Black River salmon spawning site, Photo: Keith Rader
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A scholarship program for students in natural resources fields was recently announced by the Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force (CBFTF). The Willy O'Neil Scholarship is dedicated to the memory of Willy O'Neil, who passed away at age 48 in an accident on the Okanogan River January 4, 2004.
In the announcement, the Task Force described Willy O'Neil as follows: "Willy had a deep and profound appreciation for the environment of the Northwest. He was a devoted steward of the earth, and an irrepressible advocate for community based groups, such as the 14 Regional Fisheries Enhancement Groups in Washington State who steadfastly perform on the ground, "grass roots" type restoration efforts. He was responsible for causes such as ensuring that the Washington State salmon recovery funding was spent on actual onsite habitat improvements, and that Washington State environmental policies were practical and reasonable. He will be forever remembered for his optimism, dedication, and professionalism."
The scholarship award is $1,000.00 and applications are open July 1st to October 31, 2005.
Applicants must meet all of the following minimum criteria:
Applicants will be invited to the November 10th, 2005 Board of Directors meeting and will be notified of awards in December 2005.
For application procedures contact the CBFTF. Website: http://www.cbftf.com. Email: cbftf@reachone.com.
The Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing populations of salmon, steelhead, and searun cutthroat trout by and for the citizens and the communities in the Chehalis River Basin.
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Minimum instream flows are flow levels set by the State of Washington in an attempt to ensure that at least some minimum amount of water remains in the stream for fish returning to spawn while allowing for other out-of-stream uses. For one detailed discussion of the issue, consult the Chehalis Basin Watershed Planning Issue Paper on Instream flows dated 7/18/2003. This can be found at http://www.crcwater.org/cbp/20030718instreamip.html.
Black River salmon spawning site, Photo: Keith Rader |
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by Paul Pickett.
This article originally appeared in the June 2005 issue of South Sound Green Pages published by the South Puget Sound Environmental Education Clearinghouse (SPEECH) and is reprinted with their permission.
This recent May weather makes you think about water. First endless showers and thunderstorms until you wonder if we can stop talking about drought. Then record-breaking temperatures in the 90s dry up the mud and remind us of global warming. And as we alternate between soaking and broiling, new ideas about water are coming from the Department of Ecology.
As the 2005 legislative session began, Jay Manning took the helm of Ecology. For the last few months, when he wasn't thinking about shipwrecks and drought, the session has taken his attention (including his confirmation). With the end of the session, Manning has hit the road with a new message to stakeholders in the debate over Washington's water: We have arrived at a fork in the road in how we manage water resources, and fundamental change is needed.
At a recent presentation, Manning described the situation as he sees it: "the drought shines a light on how limited our water resources really are." Even without the drought, competition for water is increasing. In a perfect world, instream flows would be protected and the balance would be available for allocation. However, the reality we face is that many basins throughout the state are overallocated, and many are subject to unquantified Tribal water rights whose seniority is based on the date of their treaty or establishment of their reservations.
We can see examples of what Manning describes here in Thurston County. Ecology studies describe the Chehalis River basin, including the Black River and Scatter Creek, as 200 to 300 percent overallocated. Summer flows in the Deschutes River are very low and the levels of instream flows needed for fish are uncertain. The three Tribes with treaty rights or reservations in our County all claim rights to water in the county's three watershed planning areas, but those claims have not been quantified or legally settled.
Manning described the water resources laws currently on the books as relying on "Command and Control with Ecology as the Watchdog." But according to Manning, "the system doesn't work worth a damn." Making it work will require fundamental reforms and adequate funding so that all water rights are evaluated to determine their legal volumes and priority dates. Under current law, this is done through the courts with a basin-wide stream adjudication. Manning also noted that illegal water use needs to be eliminated, and efficient water use and conservation need to become normal practices. Under the existing system, Ecology would direct these efforts and make most of the decisions, requiring large numbers of staff, increased funding, and a lot of time. Here Manning pauses. "Or...we try an alternative, using a watershed approach."
Seeds of the idea can be found in the WRIA watershed planning report being developed in the Walla Walla basin. The concept is built on three principles:
1) Guarantee minimum flows for the environment;
2) Ensure that water is allocated fairly; and
3) Allow the residents of the watershed free rein to allocate the balance as they deem appropriate.
