An ecosystem-restoration project that would replace two bridges
across the Duckabush River and restore a 38-acre estuary on the
west side of Hood Canal has moved into the design phase with
funding from state and federal governments.
Bridge over the Duckabush
River
Photo: Jayedgerton, Wikimedia
Commons
The project, which would improve habitat for five species of
salmon along with a variety of wildlife, is the subject of a design
agreement between the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“Projects like this are key to improving the overall health of
Hood Canal and Puget Sound,” WDFW Director Kelly Susewind said in a
news release. “We have a variety of challenges in conserving
our salmon populations, so creating more habitat for juvenile
salmon to eat and grow before they journey into open waters is one
of the most important things we can do.”
Contractors are putting the final touches on two new bridges in
Kitsap County, both of which are expected to improve the local
environment.
A new bridge over the Carpenter
Creek Estuary near Kingston helps to restore the upper salt
marsh.
Photo; Stillwaters Environmental Center
One is a 150-foot bridge that crosses the Carpenter Creek
Estuary on West Kingston Road near Kingston. The other is a 50-foot
bridge that crosses Big Anderson Creek on Seabeck-Holly Road near
Holly.
Among local residents, the Carpenter Creek bridge may best be
known as the bridge that blocked traffic and forced a detour near
Kingston for more than a year — much longer than originally
planned. (Recall reporter Nathan Pilling’s story in the
Kitsap Sun.) While contract issues remain in dispute, the
environmental benefits are clear, according to Joleen Palmer of the
nearby Stillwaters Environmental Center.
World Water Day, coming up this Thursday, is an annual worldwide
event designed to focus attention on the importance of water to all
living things.
Promoted by the United Nations, the 25-year-old World Water Day
has always raised concerns about the 2.1 billion people in the
world who don’t have easy access to clean water, creating a major
health crisis in some communities.
This year’s theme is “nature for water” — although the
discussion remains focused mainly on humans. Human actions have
contributed to increasing flooding, drought and water pollution —
and humans are able to use natural systems to help reduce the
problems.
So-called “nature-based solutions” include protecting and
improving water quality by restoring forests and wetlands,
reconnecting rivers to their floodplains and creating vegetated
buffers along lakes and streams, even in urban areas.
A
fact sheet (PDF 2 mb) put out by UNESCO (U.N. Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization) lays out the arguments on
behalf of nature-based solutions. A larger 150-page report, titled
“Nature
Based Solutions for Water” (PDF 42.7 mb) can be downloaded from
the UNESCO website.
A series of posters and cards related to this year’s theme can
be downloaded from the World Water Day website.
For the creative, I’m intrigued by the idea that you can create
your own collage, using individual elements taken from the four
posters. See “collage
kit” on the same resources page.
Considering that this is the 25th World Water Day, I anticipated
more events and celebrations. The one event listed for Washington
state is a guided tour of Edmonds Marsh, one of the few urban
saltwater estuaries still remaining in the Puget Sound region.
Details of the walk are provided in a brief article in
Edmonds News.
The first video on this page is a promotional piece by
UNESCO.
Official poster of World Water
Day
Source: UNESCO
I found the second video, filmed in Istanbul, Turkey, to be
revealing about people’s attitudes about water. I imagine the
reaction might be the same in some U.S. cities — although the
specific location probably makes a lot of difference. The video,
produced in 2015, was created for Standart Pompa, a manufacturer of
water pumps.
The video shows a video screen next to a water faucet with a
dying tree depicted on the screen. When passersby turned off the
water faucet, the tree suddenly transformed into a healthy green
condition. Although the weather was cold during the filming, nearly
a third of the people going by took their hands out of their
pockets and turned off the water, which was actually recirculating
from the drain so that no water was wasted.
The third video is a cartoon designed to drive home a message
about the importance of water, beginning with the simple act of
brushing your teeth. It was produced by TVNXT KIDZ.
Confusion is nothing new when it comes to figuring out whether
federal agencies have jurisdiction over certain wetlands and
intermittent streams under the Clean Water Act. And now the Trump
administration has guaranteed that confusion will reign a while
longer.
Meanwhile, lawsuits — also nothing new to the Clean Water Act,
see how Babcock Partners
can help here — continue to pile up at a rapid pace.
Some argue that the confusion begins with the 1972 Clean Water
Act itself, which requires the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to
issue permits for any filling or dredging — which covers most
development — within the “navigable waters” of the country.
