Restoring Puget Sound while providing jobs

Commissioner Goldmark talks to veteran Phil Hansen, Puget SoundCorps crew supervisor about the opportunity Puget SoundCorps has provided him. Photo: Lauren Stevens/DNR

Commissioner of Public Lands, Peter Goldmark and other officials kicked-off the Puget SoundCorps, Thursday, November 10, 2011. Goldmark honored returning veterans and young adults for removing invasive weeds and replanting hundreds of native plants at the nine-acre Gog-le-hi-te wetland park in Tacoma.

Created in 2011, SoundCorps provides employment opportunities to veterans and young adults (18-25) relying on federal grants. As an extension program of the Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) administered under Ecology, SoundCorps creates jobs that help clean-up and restore lands in the Puget Sound basin. The US Forest Service Urban & Community Forestry Program through DNR provided the funding that hired the crew while Citizens for a Healthy Bay administered the crew and donated more than 50 plants to the cause.

SoundCorps crews typical work includes: 

• Removal of creosote-treated wood and shoreline structures that damage habitat and pollute the Sound
• Restoration habitat at toxic cleanup sites.
• Removal of invasive species.
• Helping remove barriers for fish, and characterizing stream, habitat and pollution issues
• Repairing and removing forest roads to keep streams free from sediments.
• Conducting educational activities that help support the Puget Sound Partnership’s Action Agenda

For more information about the Puget SoundCorps and its partners visit the SoundCorps website

See our photos on Flickr of the Puget SoundCorps kick-off event in Tacoma.

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Are you a veteran or 18-25 year-old looking for work? The new WCC Puget Sound Corps is looking for you.

Working to remove creosote-treated pilings and garbage in Puget Sound is an example of the work Puget Sound Corps crews will be involved with. Photo: DNR

The Washington state Departments of Natural Resources (DNR) and Ecology, and Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) have joined forces to create the new WCC PugetSound Corps. Administered through Ecology, the state department announced that the Washington Conservation Corps will soon be hiring 245 young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 for work on environmental projects around the state.

In an effort to provide valuable paid employment and education stipends for our veterans and youth, DNR and Ecology created the ‘Puget Sound Corps,’ which was authorized by the legislature this year. The new Corps will focus on the much-needed restoration work in 12 counties that surround Puget Sound, and support the Puget Sound Partnership’s Action Agenda to restore, protect and preserve the Sound by 2020.

For more info, and how to apply, see Ecology’s release.

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Year 1 Milestones: Eagle Harbor agreement leads to safer, cleaner waters

Ear to the Ground presents more highlights from the first-year report card on DNR’s Strategic Plan goals.

DNR and the City of Bainbridge worked together to improve navigation and clean up Eagle Harbor. The agreement includes a 12-year lease with the City of Bainbridge Island to operate an open water marina in Eagle Harbor. In addition to paying for the use of state-owned aquatic lands, the City agreed to enforce the agreement’s garbage disposal and sewage rules. The goal is reduce the public health and environmental hazards posed by as many as 60 vessels moored illegally and with people living aboard without proper sewage and waste disposal.

Kitsap Sun: State OKs Lease for Eagle Harbor Liveaboards

Bainbridge Island Review: DNR says marina is official

See more of DNR’s milestones and goals.

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Year 1 Milestones: Creation of Puget SoundCorps; consolidating WCC administration

Removing creosote treated logs from Puget Sound beaches is one of the several tasks that Washington Conservation Corps do each year. Photo: DNR

This week, Ear to the Ground presents highlights from the first-year report card on DNR’s Strategic Plan goals.

A key milestone of DNR’s Strategic Plan achieved during the past year was passage of legislation consolidating the administration of four Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) programs — including one managed by DNR — and creating the Puget SoundCorps for young adults and returning veterans, ages 18 to 25 years. Our blog on January 25, 2011, described what was envisioned.

The WCC program continues but is now administered by the Department of Ecology.

