Z-0741.1  _______________________________________________

                         SENATE BILL 5863

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State of Washington      57th Legislature     2001 Regular Session

By Senators Snyder and Zarelli; by request of Department of Natural Resources

Read first time 02/06/2001.  Referred to Committee on Natural Resources, Parks & Shorelines.

Allowing the department of natural resources to exchange certain bedlands to obtain clear title to certain property on the Cowlitz river.

    AN ACT Relating to an exchange of bedlands and the resolution of boundary disputes in and near the Cowlitz river near the confluence of the Columbia river in Longview, Washington; adding a new section to chapter 79.08 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  (1) The legislature finds that in the 1920s the Cowlitz river near the confluence of the Columbia river in Longview, Washington was diverted from its original course by dredging and construction of a dike.  As a result, a portion of the original bed of the Cowlitz river became a nonnavigable body of shallow water.  Another portion of the original bed of the Cowlitz river became part of a dike and is indistinguishable from existing islands.  The main channel of the Cowlitz river was diverted over uplands to the south of the original bed and has continued as a navigable channel.

    (2) The legislature finds that continued ownership of the nonnavigable portion of the original bed of the Cowlitz river near the confluence of the Columbia river no longer serves the  state's interest in navigation.  Ownership of the existing navigable bed of the Cowlitz river would better serve the state's interest in navigation.  It is also in the state's interest to resolve any disputes that have arisen because state-owned land is now indistinguishable from privately owned land within the dike.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 79.08 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) The department of natural resources is authorized to exchange bedlands abandoned through rechanneling of the Cowlitz river near the confluence of the Columbia river so that the state obtains clear title to the Cowlitz river as it now exists or where it may exist in the future through the processes of erosion and accretion.

    (2) The department of natural resources is also authorized to exchange bedlands and enter into boundary line agreements to resolve any disputes that may arise over the location of state-owned lands now comprising the dike that was created in the 1920s.

    (3) For purposes of this act, "Cowlitz river near the confluence of the Columbia river" means those tidelands and bedlands of the Cowlitz river fronting and abutting sections 10, 11, and 14, township 7 north, range 2 west, Willamette Meridian and fronting and abutting the Huntington Donation Land Claim No. 47 and the Blakeny Donation Land Claim No. 43, township 7 north, range 2 west, Willamette Meridian.

    (4) Nothing in this act shall be deemed to convey to the department of natural resources the power of eminent domain.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.  If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

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