Congress defined “navigable waters” in a way that has generated
much confusion and many lawsuits through the years: “The term
‘navigable waters’ means the waters of the United States, including
the territorial seas,” the law states.
Even the U.S. Supreme Court couldn’t figure it out and ended up
adding to the confusion. In a 4-4-1 split ruling, half the justices
focused on “navigable waters” with a narrow definition to include
major waterways but avoid federal protection for many wetlands and
intermittent streams. The other half of the justices supported a
broader definition, which would protect downstream waters by also
protecting upstream sources of water.
Writer Steve Zwick of
Ecosystem Marketplace does a nice job explaining the legal and
historical context for the confusion in a four-part series of
articles. Zwick relies on, and gives credit to, the writings of
William W. Sapp and
William M. Lewis, Jr.
Under the previous administration of Barack Obama, the Army
Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency worked
together to draft a new rule to more clearly define federal
jurisdiction over streams and wetlands, as outlined by the broader
Supreme Court opinion. It became known as the “Clean Water Rule” or
“WOTUS” for Waters of the U.S.
Some potential opponents applauded the certainty of the proposed
rule, even if they disagreed with some details. (See
Water Ways, March 25, 2014.) But others believed that the
states, not the federal government, should be in charge of
protecting streams and wetlands. It became a common theme to argue
that the new rule would regulate the tiniest ditches and farm ponds
— something the Obama administration denied.
One of the opponents of the 2015 rule was Scott Pruitt,
Oklahoma’s attorney general who ended up suing the Obama
administration on behalf of his state. In all, 31 states joined
various lawsuits against the rule, with separate lawsuits brought
by farmers and industry.
Scott Pruitt, EPA
administrator
Photo: EPA official portrait
“President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency currently
stands poised to strike the greatest blow to private property
rights the modern era has seen,” Pruitt declared in an opinion
piece co-authored by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from
Kentucky. The piece was published in
The Hill.
Pruitt, of course, is the man that President Trump later named
to head the EPA, the same agency he was suing in multiple lawsuits.
Pruitt said early on that he would not allow Obama’s WOTUS rule to
go into effect.
Before it took effect, the WOTUS rule was tied up in the courts,
including an injunction issued by the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals in Cincinnati. Under the Clean Water Act, appeals courts
can take primary action under certain conditions, but the
U.S. Supreme Court agreed unanimously (PDF 923 kb) on Jan. 22
that the WOTUS rule is not one of these conditions.
And so the rule, originally scheduled to go into effect in
August 2015, was put back into a confusing status, ready to go into
effect in 37 states where it was not blocked by an injunction that
covers 13 states under an order of the U.S. District Court in North
Dakota.
“This is just all-out war. All-out litigation,” Vermont Law
School professor Pat Parenteau was quoted as saying in an article
by Ariel Wittenberg in E&E News. “This
is good news for lawyers, but it is not going to be settled at
all.”
Pruitt’s EPA then moved to finalize the Obama WOTUS rule on Jan.
31 but with an “applicability date” set for two years away. The
announced intent was to overhaul the rule by pulling back federal
jurisdiction over streams and wetlands.
“Today, EPA is taking action to reduce confusion and provide
certainty to America’s farmers and ranchers,” Pruitt said in a
news release. “The 2015 WOTUS rule developed by the Obama
administration will not be applicable for the next two years, while
we work through the process of providing long-term regulatory
certainty across all 50 states about what waters are subject to
federal regulation.”
In the interim, the EPA has announced that it will revert to
previous policies and guidelines drafted following the confusing
Supreme Court ruling.
You can guess what happened next. On Feb. 6, a total of 10
states, including Washington, plus Washington, D.C., filed a
lawsuit in New York, claiming that Pruitt’s delaying tactics were
illegal. The state officials, led by New York Attorney General Eric
Schneiderman, argued that the federal government ignored the
federal Administrative Procedures Act by adopting the revised rule
without a meaningful comment period and in disregard of the Clean
Water Act’s underlying intent of protecting the nation’s
waters.
“The agencies have now suspended the Clean Water Rule without
consideration of the extensive scientific record that supported it
or the environmental and public health consequences of doing so,”
the
lawsuit (PDF 1.9 mb) says.
On the same day, the implementation delay was challenged in a
separate lawsuit (2.6 mb) by two environmental groups, Natural
Resources Defense Council and National Wildlife Federation.
