The Washington State Board on Geographic Names met on Oct. 30 and gave formal approval to the term “Salish Sea” as an umbrella name for Puget Sound, Hood Canal, Admiralty Inlet, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Strait of Georgia. Its formal adoption by the state helps solidify the Squaxin view that the Tribe occupies the “Headwaters of the Salish Sea.”
October 15th was one of two days this year that the shellfish industry picked up garbage on beaches in South Sound. Four Choice High School students and their leader, John Johnson pitched in to clean up debris on the Twin River Ranch tidal marshland at the head of Oakland Bay.
In the phot0, Michael Hooton shows off the garbage pile. Taylor Shellfish will bring a boat in later in the day at high tide to collect the garbage for disposal.
This is the first time garbage has been picked up in the Twin River Ranch tidal marshlands. The effort was spurred on by the pending acquisition of the property by the Capitol Land Trust. The land trust intends to maintain the property for its fish and wildlife habitat value.
Photos courtesy of Taylor Shellfish staff and Phil Rousseau, a Simpson retiree. See also: http://picasaweb.google.com/clharrismeister/Orcas09?authkey=Gv1sRgCMzrlq-HwJngdA&feat=email# .
State and Tribal scientists use fecal bacteria (FC) as an indicator of water pollution in Oakland Bay. In 2006 during the summer months, the bacteria concentration in the water column at the head of Oakland Bay skyrocketed and restricted commercial harvest in some shellfish beds. In in the first half of the summer of 2009, the concentrations are much lower, in spite of the hot weather we have had and a massive die-off of clams earlier in the year. That’s good news for the Tribe, the shellfish industry and the greater community.
The low fecal bacteria concentrations in the water column are not matched by lower concentrations in or on the intertidal sediment. Sediment bacteria concentrations are running higher this year than in 2007 or 2008. But for some reason, the bacteria are not being resuspended into the water column. This resuspension often occurs when wind speed exceeds 5 mph from the southwest creating extensive wave action in the upper bay that stirs up the bacteria-laden sediment.
At the end of the summer, we will analyze more data including wind speed and direction to try and explain this year’s fecal bacteria counts.
The Squaxin Island Tribe and Taylor Shellfish hosted the 2009 Puget Sound Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources on July 12th. Fifteen journalists from around the county gathered to learn about the Tribe’s relationship with shellfish and its commercial production in South Sound. Lynda Mapes from the Seattle Times led the tour.
Charlene Krise, Tribal Council member and Museum Director explained Tribal history at the Squaxin museum. Then the journalists went out to Chapman Cove in Oakland Bay to dig clams on Taylor property and hear firsthand about water quality issues. The day ended with Charlene welcoming the journalists to Squaxin Island by asking them to maintain a positive frame of mind while on the island. A shellfish feast ensued!
Weyerhaeuser published a report in June 2009 in the Journal of American Water Resources Association (Volume 45, Number 3, Pages 793-808) detailing 30 years of turbidity data collected in the upper reaches of the Deschutes (WA) Watershed. To my knowledge, it is the longest water quality study on private forestlands in the Pacific Northwest.
In the mainstem river, the authors reported a consistent decline in winter turbidity levels over the 30 year period of record. They attributed the decline to improvements in road construction and maintenance practices over the years. The improvements were particularly extensive after the record January 1990 flood and the associated culvert failures and massive landslides in the Huckleberry Creek Basin and elsewhere. Trends in spring, summer and fall turbidity levels were not evident.
The documented improvements in turbidity do not seem to directly translate into improved spawning habitat. In 2004, Squaxin repeated a 1992 and 1995 study in the upper watershed of fine sediment in spawning gravel. Levels climbed from 12% to 15% to 17%. Spawning gravel with less than 12% fines is considered in good condition and over 17% is considered harmful to egg incubation and fry emergence.
While turbidity levels may be lower now, enough fine sediment is still moving downstream to increase impairment of salmon reproduction. Even with all the forest road improvements made by Weyerhaeuser, another Squaxin report concluded that as of 2003, 50% of the fine sediment entering the river in the upper watershed was still anthropogenic in nature.
I toured the Deschutes Watershed on June 4th with 17 other members of the Deschutes Advisory Group. The group is charged with implementing measures to address water quality issues identified in the DOE TMDL technical report.
One highlight of the tour was stopping at the mouth of Huckleberry Creek not far downstream from the upper Deschutes falls. Prior to a 1990 rain storm and subsequent landslide on Weyerhaeuser property, about 10% of all returning coho in the Deschutes River system spawned in Huckleberry Creek.
We spoke with Peter Schmid, president of the local homeowners association. He described how sediment (likely still from the 1990 landslide) continues to aggrade the Huckleberry channel. He said the channel is now at least three feet shallower than it used to be. He asserted that was the cause of the ongoing flooding issues the community faces. When asked about salmon, Peter reported that he has seen none in the last couple years–not in Huckleberry Creek and not in front of his house in the mainstem Deschutes River.
At another stop in Pioneer Park, we saw first hand what a river likes to do. A new bend in the stream channel formed during last winter’s storms. It took out a portion of the gravel path leading west from the parking lot near the artesian well. It will be interesting to see how tolerant the City of Tumwater and park users will be to letting a river be a river. On a very hot June 4th, the inner tubers at least seemed to relish the new twist in the stream channel.
Video of the presentations at the 2009 South Sound Science Symposium is availale at: http://www.davekrupa.com/Videos/SSSciSymp/SSSSIntro.aspx .
The South Sound Science Symposium is coming up on May 6th. Don’t forget to register! The agenda is now available here.