The Chronicle Wed 11/12/1997
The Chronicle
PORTLAND (AP) - In its 146 miles from Bonneville Dam to the Pacific Ocean, the lower Columbia River estuary's mix of fish, shore birds and humans is posing stubborn problems.
The 1,200-mile Columbia drains parts of seven states and British Columbia; its estuary serves as a settling pond for a basin larger than France. The estuary is plagued by toxic, man-made chemicals, the loss of wetlands, harm to wildlife and the press of development.
"All of these problems are caused by human activity," said Debrah Marriott, director of the Lower Columbia River Estuary Program. "That's good news, because if we caused them, we can effect changes to them." Marriott leads a three-year, $2.4 million project to develop a plan for addressing problems in the estuary, which in 1996 was included in the National Estuary Program.
The federal government is paying 60 percent of the cost of developing the cleanup plan for the Columbia estuary, with Oregon and Washington paying the remainder.
Once a plan is in place, other federal money may help pay for solutions.
The plan lacks regulatory authority, Marriott said, but will help reach agreement on what should be done.
Developing solutions to estuary ills, by law, must include input from a wide range of state and local governments. environmentalists, Native American tribes and assorted stakeholders from shippers and ports to paper mills and power companies. The estuary planning area includes 163 governmental bodies.
Getting agreement is an enormous task.
"When push comes to shove, a lot of it is real emotional," said Gayle Killam, water program director for the Oregon Environmental Council and a member of the management committee.
Last week, Marriott ran newspaper ads in communities along the estuary asking people to rate their concerns about the health of the estuary. Marriott received 600 replies.
Industries on the river also have been asked to rate their concerns. Selected scientists will be polled, too.
The problems are large and numerous.
The James River paper mill in Camas, Wash., which produces enough toilet paper every day to reach around the planet, dumps 55 million gallons of treated water a day into the river.
In the sprawl of Vancouver, expensive home hug the water's edge, eliminating valuable riverbank habitat.
At the Port of Portland, pollutants seep into the river and nesting areas are obliterated by industrial development.
Along the way, pollutants reach the river from illegal sewage dumping, paving projects and fertilizer and pesticides roll off of farm fields, lawns and gardens.
The news isn't all bleak. Bald eagle and osprey populations, while still below historic levels, seem to be recovering.
The driving force behind the program is a six-year study financed by Oregon and Washington taxpayers, the pulp and paper industry, and public ports.
The study found evidence that fish and wildlife in the lower Columbia River estuary are exposed to dangerous pollutants.
It found that bacterial levels in the Columbia occasionally exceed the acceptable level for people to swim or water ski.
It also found summer temperatures in the river too high for salmon and steelhead, slowing their migration and leaving them more vulnerable to prey.
Although solutions still are a long way off, Marriott said, the estuary program is the right start.
Killam, and others, however, are withholding judgment.
"We're going to have to have public pressure to make" the program credible, Killam said. "Otherwise, we will have spent years on this bi-state process and have nothing to show for it but a great plan."