Over at the NWIFC, there is a new video of how private tideland harvests are handled:
Author Archives: eoconnell
Tribe takes a close look at mushrooms and water quality
Squaxin Island natural resources staff, along with the Mason Conservation District, are exploring whether mushrooms can help fight water pollution in Puget Sound:
Mushrooms might help treat one of the most widespread causes of water pollution — fecal bacteria from human and livestock waste in stormwater runoff. And if it works, the system can be used to protect the rich shellfish heritage of Puget Sound.
The Squaxin Island Tribe is teaming up with Mason Conservation District and Fungi Perfecti to test how well the vegetative growth (mycelia) of fungi filters fecal coliform bacteria out of running water.
“Several field studies have demonstrated that mushroom mycelia can capture and remove bacteria in running water,” said John Konovsky, environmental program manager for the Squaxin Island Tribe. “The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe worked with Battelle Labratories on a large treatment system and found that fungi mycelia can reduce bacteria concentrations. We’re trying to figure out just how well it works on a smaller scale.”
Here is a King 5 report on the project:
Presentations now online
Powerpoint presentations from the speakers at the South Sound Science Symposium are now available online. Recorded audio will be added soon.
How would you restore Budd Inlet?
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The attendees of the Symposium today are being asked “How would you restore Budd Inlet?”
A table sized map of Budd Inlet has been laid out in the event center, with dozens of possible projects represented by a paper cup. Each attendee can take ten pieces of gravel and vote for each project with one or more piece of gravel.
Below is Tracey Farrel from the Department of Ecology and Joe Peters of the Squaxin Island Tribe assessing their choices.
You can view more photos of the Symposium here.
South Salish Sea Science Symposium?
Jeff Dickison is giving the introductory remarks right now, and he mentioned that we could start calling this event the South Salish Sea Science Symposium, or S5.
What do you think of that?
More information on the Salish Sea moniker here.
Ask your question here
During the wrap up this afternoon, speakers will have a chance to respond to questions from the audience (here at the Squaxin event center and following on the internet). Use the comment thread below to submit your questions.
Video of beach seine research demonstration at Priest Point Park
Tribe appeals decision on Johns Creek
From the press release:
The Squaxin Island Tribe is appealing to Gov. Chris Gregoire the decision by the state Department of Ecology to reject a petition to protect Johns Creek. ”Ecology’s inaction does further harm to our treaty-based fisheries,” said Andy Whitener, natural resources director for the Tribe. “Salmon recovery should not have to bear a disproportionate share of the fallout from tough economic times.”
This is the second time in two years that Ecology has rejected the Tribe’s request to protect Johns Creek, citing the need for study on the connection between ground and surface water in the Johns Creek watershed. The Tribe’s petitions were based on a state law that closes a watershed to new well drilling activity if not enough information exists to establish that water is legally available.
If the Gov. Gregoire is serious about protecting the waters of Puget Sound, then she will direct Ecology to act. “Ecology’s excuse is the lack of resources. It takes a commitment to their responsibilities, not money, to close the basin,” said Kevin Lyon, the Tribe’s attorney. “The rule is simple: if you lack information, you don’t take water – especially when minimum flows are not being met.
Squaxin Island Tribe files second petition to protect Johns Creek
A news release this afternoon:
The Squaxin Island Tribe has filed a second petition with the state Department of Ecology (DOE) to stop all new water withdrawals, including permit-exempt wells, in the Johns Creek watershed near Shelton. The action was taken to protect several runs of salmon that spawn and rear in the creek.
“There isn’t enough water in Johns Creek to support salmon,” said Andy Whitener, natural resources director for the Squaxin Island Tribe. Likely because of withdrawals from hundreds of domestic and municipal wells, the creek does not meet state mandated minimum flows to protect salmon.
The tribe filed the petition under a state law that closes a watershed from future withdrawals if not enough information is available to justify those withdrawals.
This new petition comes almost two years after the state declined an initial call from the tribe to protect Johns Creek. With the original refusal came the promise that the state would work with Mason County to develop ways to achieve minimum streamflows. “That so-called ‘alternative path forward’ never materialized,” Whitener said. “Neither the state or Mason County took any action.”
New post on restoring the Deschutes Estuary on Everyday Olympia
There’s a new post this morning on the importance of restoring the Deschutes River estuary:
We know that South Sound is dying. Squaxin tribal researchers recently conducted a study of how many coho salmon leaving streams in southern Puget Sound actually survive long enough to swim past the Tacoma Narrows. Coho populations have been dropping for more than a decade around here, and we’ve been studying them to understand why.
What we came up with was shocking. Only 3 percent of coho that originated in southern Puget Sound made it past the Tacoma Narrows. Typically around 2 percent of any given salmon run return as adults, so South Sound coho are practically seeing a lifetime’s worth of mortality in only a few miles.
Another reason the non-tribal community argues against restoring the Deschutes River estuary is there are other, more convenient places to restore. They can spend their restoration dollars in places they’ve already decided aren’t better suited for a yacht club or a port. But the Squaxin Island Tribe has no other place to go. The tribe is bound by tradition and by a treaty with the federal government to fish close to home in the same waters they have fished for centuries.
The non-tribal community can point to Budd Inlet and say, “this place is too important economically to ever restore the estuary.” But for the Squaxin Island Tribe, there is no more valuable place to restore than the Deschutes River estuary.