Patrick Borunda lives off a winding road under the shadow of tall Douglas fir trees in the rural town of Yacolt, Washington, in northeast Clark County. His modest house overlooks a small pasture and barn, once inhabited by 30 alpacas he raised for fiber and breeding. Today, the herd has been winnowed down to four geriatric animals along with Borunda’s Anatolian shepherd Rosemary, who keeps the coyotes away at night.
“For the most part, people pretty much stay to themselves,” Borunda said of the community. “People enjoy their solitude.”
Borunda and his partner Marit Federcell moved to Yacolt in the mid-1990s. When they bought their home, they took a gamble. PacifiCorp, one of the region’s largest electric utilities, owned an easement on the edge of their property. Nothing had happened with the adjacent land since it was set aside 50 years earlier, so they figured the purchase was a reasonable risk…