DNR and the Yakama Nation want to hear from Upper Methow River recreationists about river use

Boating is popular on the scenic Big Valley Reach of the Upper Methow River, especially on the stretch between Wolf Creek and the Weeman Bridge. This area also is critical habitat for many types of fish including three listed by Washington State as threatened or endangered.

What to do? The first step in creating fish-friendly guidelines for the boaters who use this portion of the river is to ask them how they use the Wolf Creek-to-Weeman Bridge portion of the river. Your answers will help habitat biologists who are developing salmon habitat restoration projects to better understand the safety needs of river users.

If you have recreated on the Big Valley Reach of the Upper Methow anytime in the last 10 years, please take 15 minutes to fill out the online survey.

It doesn’t matter if you are a professional guide or an occasional weekend recreationist, we want to get your input about boating conditions, river use and recreation safety. The deadline to complete the survey is June 30, 2013.

For more information, contact Jarred Johnson at johj@yakamafish-nsn.gov.

The numbers are in: Facts from the West Bay creosote removal project

Before and after removal. Looking south down West Bay toward the Washington State Capitol.
Top photo: Jordanna Black/DNR
Lower photo: Toni Droscher/DNR 

In February 2013, DNR and partners from the Squaxin Island Tribe, the Port of Olympia, the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group and private landowners joined together to remove toxic derelict pilings and structures from much of the southern end of Budd Inlet in Olympia.

With funding from the Washington Legislature’s 2012 Jobs Now Act, DNR hired Blackwater Marine, a diving and salvage firm from Kirkland, to do the removal project.

What was removed:

• 400 tons of pilings
• 394 pilings
• 23 piling stumps cut below the mud line (too impractical to remove them completely)
• 7,600 square feet of overwater structure

Plus:

• 12 tons of steel recycled
• 32 tons of concrete recycled

And finally:

• The project provided 1,350 hours of work for the local contractor and its employees
• Total cost of project: $360,700

Learn more about DNR’s Creosote Debris Removal Program.

View photos of the West Bay creosote removal project.

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Governor Inslee signs derelict vessel bill into law

Deep Sea is raised June 3, 2012, from where it sank in Penn Cove on Whidbey Island. Photo: DNR

Flanked by representatives of the marine trades, business, legislature, environmental community, DNR, the Washington Department of Ecology, and others, Gov. Jay Inslee today signed into law a bill that will strengthen the state’s ability to address derelict and abandoned vessels.

In the past year alone, several high-profile incidents caught the attention of the public and legislators—raising awareness about the problems these vessels cause to the environment, public safety, and the state’s economy.

Just a little more than a year ago, the 140-foot former crab-fishing vessel, the Deep Sea, caught fire and sank in Penn Cove. This unfortunate incident cause a world-renown shellfish farm to shut down for nearly a month.

The new law (ESHB 1245) holds vessel owners more accountable, helps prevent vessels from becoming derelict in the first place, improves enforcement, and shores up funding to help the state deal with these vessels.

Read more in our news release.

DNR manages the Derelict Vessel Removal Program, which provides funding and expertise to assist public agencies remove and dispose of vessels all over the state.

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San Juan County waterfront landowners: No-cost help now available for creosote-debris removal projects

Creosote-debris removal project in the San Juan Islands. Photo: DNR

Are you a waterfront landowner in San Juan County? Are your tidelands home to a variety of old, derelict creosote-treated pilings or structures? Would you like to see these relics from the past removed from your property?

If so, you can now get help to remove these toxic structures from your tidelands, thanks to a partnership with FRIENDS of the San Juans and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR). And it won’t cost you a thing.

WA State Legislature moves forward on derelict vessel bill

Tugs from Global Diving & Salvage prepare two derelict vessels for towing from Guemes Channel to Seattle, April 12, 2013. Photo: Dennis Clark/DNR

Late Friday afternoon, the Washington State Legislature gave their seal of approval to legislation that strengthens the Washington State Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) Derelict Vessel Removal Program while alleviating the taxpayers’ burden.

Both houses have passed the bill, ESHB 1245. The next step is for the House to concur on Senate amendments to the bill. Then, the bill will proceed to the Governor’s Office for signature.

Before the bill was introduced this legislative session, DNR met with stakeholders to listen to their ideas on how to address the growing problem of derelict and abandoned vessels in Washington’s waters. We met with many diverse groups, but everyone shared a common concern for the health and safety of our state’s waterways.

Stakeholders included legislators; recreational boaters; tribal governments; shellfish growers; local, state, and federal agencies; commercial fishing industry representatives; marine trade associations; ports; and conservation groups.

Thanks to everyone who participated in these discussions. And a big thanks to the legislators who worked so hard to pass this vital bill.

Learn more about DNR’s Derelict Vessel Removal Program.

The following selection of media coverage about recent derelict vessel crises illustrates the need to strengthen the state’s derelict vessel program:

• Abandon-ed ships (Skagit Valley Herald, April 14, 2013)
• State orders removal of derelict Tacoma ship (Seattle Times, April 2, 2013)
• Give DNR more tools to deal with derelict vessels (Tacoma News Tribune editorial, March 20, 2013)
• Editorial: State needs to get tougher on derelict vessels (Seattle Times, February 4, 2013)
• Two derelict ships sink at Tacoma marina (KING 5 TV, February 25, 2013)
• Sinking incident points to state’s struggle with derelict vessels (KPLU/NPR, January 25, 2013)
• DNR takes possession of derelict boat in Port Ludlow (Peninsula Daily News, January 3, 2013)
• Taxpayers on the hook for state’s derelict boats (KOMO 4 News, October 26, 2012)
• Ballard Diving & Salvage raises derelict vessel from Sinclair Inlet (Port Orchard Independent, October 25, 2012)
• Sunken boat to be removed from Port Orchard waterfront (October 21, 2012)
• Derelict vessels create headaches on NW waters (Seattle Times, September 9, 2012)
• The Deep Sea Debacle: State needs to address threat of derelict boats (Seattle Times Guest Editorial, June 12, 2013)
• Sunken crab boat could be raised Sunday (Whidbey News-Times, May 30, 2012)
• Sunken fishing boat is leaking fuel, endangering marine life (KOMO 4 News, May 14, 2012)
• Famed shellfish in jeopardy after boat fire, sinking (Seattle PI, May 13, 2012) 

