhere they want to move in is fair game. And you other silly "guests" cheering the loss of retired people who have worked their entire lives to buy their homes, you are nothing more than future minimum wage slaves to their future development. Schadenfreude...