As a part of the WCC, the new Puget SoundCorps will work on projects that support the Puget Sound Partnership’s Action Agenda to restore, protect, and preserve the Sound by 2020. Many projects will supplement work DNR does in its role as manager of state trust lands that lie below Puget Sound and along many areas of the Sound’s nearshore. Corps projects are likely to include beach cleanup, removing bulkheads that are damaging habitat, removing barriers to fish passage in streams, and helping to repair or remove forest roads polluting streams with sediment. The official rollout of the Puget Sound Corps component of the WCC is set for this fall.

The WCC is now seeking 245 young adults, including military service veterans, between 18 and 25 to hire for on-the-ground projects starting this fall in several counties. In addition to an hourly wage, the rewards include a $5,550 AmeriCorps education award upon completing the service year. Applications to the WCC can be completed online.

See more of DNR’s milestones and goals.

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Year 1 Milestones: Derelict Vessel Removal Program improved

In 2010, DNR removed and disposed of 32 derelict vessels and helped other agencies remove 15 more. Photo: DNR.

This week, Ear to the Ground presents highlights from the first-year report card on DNR’s Strategic Plan goals.

Abandoned or derelict vessels in our waterways cause a number of public safety and environmental hazards, including, releasing toxic pollutants into the environment, blocking navigation, and severely damaging passing vessels. DNR’s nationally recognized Derelict Vessel Removal Program was created to help solve this toxic problem, and now it is even better.

Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark requested the derelict vessel legislation that would help DNR remove these problem vessels. In 2011 the bill, SB 5271, was signed into law. It is helping DNR and partner agencies more efficiently deal with derelict vessels owners, holding them more accountable by:

• Clarifying that knowingly causing a vessel to sink, break up, block navigational channels or contaminate the environment is grounds for a misdemeanor.
• Providing liability immunity to public entities acting in good faith under the provisions of the Derelict Vessel Removal Act.
• Clarifying that Ports have the same funding match that is required in RCW 79.100.
• Allowing local governments to contract with marinas to remove abandoned vessels as they can with derelict vessels.

See more of our milestones and goals.

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Instant ugly: Illegal dumping is a BIG problem, costs you money

Those old computer monitors were huge! Simple old-school trick photography shows litter in Capitol State Forest that someone used for target practice. Photo: DNR.

Help us keep your forests safe and clean… clean of illegally dumped household, construction, and industrial waste, that is. 

About 200 illegal dumping sites on state trust land were located last year on our map: Illegal Dumping Sites on Washington State Trust Land. DNR’s Law Enforcement Service says that for every known site there may be two or three more that haven’t been found, were cleaned up by eager volunteers (thanks!), too difficult to reach at this time, or awaiting investigation.

Illegal dumping costs DNR around $200,000 a year. Most sites cost a few hundred dollars to clean up but the cost can rise substantially when we suspect hazardous chemicals. Also costing more to clean up are places where people dumped trash or cars into steeply sloped areas, creeks or wetlands.

Please call 911 when you spot suspicious activities on public or private lands.  

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DNR partners with Department of Ecology, Squaxin Tribe and South Sound Salmon Enhancement group to restore Puget Sound

Squaxin Island dock before removal. Photo: Monica Shoemaker/DNR

DNR and its partners have removed 3,150 square feet of overwater docking structure — the last remaining overwater structure on Squaxin Island. Removed were 48 creosote treated wood pilings and 84.6 tons of creosote treated wood.

The dock, which provided tribal members access to an old long house on the island, is the second phase of creosote removal for this project. A 400-foot rock bulkhead along the Squaxin Island shoreline, adjacent to the dock, was also removed by the South Sound Salmon Enhancement Group.

Squaxin Island has documented surf smelt spawning habitat in that area. Removal of the treated wood and over water structures will improve the habitat for the smelt, as well as other species, such as migrating salmon.

Large structures that are built in the nearshore environment have been known to cast large shadows in the shallow waters that are used for migrating fish. These shadows are seen as a threat causing the fish to swim around them into deeper water where predators can eat them.

By keeping the nearshore clear of overwater structures that block sunlight and don’t contain toxic chemicals, we can help improve migratory corridors for our fish that we depend on.