“The Agencies’ only proffered rationale for the suspension is
that it will promote regulatory clarity and certainty,” the lawsuit
says. “In light of the administration’s open antipathy for the
rule’s provisions, that rationale rings hollow. But it is also
belied by the record. There is no evidence that suspending the rule
will promote clarity or certainty, and ample evidence that
suspending the Rule will create confusion and uncertainty.”
In Ariel Wittenberg’s story in E&E, Georgetown
Law professor William Buzbee talks about how messy things have
become.
“If the administration had taken the time to put out proposals
that truly and fully engaged with the merits of the Clean Waters
Rule and tried to come up with a new read, then it would be
ordinary days in the courts,” he was quoted as saying. “But
anything they do now, given their proposals, is likely to be
legally vulnerable.”
Now the possibility exists that some courts could delay
implementation of the original WOTUS rule while others reject the
two-year delay. In any case, there is no end in sight to the legal
battles, and nobody can be certain about what kind of projects will
require federal permits.
The bridge construction will continue beyond the end of the
year, when it was originally scheduled for completion. The new
completion date is listed as March 2018.
“The delay is due to numerous issues and challenges, including
encountering old buried wooden pilings and associated contaminated
material, a revised sanitary sewer design, and labor and materials
shortages, which disrupted the construction schedule,” according to
a
news release from Kitsap County. “The onset of the winter
weather months will also add to the delay as final work on the
project, such as paving, depends on fair weather.”
—–
An old five-foot culvert where Carpenter Creek passes under West
Kingston Road is now down to its last bit of concrete plus a wedge
dirt, with final removal awaiting completion of a new 150-foot-long
bridge.
Only one section of the old
culvert remains on Carpenter Creek after other pieces were pulled
out two weeks ago. // Photo: Sillwaters Environmental
Center
Massive amounts of earthen fill and have been removed since the
project started about six months ago. All that remains is the wedge
of dirt that still supports pipes and utilities, which will be
attached to the bridge during construction. After that, the last
fill material will be removed, leaving a wide-open estuary flowing
under the bridge.
The construction has created some inconvenience for folks in the
Kingston area, but the project promises to enhance salmon migration
in Carpenter Creek, restore tidal function in the estuary and
enhance the salt marsh for a variety of creatures. The creek and/or
the estuary may be used by chum, coho and chinook salmon, along
with steelhead and cutthroat trout.
Stillwaters Environmental Center is coordinating monitoring in
the estuary to measure improvements in the ecosystem. Before and
after elevation measurements will help describe the physical
changes, while biological surveys identify changes in water
quality, vegetation, fish and insect populations, among other
things.
A new bridge takes shape where
West Kingston Road crosses the upper estuary of Carpenter Creek. //
Photo: Kitsap County Public Works
I am particularly interested in how the new bridge will further
improve the function of the estuary, which is the last major
stop-over point for juvenile salmon on their way out of Puget
Sound, according to biologists. The bridge on West Kingston Road is
the second phase of a project that began in 2012, when a small box
culvert was replaced with a 90-foot-long bridge on South Kingston
Road. The first bridge crosses the lower estuary, while the new
bridge crosses the upper estuary.
While my focus has been on life in the estuary, the project goes
beyond the ecosystem, Kitsap County Commissioner Rob Gelder told
Kitsap Sun reporter (now retired) Ed Friedrich in a
story published in March at the beginning of construction.
Here’s what the old culvert
looked like before the recent project began.
Photo: Kitsap County Public Works.
“This isn’t just a culvert-replacement project but a project
that will increase the safety and functionality for drivers and
pedestrians alike,” Rob said. “Road closure is never easy, but I
hope the community will appreciate the improvements when it’s all
complete.”
The work involves widening the travel lanes, adding 5-foot
pedestrian and bike lanes on the north side and a 6-foot paved
shoulder on the south side. In addition, street lighting will be
added.
As of today, the project has fallen behind schedule, according
to Tina Nelson, senior program manager for Kitsap County Public
Works. Tina said she hopes the contractor, Redside Construction of
Bainbridge Island, will catch up enough to allow the road to reopen
by the end of December, as originally scheduled.
Officials will be assessing the situation through the end of
October, she said. If it appears the bridge and roadway won’t be
ready for opening by Dec. 31, then an announcement will be made in
late October or early November. Advance notice is needed because of
school bus routing and scheduling after the new year.