Under this concept a watershed that agreed to principles 1 and 2 would be allowed to operate under allocation rules that were relaxed. Relinquishment rules would be more flexible, so residents would not be punished for conservation, and so a market for selling and leasing water rights could be possible. The local watershed stakeholders would develop their own strategy for managing "exempt" single-family domestic wells. Support for enforcement would come from a watershed-based Water Master.
Key to this concept is the guarantee of minimum instream flows. A multi-tiered approach could be employed, providing for seasonal limits, and varying limits for dry, normal, and wet years. Quantification (most likely by settlement) of Tribal rights would be included. The concept is based on the theory that a more flexible approach to out-of-stream uses would eliminate "paper rights," use existing water more efficiently through the use of trusts and waterbanks, and provide opportunities for buying senior rights for instream flow protection. This approach could move water rights out of the "Manifest Destiny" era and into a new era of sustainable adaptive management.
This alternative makes use of a watershed-based decision-making process. Local water users and citizens, area Tribes, and federal, state, and local agencies would share responsibility for water decision. Water users and Tribes would make the specific wateruse decision, subject to the rules of the system. The agencies would enforce the rules, and provide technical, legal, and financial assistance.
OK, you might be thinking, let's take off the rose-colored glasses. What are the devils hiding in the details? Manning concedes that many questions and concerns remain to be addressed in this proposal.
How will instream flows be protected? Manning talks about "guaranteeing" instream flows by proving a "carrot" of local autonomy and the "stick" of returning to the Command-and-Control system. If the variable instream flow is not met, the watershed loses its eligibility for the alternative approach and would be kicked back to the existing system. But for overallocated basins that would require either a major program of purchasing senior rights, quantification of Tribal rights, or legislative changes in the prior appropriations doctrine. All of these are likely to take immense investments in public funds and will require a successful journey through a political minefield.
Manning includes equity as a fundamental principle, but what governance structure will ensure equity? Ecology's future role is not clear, as well as the roles of other agencies. Tribal sovereignty is a major issue, and a process and rules that are acceptable to the Tribes will need to be worked out. And how much independence will the Watersheds have? The form of the governance structure for the Watershed will be critical. If it is based on Watersheds like the WRIA planning units, then what kind of decision-making body will meet constitutional tests and also be effective? Governance will have to ensure democratic accountability and transparency to avoid inequity and corruption.
Probably the toughest issue is the asymmetry of power between relatively poor rural counties and economically and politically powerful economic interests. The horror stories of water being seized by corporations can be found around the world. Will we see a repeat of the India's Plachimada disaster in eastern Washington if a large bottler buys up water at the expense of farmers and the community. Could a large city buy out the water that communities rely on, such as what Los Angeles did in the Owens Valley or Denver is doing on the Platte River?
This raises a fundamental question: Are instream uses the only use that the State will need to protect? There are intangible values that the public may want to see upheld, such as preserving community or providing economic equity. And there may be environmental needs for water besides instream uses.
Could a model like this be applied in Thurston County? It could be difficult, when we are split between four watersheds. However, if a model can be developed and pilot tested that proves sound, there may be benefits for our area. But this new approach will have to show results on the ground by increasing the sustainability of water use, protecting environmental values, and providing dependable water supplies for communities. It's a visionary goal and a risky path to get there. But this new approach deserves our community's thoughtful debate, because the way we are headed right now is not going to get us where we need to be.
Paul Pickett is a Green Pages staff writer.
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By Bill Barmettler, Chehalis River Council
My heart sank when I saw the surveyors pacing the county road. It's a Pavlovian response. I intercepted them and was told the new landowner to our east had contracted their services.
I didn't know until that moment we had a new landowner. Bill, the previous landowner, had left his trees alone since at least 1980. An entirely agreeable state of affairs as far as Patti and I were concerned. In recent years Bill's property and ours had become a green island amidst clearcuts in every direction. But Bill had retired from the DNR and moved away a few years ago. We knew things couldn't stay the same forever.
I called Bill. Sure enough, he'd sold, and to a logger. Bill assured me that the logger, who had spent some time in the employment of the DNR, knew the rules and would do things right. "The rules" means the Forest Practices Act (FPA). Although news of the impending clearcut was like a punch to the gut, Bill's reassurances left me feeling that the cut would at least proceed legally.
