I have changed the names of the communities to keep coyotecottage's exact location somewhat unknown.

In the last week or so, two instances of landowners making a heavy mark on their property came to the attention of citizens and, eventually, the News.

In Touristville, one landowner put blade to ground and started grading and filling in with dirt rich cattail wetlands on his property just outside of the town’s western gate. By the time folks noticed and called officials at the Department of Ecology, who notified the county Planning Department and the Army Corps of Engineers, the landowner had filled and graded at least a couple acres of rich, very alive wetlands with sterile, soulless fill dirt.

In that case, the landowner was remiss in not checking to see what permits were necessary before doing major earthwork on land that is recognized by the county, state and feds as critical area. The county ordered the landowner to stop work, and is currently collaborating with the other agencies to figure out exactly what needs to happen at this point. But the damage has been done and is irreparable.

"It takes centuries to create wetlands like those," said one neighbor who frowned at the modification. "It’s amazing how quickly they can be destroyed."

A couple of miles up the Hippie River, a new, innocuous-looking driveway leaves the county road, travels straight and flat for about 20 yards before it plunges down through a newly-cut cleft in the bench. Beyond there, the road-in-progress will make five or six switchbacks down a steep and narrow face to a non-developable floodplain about 150 vertical feet below the flats. The amount of disturbance on the steep, south-facing face is impressive and complete.

In this case, there are no laws on the books that dictate what the landowner may do with this road, so long as it is not serving a new development and wetlands and shorelines are not disturbed. The county does regulate the junction of the driveway with the county road, but nothing else, according to the county planner .

Differences between neighboring landowners about how to best steward the land is nothing new. And as we see in the Touristville case, even the existence of laws does not necessarily guarantee protection.

It takes awareness and humility for landowners to recognize that they do not have to destroy a place in order to profit from it. Indeed, they may find that allowing the land to be what it is naturally will make it more valuable in the end.

Just because you "own" it, doesn’t mean that you should rape it.