Although it’s nearly invisible to the average person living on the peninsula, Naselle Youth Camp has been an important part of Pacific County’s economy and social fabric for five and a half decades. Located off State Route 4 just west of the State Route 401 junction in “beautiful downtown Naselle,” the camp has played a constructive role in thousands of young lives since 1966. Over the years, it’s provided steady government jobs to hundreds and hundreds of residents.

Naturally, most camp workers settle in the Naselle River Valley and nearby western Wahkiakum County, while others commute from the peninsula or Clatsop County. Active and retired NYC employees and spouses are everywhere you turn.

I remember working with state Sen. Sid Snyder nearly 20 years ago during Gov. Gary Locke’s administration when the agency that oversees the camp first floated the idea of closing it. Thanks to Sid’s powerful influence, bolstered by strong citizen support here in the county, that effort was derailed. Closure has since been raised under both Christine Gregoire and Jay Inslee, with the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration leaders clearly in favor of eliminating it.

The JRA has argued that juvenile crime has diminished, while at the same time the Naselle Youth Camp’s concept of getting youthful urban lawbreakers away from bad influences and into an outdoor setting has outlived its usefulness. Are these closure justifications valid? I’ve never been sure whether they are, or if the urban-based JRA leadership simply doesn’t personally like the Naselle facility’s remoteness and guiding philosophy. As a practical matter, the fact that eliminating NYC keeps being raised has started to make it feel inevitable, at least in the absence of a politically adept advocate like Sid.

Barring an unexpected intervention by Gov. Inslee, a traumatic closure process is likely, with changes centered in Naselle. We’ll be devoting much news coverage to surrounding issues, such as what NYC’s loss may mean for the Naselle-Grays River Valley School District, and whether converting the facility into an outdoor school is viable. We plan to begin the first phase of our follow-up coverage in the March 23 edition.

As always, I sure appreciate your interest in these newsletters and in local life here on our amazing coast. If you don’t already subscribe to the Chinook Observer, I hope you will.