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Eelgrass, DNR scientist featured in series about the health of Puget Sound

Jeff Gaeckle, DNR seagrass ecologist, studies an eelgrass bed near Mosquito Pass on San Juan Island. Photo: Anja Schanz.

Last week, Ear to the Ground reported on DNR scientist Helen Berry’s work to study the effects of the Elwha River dam removals on eelgrass and kelp in the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

This week, eelgrass continued to capture local media attention. The Kitsap Sun’s yearlong series: “Taking the Pulse of Puget Sound” took a closer look at eelgrass and the challenges to restoring  this key barometer of the health of the Sound’s marine environment. Reporter Chris Dunagan interviewed DNR eelgrass ecologist Jeff Gaeckle for this story.

In 2011, the Puget Sound Leadership Council formally adopted eelgrass as an indicator of Puget Sound’s health and set an ambitious target for recovering eelgrass by 20 percent by the year 2020.

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Dam fascinating: DNR’s nearshore team studying what happens to marine vegetation during and after Elwha River restoration

Sediment pours out of the Elwha River into the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Photo: Tom Roorda.

Just west of Port Angeles, an unprecedented scientific experiment is taking place on a grand scale. Researchers from a variety of disciplines are watching and studying what happens following the removal of the two large dams on the Elwha River.

Since the removal of the entire Elwha Dam and part of the Glines Canyon Dam last year, millions of cubic yards of sediment, held back by the dams for 100 years, have spilled down the course of the river and oozed out along the shoreline in the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

Helen Berry, DNR nearshore scientist, has been studying the effects of Elwha dam removals on nearshore ecology and marine vegetation.

Scientists from DNR’s Nearshore Habitat Program want to know how the escape of these sediments will affect marine vegetation in the area.

In these early, post-dam days, they expected to see some changes; however…“What we’re seeing is a striking and dramatic impact from the outflow of sediments into the Straits,” says Helen Berry, DNR’s lead nearshore resource scientist.

During the dams’ rein over the natural flow of the Elwha, which effectivley stopped up sediments,  kelp beds became the dominant vegetation in the marine shoreline’s rocky substrate.

Free seminar on ocean acidification in Bellingham–March 28

Ocean acidification is having a profound effect on the development of young oysters. Photo: WA State Department of Health

The Whatcom County Marine Resources Committee and numerous co-sponsors are hosting a free seminar about ocean acidification on March 28 in Bellingham.

Learn about strategies and actions to protect the state’s marine resources.

Several members of the state’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification and others will provide their perspectives on this important issue.

What:    Ocean Acidification Forum
When:   6 to 8 p.m., March 28
Where:  Bellingham Cruise Terminal
355 Harris Ave., Bellingham
Directions

Agenda:

• What is Ocean Acidification?
  Dr. Brady Olson, Western Washington University, Shannon Point Marine Center
• Local Impacts, Local Solutions
  Betsy Peabody, Puget Sound Restoration Fund, Member of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification
• Recommendations, Partnerships, and Actions
  Brad Warren, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, Member of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification

A question-and-answer period follows the presentations.

For more information, contact Melissa Roberts, Whatcom County Public Works, 360-676-6876, ext. 50259 or visit the Whatcom County MRC webpage.

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Now you see them; soon you won’t: Old toxic creosote pilings in Olympia’s Budd Inlet to be a thing of the past

Contractors transfer the first load of pilings from the barge to a dumpster on the shore of West Bay. Photo: Toni Droscher/DNR

This week, crews from Blackwater Marine began yanking old, defunct creosote pilings and docks from the waters of Budd Inlet, just north of the Washington State Capitol.

When their work is done, there’ll be 400 fewer pilings in the southern part of West Bay.

And, a dilapidated 7,000-square foot dock will also be history.

DNR is working with numerous partners on this creosote-removal project. To learn more about who’s involved and why we are working to rid Washington’s waters of creosote, read our news release.

Blackwater Marine, a private firm out of Kirkland, successfully bid on the job, which is funded by the 2012 Jobs Now Act. This is a great example of how special legislative funding is putting Washington to work AND cleaning up the marine environment at the same time.

Read an article The Olympian about the project.

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DNR efforts are re-opening hundreds of miles of forest streams for fish habitat

Staff from DNR’s Olympic Region install a new culvert that replaces an undersized structure that had blocked fish migration. Photo: Guy Ruble/DNR.

In 2012, DNR removed 134 fish barriers from forest streams on state trust lands, opening an estimated 67 miles of stream to salmon and other fish. About 276 fish barrier culverts under forest roads remain for DNR to remove by October 31, 2016, when the state’s Forest and Fish Law requires forest landowners to complete the forest road stream-crossing improvements. Since 2009 2002, DNR has removed 1,184 fish barrier culverts from state trust lands, which has opened nearly 600 miles of stream for fish habitat.

Size and installation requirements for culverts on fish-bearing streams are summarized in DNR’s Forest Practices Illustrated.

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