Despite the Peshastin Pinnacles success and growing support for the Complete the Loop campaign, there are challenging times for the CDLT and the conservation movement in the Wenatchee Valley.

CDLT shirts go on sale. Logo designed by Ruth Allan. Through the spring and summer, CDLT leaders spread the word about the organization with booths at various festivals and celebrations.

Peshastin Pinnaclesis dedicated as a state park with Wilfred Woods as emcee. Main speakers are Don Fager of the CDLT and Gov. Mike Lowry. This is CDLT’s first high-profile project, which builds public awareness and support for the organization.

Wenatchee Confluence Park opens, marking the completion of the west side trail. Some 200 bicycle riders participate in Complete the Loop bike ride to build public support for the east side project.

Thanks largely to the leadership and fundraising of Mark Shipman, Don Fager, Ed Meyer and Eliot Scull, the Peshastin Pinnacles project is on track. The CDLT Board begins discussion of protecting the Saddle Rock area of the Wenatchee Foothills.

WSDOT reveals in a KPQ radio interview that it is dropping the appeal and will sell the land as surplus.Bob Parlette, who vividly recalls hearing that radio interview, attends a meeting of the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust held to discuss the potential of preserving the east side right of way from development. He and others suggest campaigning for a trail on the east side. Parlette and CDLT member Gordon Congdon Sr. are named co-chairs of what would be called the Complete the Loop Coalition.For political reasons, it is kept separate from the CDLT and the Save the Riverfront Committee.

Following weeks of public hearings, the state Shorelines Hearings Board rules a highway may not be built within 200 feet of the Columbia River. The WSDOT appeals and in August Chelan-Douglas County Superior Court Judge Charles Cone upholds the Hearings Board’s ruling. WSDOT appeals to the state Court of Appeals in Spokane.

Fundraising for Peshastin Pinnacles is underway, with Don Fager and Mark Shipman leading CDLT’s effort to ensure preservation and permanent public access.

WDOT announces it will proceed with planning an east side highway along the river.

Articles of Incorporation are filed with the Washington Secretary of State describing CDLT as “exclusively for charitable, educational and scientific purposes within the meaning of Section 501 (c) (3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.”. That same month the CDLT Board decides it wants to help protect Saddle Rock in the Wenatchee Foothills and Peshastin Pinnacles, 14 miles west of Wenatchee on U.S. Highway 2.