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Help the Puget Sound this summer by volunteering

Species of invasive spartina - cord grass found in Puget Sound. Photo: Wendy Davis/Invasive Species Council.

The Puget Sound offers many opportunities for aquatic recreation – boating, swimming, kayaking or just admiring its beauty. DNR and our partners have a responsibility to help cleanup and restore the Sound back to health by 2020, but we can’t do it alone. 

One of the problems Puget Sound faces is the wide spread of invasive species. Within the 2.6 million acres of aquatic lands that DNR manages, noxious weeds are present in marine, estuarine, and freshwater conditions. In our estuaries, invasive spartina species (i.e., S. alterniflora, S. anglica, S. densiflora, S. patens) have become well established and are rapidly raising tidal elevations, displacing eelgrass and native marsh plants, and reducing habitat for migratory waterfowl, invertebrates, and possibly fish.

Many of these weeds have been introduced to Washington as ornamental plants, but have then escaped into our water bodies, displacing native species and altering the physical and hydrologic conditions found naturally.

This summer the Puget Sound Partnership is looking for experienced volunteer kayakers to help spot invasive spartina around the Sound. This unique opportunity is a great way to learn how to spot invasive vegetation, and help control and remove these weeds from the Sound.  If you are interested in becoming a citizen science volunteer, please contact the Puget Sound Partnership for information.

DNR also wants to hear from you if invasive species are spotted in any of our aquatic environments – estuaries, rivers, lakes, and the coast. 

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Swim Safe this summer by keeping informed on Puget Sound health.

DNR is steward of more than 2.6 million acres of aquatic lands. The bedlands of naviagable lakes, rivers, the coast and Puget Sound.

The Department of Natural Resources, Washington Department of Ecology, and Washington Department of Health all play a role in monitoring and communicating the health of Puget Sound. Working collaboratively together, keeping you informed on possible contamination, and aquatic areas to avoid, are an important mission.

In DNRs Strategic Plan, Commissioner Goldmark has made the clean-up and restoration of Puget Sound a top priority. Currently DNR is developing a strategy to reduce the number of outfalls and their impacts to state-owned aquatic lands-meaning our beaches and bedlands of navigable lakes and rivers that we enjoy recreating in.

Stay informed this summer by reading DNRs blog and our sister agencies important announcements:

From the Washington Department of Ecology: High Bacteria Levels at Picnic Point County Park and Mukilteo Lighthouse Park in Snohomish County

Marine water sampling has identified high bacteria levels at Picnic Point County Park and Mukillteo Lighthouse Park. The beaches will be resampled Thursday, May 26, 2011 and results will be available Friday, May 27.

Increased pathogen and fecal bacteria levels in marine waters can come from both shore and inland sources. Inland sources can consist of storm water runoff, sewer overflows, failing septic systems and even animal waste from livestock, pets, and wildlife.  Shore sources can consist of swimmers, boats, marine mammals, birds, and other wildlife. 

Contact with fecal contaminated waters can result in gastroenteritis, skin rashes, upper respiratory infections and other illnesses. Children and the elderly may be more vulnerable to waterborne illnesses.

Visit the BEACH web site to find the latest results for these and other saltwater beaches: 

Derelict Vessel Removal Program revamped and signed into law

Derelict Vessel

Earlier this afternoon Governor Chris Gregoire signed SB 5271, proposed by Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark, into law

Abandoned or derelict vessels in our waterways cause a number of public safety and environmental hazards, including, releasing toxic pollutants into the environment, blocking navigation, and severely damaging passing vessels. 

The passing of SB 5271 will help DNR and other partnering agencies deal with derelict vessels more  efficiently by holding owners of such derelict vessels more accountable by:

• Clarifying that knowingly causing a vessel to sink, break up, block navigational channels or contaminate the environment is grounds for a misdemeanor.
• Providing liability immunity to public entities acting in good faith under the provisions of the Derelict Vessel Removal Act.
• Clarifying that ports have the same funding match that is required in RCW 79.100.
• Allowing local governments to contract with marinas to remove abandoned vessels as they can with derelict vessels. 

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