The big development right by the lake, that was met with a great deal of resistance, and it wasn’t so much really because of the houses I think so much as … the memory of what was there before. … That used to be a very, very heavily forested area, they called it the Black Forest. … It was very large timbers — very, very pretty area, it was totally undeveloped. … And at one point it was actually offered I think to the city as I recall, and the county, and neither one of them had the money or the interest in buying it at that time, so it was sold to a private developer who later cut the trees down.
— Camas Mayor Dean Dossett, 2000 interview
The LaCamas Colony Corporation, which developed the town mill, bought the land around Lacamas Lake in 1883. Chinese laborers channeled the lake’s water into an aqueduct, providing the mill with electricity. In addition, workers dammed LaCamas Creek at the lower end of Round Lake, the resulting backwaters that caused the two lakes to merge. Mill owners eventually donated 312 acres of their property for Lacamas Park.
The Leadbetter family, descendants of mill founder Henry Pittock, retained a large amount of lake land until the mid 1970s. The Leadbetter family built two homes on the north side of the lake and one on the south side. One of these north-side homes survives and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
In the 1970s the Leadbetter family sold 250 acres of Lacamas Lake land to a logging company after City of Camas and Clark County officials declined to buy it from them. Developer Tom Shipler bought the land in 1977 and proceeded to log it, much to the dismay of many local residents who had referred to the area as “the Black Forest” because of its large tree coverage.
In the late 1980s, Shipler and partner Adolph Hertrich, of Vanport Manufacturing, developed Lacamas Shores, building luxury homes on a 150-acre site on the southwest side of the lake. The development contains 250 lots. Shipler also donated 30 acres to Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation for a lakeside trail.
The loss of the lake’s trees and the development of Lacamas Shores spurred local activists to more closely monitor developments within the city and influenced Camas leaders to protect remaining open space. In the 1990s, city leaders began purchasing greenspaces for the first time.Mayor Dossett confirmed that Camas officials have now bought about 600 acres. Despite recent purchases, some activists feel city officials have not gone far enough.
I realize the two have to coexist, growth and environment have to coexist, there is no other way. I do hate to see open spaces disappear because I think once they are gone you don’t get them back. You can never go back, and all you have to do is visit LA, or any of those other places and just see. I just hate the thought of us becoming like that … I had one developer tell me that ‘Oh, you are going to like looking at these lovely houses up there, they are just going to be beautiful homes.’ That’s well and good, but I’d rather look at a forest than a new home. — Jean Moszeter, 2000 Interview
Camas resident Jean Moszeter is a member of the Clark County Citizens in Action, which began as Citizens to Save Lacamas Lake in 1987. The group just recently settled a dispute with Vanport Manufacturing about the preservation of a protective conservancy zone between the Lacamas Shores development and the lake.
During the 1990s the group became involved in growth management. Moszetter is also a member of a Camas group, the United Camas Association of Neighborhoods (UCAN), that works with the city to develop city planning and policies.
Transcript of interview with Jean Moszeter
Transcript of interview with Mayor Dean Dossett
Document: United Camas Associations of Neighborhoods Evolving a Vision for Camas 2001 — 2015
End of Exhibit
