Washington State Parks won’t reopen Cama Beach cabins

SEATTLE – The Washington State Parks Commission voted unanimously Thursday not to reopen the Cama Beach cabins on Camano Island due to risks from sea-level rise and the presence of Indigenous human remains. The 33 cabins have been closed since Feb. 26 when a winter storm damaged a seawall and compromised the park’s septic system.

While Cama Beach Historical State Park remains open for day use, the long-term future of these popular overnight beachfront accommodations is unclear.

For seven months, State Parks leaders have been wrestling with the fate of the beachside cabins, a former 1930s saltwater fishing resort that became a state park in 2008. The bare-bones cabins became a hit, selling out for much of the summer season year after year while also renting facilities for events like weddings. The park saw nearly 273,000 visitors last year and brought in $979,000 in revenue, although expenditures ran $1.3 million, according to a presentation at the commission meeting.

The commissioners noted that Cama Beach is a beloved getaway destination, and generations of Washington residents have formed an emotional bond with the cabins.

“It’s heartbreaking for all of us to even consider closing part of a state park,” Commissioner Michael Latimer said. “This has been one of the toughest decisions that I’ve had to come to.”

In July, the Parks Commission held a special meeting in Stanwood to hear from residents. Community groups including Cama Beach Foundation, Cama Beach Quilters and the Sound Water Stewards all voiced their support for the cabins. From March to September, Parks staff collected public comments, mostly in favor of reopening the cabins, and received a petition signed by 1,500 people who supported reopening.

Parks commissioners at Thursday’s meeting in Clarkston stressed the burden of laws regarding coastal development and Indigenous archaeological sites.

“It’s very easy for someone in the public that doesn’t understand the full complexities of this situation to come to the conclusion: ‘Why don’t we just fix the cabins?’ ” Latimer said. “It’s not as easy as that.”

In a presentation before the commission, State Parks planning program manager Michael Hankinson explained that the constraints facing the agency are not primarily monetary.

“We are operating in a changed regulatory and environmental landscape from when the park was first developed,” he said.

The site is increasingly vulnerable to coastal erosion, storm surge and unusually high tides known as king tides. Hankinson said Cama Beach has experienced seven 50-year storms in the past 20 years. Climate modeling for the site forecasts a 50% probability that the lower part of the park – where the cabins are located – will flood regularly by 2050. According to the commission, a strengthened seawall would likely require a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers.

The site is also home to an unmarked Indigenous burial ground dating back 1,600 years. The archaeological site was uncovered in 2005, leading the Tulalip Tribes to withdraw support for the planned state park.

While the cabins are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Hankinson said that historic preservation is a guideline for properties listed on the register but not a legal requirement. By contrast, the state has a duty to preserve the archaeological site under the state’s 1989 Indian Burial Act and Executive Order 21-02, signed by Gov. Jay Inslee in 2021, which requires state agencies to consult with tribes and mitigate impacts to historic tribal resources. (The burial ground is also listed on the register.)

State Parks consulted the Tulalip, Swinomish, Stillaguamish, Upper Skagit and Sauk-Suiattle tribes. “Tribes responded unequivocally that they did not support further ground disturbance in this area,” Hankinson said.

While these arguments were persuasive for Parks commissioners to vote in favor of not reopening the cabins, they have left the resort’s prior owner and State Parks donor flummoxed.

“We have a contract they seem to be totally ignoring,” said Gary Worthington via phone. Gary’s wife, Sandra Worthington, is the granddaughter of the resort’s founder LeRoy Stradley. Sandra and Karen Hamalainen, another granddaughter, chose to sell the property to State Parks in 1993 at a fraction of the market value for waterfront property and donated more than $2 million of the proceeds to the park transformation effort.

In an Aug. 15 letter to the Washington State Park Commission and Director Diana Dupuis, the Worthingtons pointed to language in their 2004 agreement requiring the cabins to be preserved, which they believe is still binding: “The Commission undertakes to make bona fide and continuing significant efforts to preserve (…) the historic structures and artifacts of Cama Beach.”

Washington State Parks representatives did not respond to a request for comment by press time about the contract.

Worthington said that sea-level rise was a known issue during the protracted park development process and that Parks has not conducted a site-specific engineering study with a coastal geologist who could determine how to protect the cabins. State Parks assessed the overall vulnerability of its coastal parks in 2023, which included the findings that highlight the Cama Beach cabins’ flood risk.

Worthington said he has firsthand knowledge of the archaeological site’s location, which is at least hundreds of feet away from any locations that would be dug up to repair the site’s septic system. He also pointed out that tribal observers were invited during the park’s development and could be invited during a repair process.

“There are multiple repairs required for the sewer, water and electrical systems,” a State Parks spokesperson wrote via email. “Some of these repairs are outside of the cultural site, while others are not.”

“Tulalip is in agreement not to reopen the cabins at Cama beach or replace the sea wall that has impaired the functionality of the shoreline habitat since it was installed over 50 years ago,” said Glen Gobin, a member of the Tulalip Tribes board of directors, in a statement. “More needs to be done to honor and respect the burial remains that are still there.”

The cabins’ fate may not be sealed. While Worthington, an attorney, said he has grounds for a lawsuit, he considers legal action a “last resort.” He is focused on the upcoming legislative session as a potential avenue for reopening the cabins. Political figures, including Secretary of State Steve Hobbs and former Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, have publicly pledged support for reopening the cabins.

Worthington highlighted that it took 18 years and at least 200 meetings to bring the state park to fruition, so he is no stranger to drawn-out processes.

“The cabins are a time capsule of Puget Sound history from the 1930s that you can actually stay in and experience right by the water,” Worthington said. “It seems unthinkable to abandon it.”