The causes of the delay are many, Tina told me, but it generally
boils down to scheduling of project materials and crews, for which
the contractor is responsible. The contract calls for the work to
be done in a certain number of days, she said, and the contractor
will lose money if the work is not completed on time.
So far, fish passage has not been an issue, although chum salmon
could soon move into the estuary — if they haven’t already — as
they begin their fall migration. If fish try to move upstream
before the channel is reopened, officials with the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife will help determine the best way to
safely get them upstream.
Much of the $3-million project is funded by the Navy as
mitigation for ecological damage caused by the 2012 renovation of
Pier B at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton.
Living on the West Coast, we don’t normally encounter the
anhinga, a freshwater bird sometimes called the “snake bird.” The
name comes from its ability to swim with its body submerged so that
only its long neck protrudes out of the water, looking like a
snake.
“When hunting fish, an Anhinga hangs motionless in the water or
swims slowly just below the surface, its neck crooked, almost like
a cobra’s,” says Michael Stein of BirdNote, which
is featuring the anhinga this week as one of its birds of the week.
“The Anhinga has specialized muscles and a hinge in its neck. And
when an unwary fish swims close, the bird’s head darts forward,
impaling its prey.”
Anhingas resemble cormorants, a species far more familiar to
those of us in the Puget Sound region. Cormorants are typically
found in saltwater areas, while anhingas are common in the
Everglades and the bayous of the Gulf Coast. For other notable
differences, check out the website
Difference Between.
In Miami, there’s an elementary school near the Dolphin Mall
named for Marjory Stoneman
Douglas, author of the best-selling book “The Everglades: River
of Glass” (1947). Douglas’ book helped people understand the value
of wetlands across the country, and her later life’s work led to
greater protections for The Everglades. After the school was named
Marjorie Stoneman Douglas
Elementary School, officials chose the anhinga as its
mascot.
Not far from the eastern entrance to Everglades National Park
lies the Anhinga Trail, a loop trail that goes 0.8 mile through a
sawgrass marsh. The trail is popular because it puts people up
close to lots of wildlife, including alligators and anhingas. Check
out the description and video from the Everglades
National Park website.
The mugs on this page can be purchased from Cafe Press. The dog
tank top is from FunnyShirts through
Amazon.
Canada geese are the centerpiece of this year’s federal “duck
stamp,” which went on sale Friday to raise millions of dollars to
conserve wildlife habitat.
James Hautman of Chaska, Minn.,
won first place in the annual duck stamp contest with his acrylic
painting of Canada geese. Images courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service
James Hautman of Chaska, Minn., painted the artwork that became
this year’s stamp following a contest last fall that attracted 152
entries. The stamp shows three Canada geese flying in formation
over a wheat field.
This year’s winning entry is Hautman’s fifth win in the duck
stamp competition. Only two other artists have won first place five
times — and one of those is Hautman’s brother Joseph.
Since 1934, sales of the stamp — formally called the Federal
Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp — have reached $950
million, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is
in charge of the stamp. The money has been used to conserve nearly
6 million acres of wetland habitat as part of the national wildlife
refuge system around the country. Some 98 percent of the funds from
sales of the $25 duck stamp go into the Migratory Bird Conservation
fund.
If you have time, check out all of the duck stamps starting with
some interesting ones you will find in the 1930s and ’40s in the
Federal Duck Stamp Gallery.
“The stamp’s impact goes beyond waterfowl,” said Secretary of
Interior Ryan Zinke in a
news release. “it also helps provide habitat for hundreds of
species of wildlife and clean water for our communities. The lands
set aside using duck stamp dollars provide opportunities for the
American people to enjoy the great outdoors through hunting,
fishing and birdwatching, and help ensure this piece of American
heritage will endure for generations.”
The stamp is legally required for waterfowl hunters age 16 and
older, but the program has grown over the years thanks to stamp
collectors and supporters of wildlife conservation. The current
duck stamp also provides free admission to any national wildlife
refuge.
Rebecca Knight of Appleton
City, Mo., took second place with her acrylic painting of a
brant.
The duck painting that took second place in last fall’s contest
was the creation of Rebekah Knight of Appleton City, Mo., who
previously won the National Junior Duck Stamp Contest. Her entry
last year was an acrylic painting of a single brant.
The third-place winner was Robert Hautman of Delano, Minn., with
his acrylic painting of a pair of Canada geese. Hautman, brother of
James and Joseph, previously won the contest in 1996 and 2000.
