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-Alexandra Morton's Web Site (NEW)
The new web site for the work of Canada’s leading researcher in to farmed Atlantic Salmon and it’s effects.
-The Cove
One of the most important environmental documentaries ever created. If you value dolphins, then you must see this film.
North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center Natural Resources
To provide a program that provides hands-on, relevant natural resources research experience while meeting the needs of and building capacity within individual students and the North Olympic Peninsula region.
openchannels.org
OpenChannels is designed to become a comprehensive source for news, guidance, and community discussion on sustainable practices in ocean planning and management.
River of Kings – Video
Part 1 of 2 part series by Carl Safina on the Nisqually River Restoration.
Salish Magazine
Salish Magazine is a free online magazine that takes inquisitive readers outdoors with visually rich storytelling about features people can see firsthand in our public forests and beaches.
Victoria Sewage Project
The official city site on the project. The latest scoop on the Canadian poop!
WA State Family Forest Fish Passage Program
The Family Forest Fish Passage Program provides funding to small forest landowners to repair or remove fish passage barriers. Download the film.
Green Acre Radio on KBCS
Green Acre Radio on KBCS — Sustainability, local food production, restoration & environmental talk radio.
NW Indian Fisheries Commission
The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC) is a support service organization for 20 treaty Indian tribes in western Washington.
Brinnon Group
Local group opposing Black Point resort
Clam Gardens
Network of researchers exploring First Nation gardening of clams in history, and it’s relationship to today.
Coastal Watershed Institute
“To promote long term, ecological, community based stewardship of marine and terrestrial ecosystems thru scientific research and local partnerships.”
League of Women Voters – Clallam County
a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
League of Women Voters – Jefferson County
The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
Local Food Access Network
North Peninsula local food org with an emphasis on developing and supporting increased and sustainable capacity for production, distribution, and consumption locally.
North Olympic Salmon Coalition
The mission of the North Olympic Salmon Coalition is to restore, enhance, and protect habitat of North Olympic Peninsula wild salmon stocks and to promote community volunteerism, understanding, cooperation and stewardship of these resources.
Northwest Watershed Institute
NWI’s mission is to provide scientific and technical support to protect and restore fish and wildlife habitats and watershed ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest.
Olympic Environmental Council
The Olympic Environmental Council works on issues related to the environment and health that affect our North Olympic Peninsula communities.
Olympic Park Associates
If you share with us a passion for Olympic National Park, a concern for the Park’s future, and a vision that Olympic National Park should always be a wild and natural place, we invite you to join Olympic Park Associates.
Washington Environmental Council
WEC has been working for a couple of decades on environmental activism. A great group of people actually getting things done.
Whale Trail
Signs along the way to take you to great whale viewing locations
Wild Fish Conservancy
Wild Fish Conservancy seeks to improve conditions for all of the Northwest’s wild fish
The Tyee is reporting that there is a letter that was written by the director of the state’s Department of Ecology to the government of Canada, urging them not to fast track the West Coast pipeline. This is just another example of the outcome of Trump‘s insanity, he has given the Canadian government the ammunition to be able to push even more oil through to the West Coast and threaten everyone’s waters here. I want to remind you that an election is coming up and we need to do everything we can to make sure that Democrats take control of at least one of the houses of power in Washington.
The state of Washington is urging the Mark Carney government not to fast-track the new West Coast oil pipeline, saying shared waters are “too valuable” to expedite a project that could lead to a catastrophic oil spill and harm ecosystems and the maritime economy.
In a Sept. 18 letter to the government, Casey Sixkiller, director of the state’s Department of Ecology, wrote that the proposed pipeline would double the volume of crude oil exported through the Salish Sea.
“Not only would this increase the risk of an oil spill exponentially, but the spill response resources available on both sides of the border are not sized for the risks” posed by larger oil tankers travelling more frequently, Sixkiller wrote in the letter to Dominic LeBlanc, minister for Canada-U.S. trade, intergovernmental affairs, internal trade and One Canadian Economy.
Read the whole story at the Tyee. Support local journalism, subscribe..
The Seattle Times reported on the 24th about the change in rules for older forests, due to the extreme budget problems Olympia is facing. The head of DNR is caught between the legal requirements of his job as currently legislated and the demands of environmental activists wanting to protect remaining older growth forests. The money from this logging helps cities like Port Angeles meet their budgets for critical local services. It will be up to the legislature to fix this problem starting in January. If you care about this, you should write your state Senator and Representatives now.
“Without the (legislative) tools Upthegrove is pursuing, the roughly 55,000 acres could be included in timber sales after 2030. Staff estimates based on similar forests suggest that with no change to state policies, managing these 55,000 acres in ways other than traditional harvest would result in tens of millions of dollars lost.“
Read the whole story in the Seattle Times. Support local journalism. Subscribe to the Times.
Citizens showed up to be treated to a Zoom rather than a real person in attendance. Photo courtesy of Darrell Smith.
On Wednesday, Sept 23rd, the opponents of the land transfer proposal that U.S. Representative Emily Randall is getting ready to introduce into Congress, finally got an opportunity to talk directly to her staff about their points of view. It did not go well.