I didn't go to the DNR offices, which were at the time located on Rush Road south of Chehalis, to scrutinize the Forest Practices Application before the trees went down in the summer of 2003. I monitored Coal Creek for turbidity as it flowed past the logging activity and onto our property. After the trees were cut I put off the miserable task of trudging through the slash to check on the mainstem of Coal Creek and the tributary that runs along the far property line.
Finally, late in the fall, I walked up the access road. The road climbs onto a high point that overlooks the tributary along the far side of the cut. There were no trees along the tributary. I couldn't even see the trib for all the slash that had been dumped across it. The Forest & Fish Agreement is a fairly complex document which I understand only superficially, but I was pretty sure that even for small landowners there was no Section 3, Subclause 9, Paragraph 51A that allowed the removal of every single tree along a Type 3 waterway. Although I didn't realize it then, the logger had also invaded the riparian zone along Coal Creek.
I drove to the DNR office and requested a copy of the FPA. The gal at the counter returned with copies of some paperwork, casually mentioning that the logger had been caught and a Stop Work Order had been filed.
Great. A Stop Work Order. The trees were gone, so what good did that do? According to the DNR, it will take approximately 35 years to re-establish some of the trees and associated riparian functions, and 140 years to achieve a fully functional RMZ (riparian management zone). And it had happened right next door. I felt like a fool for being the last person to know.
The logger appealed the Stop Work Order to the State Forest Practices Appeal Board. That took a long time. Afterwards, the DNR Public Affairs Office supplied copies of some of the court documents. There were four violations. One, the logger tried to slip under the small landowner exemption by claiming that the parcel he'd bought was actually two parcels with two different owners. Two, he "falsely claimed the 20 acre riparian exemption for small landowners." Numbers One and Two are tied together, of course. Three, he "failed to leave the proper RMZ on Type 3 waters." In other words, he cut trees near the two creeks that should have been left standing. Four, he "felled, bucked, and yarded the trees within a core zone on a Type 3 water." Activity within the core zone is restricted to a very short list, such as road-building and yarding paths. Apparently the logger went outside of these restrictions.
The logger's original civil penalty was $19,000. His appeal was partially successful insofar as the penalty was reduced to $9,000. He also agreed to replant the riparian zones along both Coal Creek and the trib with twice as many trees as usually required. These trees are protected with plastic tubes, and vegetation control is supposed to be carried out every spring until DNR agrees that the trees have achieved "free to grow" status.
When all was said and done, I was left wondering how often this sort of thing happens. DNR's Pacific Cascade Region encompasses the entire southwestern corner of the state. In this region, in 2003, there was only one civil penalty (the illegal logging operation described above) and eight Stop Work Orders. Not exactly a free-for-all.
I asked several DNR employees for advice regarding how a private citizen could monitor logging projects. There are two main courses of action, one reactive and the other pro-active.
 Logging site - Photo Bill Barmettler |
The basic course of action if you have questions about a logging operation in our Region is to call the Castle Rock DNR office (1-360-577-2025). Their first question will likely be "where is the logging activity?" At this point it would be helpful if you can speak their language. DNR uses Section, Township, and Range (STR) to locate. Most of us don't think this way. However, chances are good that you have this information close at hand. Your legal description will describe your property in terms of STR. Metzker Maps and the popular Washington Gazeteer atlas include the STR grid.
Got Internet? In Lewis County, try https://fortress.wa.gov/lewisco/home/ and enter the PATS system. All you need to do is enter the parcel number from your annual property tax statement and PATS will pull up a description. Over in the right hand column you'll see a location description ending in a three digit value, such as 34-14-2W (Section 34, Township 14, Range 2 West). That's the number you need if a logging operation is near your home. I'm guessing that similar online services are available in the other counties.
Other questions DNR is likely to ask: Who owns the property to be logged? Is logging going on right now or is the equipment just moving in? Name of the logger? (Often painted on the heavy equipment, such as logging truck doors).
Oftentimes a small number of trees will be cut to provide room for a well driller or septic installation. Also, if less than 5,000 board-feet are cut for personal use (firewood, fenceposts, etc.) the operation is exempt from a Forest Practices Application. 5,000 bf is roughly a log truck and a half. DNR may ask if there is a well-drilling truck or other indications of a small-scale clearing operation.