Robert Hautman of Delano,
Minn., was the third-place winner with his acrylic painting of
Canada geese.
Judges for this year’s duck stamp were Jan Martin McGuire, an
internationally known wildlife artist; Keith Russell, program
manager for urban conservation with Audubon Pennsylvania; Dr.
Nathan H. Rice, ornithology collection manager at the Academy of
Natural Sciences; John P. Booth, executive director of the Ned
Smith Center for Nature and Art; and Sue deLearie Adair, an artist,
birder and avid naturalist.
A gallery of all the contest entries can be viewed on the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service Flickr
page.
Isaac Schreiber 12, of
Duffield, Va, was named the winner of the Junior Duck Stamp
competition with his acrylic painting of trumpeter
swans.
A Junior Duck Stamp is chosen each year from entries made by
students from across the United States and Puerto Rico. This year’s
winner is Isaac Schreiber, 12, of Duffield, Va., who painted a pair
of trumpeter swans.
Second place went to Daniel Billings, 16, of Gallatin, Mont.,
for his oil painting of a wood duck. Rene Christensen, 17, of
Nekoosa, Wis., took third place with her graphite rendition of a
pair of Canada geese.
The junior contest is part of an educational program about
wetlands, waterfowl and conservation efforts. Proceeds from sales
of the $5 Junior Duck Stamps are used to support youth
education.
A gallery of the “best of show” winners can be seen on the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service Flickr
page.
Both the regular and junior stamps can be purchased at many
national wildlife refuges, sporting goods stores and related
retailers and through the U.S. Postal Service. For information,
check out the
“Buy Duck Stamps” website.
The water understands Civilization well; It wets my foot, but prettily, It chills my life, but wittily, It is not disconcerted, It is not broken-hearted: Well used, it decketh joy, Adorneth, doubleth joy: Ill used, it will destroy, In perfect time and measure With a face of golden pleasure Elegantly destroy.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
Floodplains by Design, a new program that combines salmon
restoration with flood control, is a grand compromise between
humans and nature.
I got to thinking about this notion while writing a story for
the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound regarding the need to protect and
restore floodplains in order to improve habitat for salmon and
other species. The story is part of a series on Implementation Strategies
to recover Puget Sound. Check out “Floodplain
projects open doors to fewer floods and more salmon.”
Floodplains by
Design is an idea born from the realization that building
levees to reduce flooding generally causes rivers to rush faster
and flow higher. Under these conditions, the rushing waters often
break through or overtop the levees, forcing people to rebuild the
structures taller and stronger than before.
Flooding along the Snoqualmie
River
Photo: King County
Salmon, which have evolved through untold numbers of prehistoric
floods, were somehow forgotten in the effort to protect homes and
farmland built close to a river. Absent the levees, floodwaters
would naturally spread out across the floodplain in a more relaxed
flow that salmon can tolerate. High flows, on the other hand, can
scour salmon eggs out of the gravel and flush young fish into
treacherous places.
In 1991, accompanied by botanist Jerry Gorsline, I visited
Devils Lake for the first time. I remember being awestruck — in
part by the beauty of the place but also because of the many
unusual native plants that Jerry raved about. Not one invasive
species had reached this place.
“Visiting Devils Lake,” I wrote, “is like stepping back in time,
perhaps 200-300 years, to a period when civilization had not yet
carried the seeds of foreign plants to the Pacific Northwest. At
one end of the lake lies an enchanted world — a rare bog, where the
sound of distant bubbles accompanies each footstep in the spongy
moss.”
Proposed expansion of Devils
Lake Natural Resources Conservation Area // Map:
DNR
Jerry worried that telling the story of Devils Lake would bring
irresponsible people to the lake, people who could destroy the
fragile ecosystem. But he also worried that not telling the story
would lead to a massive clearcut on this state-owned land and that
this wonderland would slip away. You can read this story online in
Chapter 10 of the book “Hood Canal: Splendor at Risk” (PDF 5.2
mb).
Jerry and others were successful in limiting the logging, in
part because of increasing environmental awareness and a new
program called the Timber, Fish and Wildlife Agreement. In 2002, 80
acres containing the lake were permanently set aside as a natural
resource conservation area.
Now Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark wants to add
another 415 acres to the NRCA before he leaves office. The added
property, now held in trust for state school construction, would
extend the protected habitat to the western shore of Quilcene Bay.
To gain special protections, the land would need to go through a
process to compensate the trust for the loss of land and timber
values.
