Hitch in ditch leadership switch

Property rights clash with experience and tradition

Historic irrigation flume in Sequim.

Two boards are running one company, according to the 2023 President of Sequim Prairie Tri-Irrigation Association (SPTIA) which manages the first irrigation ditch to bring water to Sequim. The irrigation company is left in turmoil while the 2023 board refuses to yield office and documents to the 2024 board which says most members of last year’s board were replaced during a proper meeting and election.

The division of SPTIA originates from efforts to convert a section of open irrigation ditch in Sequim to an underground, pressurized pipeline.  Shareholders say this conversion has been done without proper communication, necessary easements, or legal authority and they say that excavators and backhoes have arrived on private property without consent or notice of a pipeline being installed.  The 2023 SPTIA board, led by President Gary Smith who has farmed the area for generations and is one of this year's Honored Pioneers for the Irrigation Festival, contends that "prescriptive easements" allow for the piping project to move forward.  This stance is supported by the Clallam Conservation District (CCD) and the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe. 

The annual SPTIA shareholder meeting held on February 12th was well attended by shareholders who have not consented to the piping project.  Concerns were discussed that the ditch company hadn't been conducting proper notice of shareholder meetings and therefore, the 2023 elections were defective.   A motion was made to conduct new elections, and it passed.  President Gary Smith closed the meeting without a motion to adjourn and departed with the 2023 Vice President and some shareholders.  Discussion about the piping project continued, nominations were made for four positions, and elections were held.  Virginia Shogren, a Sequim resident and shareholder who has the SPTIA ditch running through her yard, was elected president of the 2024 board.  A motion passed that SPTIA withdraw immediately from the CCD's piping program.  

During roll call at the monthly Board of Directors' meeting held Tuesday evening, 2024 President Shogren asked for shareholders to introduce themselves and Gary Smith also identified himself as president.  There were instances of confusion when 2024 board members were asked to vote, and 2023 Board Members voted.  President Shogren reminded the previous board that they weren't recognized board members for the purposes of the meeting.

President Shogren reported that the CCD has acknowledged that SPTIA has withdrawn from the piping program and that the agency will not be interfering with internal SPTIA leadership struggles.  

The SPTIA treasurer did not attend Tuesday's meeting and did not provide a treasurer's report.  Shogren asked Smith if a current treasurer's report could be supplied to the shareholders.  Smith replied that he will be keeping access to all treasurer information until leadership is determined.  He also announced that “his” board will be holding a special shareholders' meeting soon.  Smith said that the 2024 board lacks the knowledge and authority to manage the area's irrigation and the forecast of a dry summer concerns him.  He also said that the 2023 board has been meeting but his board is unwilling to share those minutes with the 2024 board.

Judy Larson, a member of the 2024 board, said that there are numerous adverse effects of the piping project: dying trees, the disruption of wildlife corridors, and wells going dry.  She said that if the purpose of piping was to keep more water in the Dungeness River to restore salmon populations, there should be evidence of those populations returning.  After a quarter century of piping over 100 miles of irrigation ditch, no data suggests that the piping project is restoring threatened salmon species. 

The meeting adjourned with an offer from President Shogren to continue the conversation with President Smith. President Smith does not intend to continue a conversation with President Shogren as he does not recognize her as being president.

The piping project in question is indicated by the dotted red line. It begins at “Sequim Prairie Phase 1 Start” just north of Highway 101, winds through Jennie’s Meadow, past “Phase 2 start” and continues to “Sequim Prairie Phase 2 end”.