If it appears that further investigation is warranted, the DNR office will contact the DNR Forest Practices Forester who works that area. From my experience the Foresters are pretty busy, but hopefully they will be able to check it out and contact you within a few days.
Back to the Internet, and this is pretty cool... DNR's online Forest Practices Application Review System (FPARS) can notify you by e-mail of new Forest Practices Applications within whatever geographical boundary you choose. You can then inspect the digital copies of the applications online. If you want to sign up, you can either contact the DNR Region Forest Practices office for a profile form or you can go to the FPARS homepage at http://www3.wadnr.gov/dnrapp3/FPAsearch_html/FPARShome.jsp
There you will find an Adobe document to print out, fill in, and send back to DNR via snail-mail. I have not yet signed up so I can't give all the details, but it looks pretty straightforward. If you choose to be notified of every FPA within the region, FPARS would happily fill your inbox. Instead, choose a less unwieldy geographic area, such as your township.
Some think the Forest Practices Act doesn't provide enough protection. Others undoubtedly think the FPA goes too far. Regardless, these laws have been hard-won and should be followed. I live with the knowledge that I could have stopped what happened right next door but didn't. I can only hope that sharing the experience will encourage some of you to take an active role when loggers visit your neighborhoods.
A big "Thanks" to Rex Hapala and Sue Casey of the DNR for assistance with this article, as well as several other DNR employees who helped in various capacities.
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Natural Resources Conservation Service news release
Olympia, Wash. (May 5, 2005) - Native prairie in South Puget Sound is vanishing. But thanks to the Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP) administered by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service one Washington family will be able to keep a piece of that prairie safe from development and true to its original roots.
The 216-acre easement on the Colvin ranch near Tenino represents the first such GRP project in Washington.
GRP is a voluntary program offering landowners the opportunity to protect, restore, and enhance grassland, range land, pasture land, and shrub land on their property through easements which utilize controlled grazing to maintain healthy prairie vegetation. The program is focusing on enrolling existing high quality native grasslands that have the greatest biodiversity and the greatest risk of conversion to other, more intensive agricultural uses and/or commercial use.
"GRP conserves vulnerable grasslands while helping to maintain viable ranching operations," said Gus Hughbanks, NRCS state conservationist.
According to Hughbanks, grasslands provide critical ecological benefits that play a key role in environmental quality. "GRP helps protect valuable grasslands from conversion to other land uses thus helping to ensure this natural resource is available to future generations," he said.
The Colvin ranch, a Century Farm, was homesteaded in 1865 by Ignatius Colvin. Colvin settled in the Tenino area on approximately 320 acres of the 250,000 acres of South Puget Sound native prairies. Fred Colvin, the great grandson of Ignatius, said he and his family looked at the GRP program as a tool to keep the ranch together for future generations allowing private ownership on working agricultural lands.
"GRP will allow us to conserve working lands and maintain the native prairie, by using grazing as a management tool," Colvin said.
Generations of the Colvin family successfully operated their cattle ranch while maintaining the native prairie. The preservation and maintenance of this 216-acre native prairie area is now the basis of the Colvin family's grazing plan. The prairie maintenance activities will be intensively managed through the livestock grazing plan developed between the Colvins and the NRCS.
According to the NRCS, prairies like those owned by the Colvins are ecologically unique. "These prairies are home to a specific composition of flora and fauna solely adapted to the cobbles and porous soils formed on the outwash plain of the Vashon Glacier," Hughbanks said.
Hughbanks sees the easement as a win-win for farming and the environment. "The acquisition of this easement constitutes a success for sustainable agriculture, proper grazing land stewardship, grassland ecology, and the conservation of priority habitats," he said.
Contacts: Marty Chaney, West Area Agronomist, 360.704.7751 or Clay Midkiff, Program Liaison, 360.704.7783. Information is also available from your Conservation District. On the web, see http://www.thurstoncd.com/index.php?id=11.
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By Daeg Aerlic Byrne, The Nature Conservancy
My wife claims she can feel the approach of rain in her bones, and by now I believe her. Unfortunately I can't drag my human barometer into the field with me; she's got other things to do. I have to settle for my ever-competent work partner, April.