Proposed expansion of Dabob Bay
Natural Resources Conservation Area. // Map:
DNR
Nearby, the 2,771-acre Dabob Bay natural area — which includes
the highly valued natural area preserve and the surrounding NRCA —
would increase by 3,640 acres under the expansion plan. About 940
acres is held by the state in trust status. Private lands, totaling
2,700 acres, could be purchased by the state but only from willing
sellers.
More than 20 years of removing and reconstructing old logging
roads in the Skokomish River watershed has finally paid off with
measurable improvement to water quality and habitat, according to
experts with Olympic National Forest where millions of dollars have
been spent on restoration.
In a U.S. Forest Service
project nicknamed “the Big Dig,” contract crews removed nearly 100
vertical feet of road in the South Fork of the Skokomish watershed
to remove an eight-foot culvert.
Photo: Kitsap Sun, Steve Zugschwerdt
The U.S. Forest Service this week declared that the upper South
Fork of the Skokomish is now a “properly functioning” watershed,
and the major road-restoration projects are complete.
After writing for years about horrendous problems with sediment
washing out of the upper watershed, this news comes as a nice
surprise. I’ve been hearing experts talk about water-quality
improvements, but this new declaration is a major milestone in the
restoration of the entire Skokomish River ecosystem.
“This is a proud and historic occasion for the Forest Service
and our many partners who have worked very hard for over two
decades to restore this once badly degraded watershed,” Reta
Laford, supervisor for Olympic National Forest, said in a
news release.
In 2012, Olympic National Forest designated the upper and middle
South Fork Skokomish sub-watersheds as “priority watersheds.“
Forest Service officials pushed forward with action plans
containing a list of restoration projects designed to put the
watersheds on a path to ecological health.
Completion of the key restoration projects in the upper South
Fork allowed for the new designation as a “properly functioning”
watershed. This marks the first time that any watershed in Olympic
National Forest has been upgraded due to completion of all
essential restoration projects. Watershed conditions and aquatic
habitat will continue to improve as natural processes roll on.
Restoration in the South Fork actually began in the early 1990s,
when the Forest Service acknowledged that the region was
criss-crossed by a damaging network of logging roads. At nearly
four miles of road for every fourone square mile of forest, it
was one of the densest tangles of roads in any national forest.
In 1994, the Forest Service designated the South Fork Skokomish
as a “key watershed” in the Northwest Forest Plan, which called for
major cutbacks in logging and received support from President Bill
Clinton. Between the early 1990s and 2005, Olympic National Forest
completed $10.6 million in restoration work, including $7.9 million
for road decommissioning, road stabilization and drainage
improvements.
In 2005, the Skokomish Watershed Action Team (SWAT) was formed
among a coalition of more than 20 government agencies,
environmental organizations and business groups with diverse
interests. The SWAT developed a unified front for promoting
restoration projects and seeking funds. Members agreed that the
focus on roads should begin with the upstream segments, later
moving downstream, while other work was coordinated on the estuary
near Hood Canal. Much of the lower area was owned or acquired by
the Skokomish Tribe, a critical partner in the SWAT.
Between 2006 and 2015, the Forest Service continued with $13.2
million in restoration projects in the South Fork, including $10.9
million on road problems. In all, 91 miles of roads were
decommissioned, closed or converted to trails, and 85 miles of
roads were stabilized or improved with new culverts and drainage
features.
Much of the road restoration work was funded by Congress through
the Forest Service’s Legacy Roads and Trails Program. Former U.S.
Rep. Norm Dicks was instrumental in creating that program, and
congressional support has continued under the leadership of Norm’s
successor, U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, and U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and
Maria Cantwell.
Key funding for restoration also has come from the Forest
Stewardship program, which uses receipts from commercial timber
thinning on forest lands. Other financial support — especially in
the lower watershed — has come from the state’s Salmon Recovery
Funding Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In 2009, I wrote a story for “Wilderness” magazine
about how these programs were bringing “green jobs” to the
region.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed an
in-depth study of the river’s ecosystem last year and is now
seeking funding from Congress for a series of projects in the
watershed. Check out
Water Ways, April 28, 2016.
To celebrate this milestone for Olympic National Forest, the
SWAT will recognize the work at its general meeting Friday at the
Skokomish Grange Hall, 2202 W. Skokomish Valley Road. The meeting
begins at 9 a.m., and the public is invited.