"I knew it", April says when she feels the first drops of rain. "We can't spray in this weather. Now what do we do?" she asks. I shrug my shoulders, hold out my hands. "We've got a lot of outreach to do", I say, as the drops fall faster. This morning's weather report gave a thirty percent chance of rain, and fifteen minutes earlier, the sun had been shining, the clouds had looked innocent. We had decided to risk it, to go ahead with our treatment plan. Our target the knotweed plants that survived last year's injection treatments. Our method this time -- foliar application with backpack sprayers.
We work for The Nature Conservancy of Washington, and we are the knotweed team. There's April, the chemistry savvy scientist with solid data management abilities, there's me, Daeg, the veteran of last year's knotweed season, and there's Allison, our project manager and outreach coordinator.
We hope, in the long term, to see the exile of Japanese, Giant, and Bohemian Knotweed from all stream corridors in the Chehalis Basin. Considering that the Chehalis River Basin is Washington's second largest watershed, anyone who wants to beat Knotweed has a big job ahead of them. So we try not to bite off more than we can chew, and we choose our bites carefully. We are making progress, but most importantly we are figuring out how to make progress.
We are focusing our efforts on three tributary rivers within the Chehalis Basin: The Elk, the Black, and the Wishkah. These rivers were chosen because they represent a broad spectrum of situations. The Elk is very remote, surrounded by buffers and managed timberlands. The Black is not so remote, but it has very different flow dynamics than the other two, and much of its corridor is protected by federal, state, county, and nonprofit organizations' holdings. The Wishkah has its mouth in downtown Aberdeen, and the high level of residential development along its banks makes it the most susceptible to knotweed, host to the largest infestation of the three, and the greatest challenge to control efforts.
Last year, most of the plants we treated were over 8 feet tall, with a cane diameter of one half to two inches. This made them suitable for injection of herbicide into the stem. Some patches had zero regrowth this year, but most patches had from two to ten percent regrowth. The regrowth usually consists of much smaller plants that emerge from the edge of last year's patch, and aren't injectable. To kill this regrowth, we have to bring in backpack sprayers and apply herbicide to the leaves.
 Roochester Middle School students were among the first to attack knotweed on the Black River. The manual approach proved ineffective and herbicides were needed. |
A light rain doesn't create any problems for injection, but the effectiveness of our foliar applications depends entirely on how well the knotweed absorbs the herbicide solution into its vascular tissue. In fact, our true target is not even the visible part of the knotweed plant. Our herbicide mixture is designed to translocate through the plant to Polygonum cuspidatum's magnificent and persistent root system. After we spray the leaves, the plant's own breathing is what takes the chemical where we want it to go. Depending on the plant's rate of respiration at any given time of the day, the chemical takes from ten minutes to two hours to be absorbed completely. Even a little bit of rain can ruin this whole process. So there we were on a Monday, suited up and ready to spray, and along came the rain. Frustrating.
Luckily, we've got a lot of work to keep us busy on rainy days. In fact, the most challenging and time-consuming part of our job is not the actual killing of knotweed, but everything else that must be done to get us to that point. Knotweed, once present in a stream corridor, spreads downstream as easily as the water flows. It takes a tiny root fragment or stem node to create an entire new population. When we discover knotweed in a stream corridor, we identify the source and work downstream from that point. But before we can treat, we have to make a formal agreement with each person who owns property where the knotweed occurs. This means going from door to door like salesmen.
I didn't expect to like this part of the job so much, but it has turned out to be the most rewarding. People who have serious concerns about herbicide application end up being the most cooperative. We are, after all, working to solve what would otherwise be a very expensive problem in the future, preserving the quality of streamside property, and doing it at no cost to the landowner.
I have learned that it's very hard to find someone who doesn't care about the long-term health and quality of their own property. More importantly, I've learned that most people here in the Chehalis River Basin understand that our water resources and stream corridors are part of one system, and the responsibility for keeping them healthy is something that we all share.
So when the sun is out this summer, you can bet we'll be on the banks of some Chehalis Basin stream where we've gotten permission to kill knotweed, and during these strange thundershowers we've been having, we'll be knocking on someone's door, saying, "Have you heard of Japanese Knotweed?"
 More Knotweed |