Staff members had originally said they would have one person there, so people came expecting to hear them and instead were only allowed a “Zoom” call, and Representative Randall decided not to attend at all. (Congress is currently out so she was in the area). If the staff would have simply started by saying they would not be in attendance, perhaps a larger audience would have attended online.
Her staff gave a short overview of the “process” that the draft bill is going through at the moment, stating that:
It was a process started in 2025. (it was not made public until spring 2026).
It was already going through the backchannels of Congress to prepare for Randall to present it to Congress.
“There is a long way to go”. One staffer said.
Finally, “It’s only the start of the process and you still have an opportunity to put your feedback into it.”
The last sentence received a roomful of boos from the 30 or so people in attendance.
I think that the staff member did not fully understand that a bill that was being discussed behind closed doors for over a year by Ron Allen of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and the Representative of hundreds of thousands of constituents who have not had a chance to comment on it , was not at a point anyone would call, “the start of the process”. The bill is very far along the “process” and Representative Randall still has not held a public meeting with her present to discuss it at all. Once proposed into Congress, the public will have little opportunity to realistically kill this proposal as the meetings are likely to be held in Washington D.C. and Randall is making no promises yet to hold meetings throughout her district.
There is also the small fact that Chairman Allen has donated over $1000 for the last two years, along with the Jamestown S’Klallam donating over $9000 to her campaign. This makes the whole sordid issue seem like a back room deal done for money and votes. No one other than the Tribe has asked for this transfer to happen. Other S’Klallam Tribes apparently were not consulted nor have weighed in as to why they are getting nothing out of this, odd because it is part of the “usual and accustomed” land from the 1855 Treaty that all of them share.
Ron Allen himself has said that other tribes like the Makah and Lummi have been looking at this to decide whether to ask for other National Wildlife Refuges. When asked whether Representative Randall was in talks with them as well, since the Makah, Quinault, Hoh and Quileute are in her district, her staff did not reply.
The meeting was hosted by Lorna and Darrell Smith. Lorna was one of the original people who worked with Eleanor Stopps to create the wildlife refuge in the 1980s. Without their work, the Tribe would have no opportunity to ask for it back, as it would have become a white man’s subdivision.
Many people got up to ask questions of Randall’s staff. Very few questions were answered. No one asking them was in support of the transfer. One surprise guest was Marcia Kelbon, who is the independent running for the State House position given up by Steve Tharinger. Mrs. Kelbon stated she was opposed to the land transfer. It was gratifying to see a person running for state Congress come out and state a position on the issue.
What is Randall thinking? Neither Clallam nor Jefferson County commissioners have come out in support of this, mainly due to the extremely negative public feedback on this proposal. And Senator Murray and Cantwell have yet to weigh in.
This entire exercise is a P.R. disaster for the young, naive Representative Randall. While she has been anointed the Representative of the 24th district, she is a shadow of the former representative, Derek Kilmer. Kilmer had better political instinct than to take on an issue like this without getting significant public input first. Unfortunately, no one was willing to run against Randall, so the Democrats gave us no choice but to not vote or support her.
Eleanor Stopps. Named Citizen of the 20th Century in Jefferson County and creator of the Protection Island Wildlife Refuge
Donna Armstrong, Eleanor Stopps granddaughter sent this to me for publication.
Protection Island is more than a place on a map. It is an island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca that provides nesting habitat for tufted puffins, rhinoceros auklets, pigeon guillemots, and many other species. After failed farming and development attempts, parcels were purchased for the purpose of creating a public wildlife refuge. In 1974, Eleanor Stopps (my grandmother) and Fayette Krause of The Nature Conservancy helped create the 48-acre Zella Schultz Washington Seabird Sanctuary.
Over the next decade, Eleanor, Lorna Smith, and many individuals and organizations volunteered to acquire private lots. One example was the “Adopt a Seabird” campaign, which raised $50,000 to purchase 23 lots. I was eight years old when I adopted a seabird.
Now, U.S House of Representative Emily Randall will be sponsoring the Jamestown S’Klallam Land Transfer Act of 2026, which proposes transferring ownership of Protection Island and Dungeness Spit National Wildlife Refuges into trust through the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.
Eleanor, Lorna, and many others worked tirelessly for years with elected officials and public agencies. In 1982, Congress established Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge, with conservation purposes that included protecting wildlife, scientific research, education, and interpretation.
Since then, Protection Island has been stewarded through collaboration among the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, conservation organizations, scientists, and the public. In August 2024, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe joined this framework through a co-stewardship agreement, creating opportunities to include Tribal knowledge and perspectives. When environmental challenges arise, this model brings Tribal partners, public agencies, scientists, and managers together for solutions.
Representative Randall’s proposal would repeal the 1982 law and remove Protection Island from national refuge status and the protection that provides. I am firmly against taking this action and I am sure my granddmother would have been also. Protection Island exists today because Eleanor, Fayette, Lorna, and many others gave their time, resources, and determination to establish it from private land. That history is part of public trust, future generations can believe in a democracy that can still work for them.
To learn more, visit the protect refuges website https://protectrefuges.org and People for Protection Island & Dungeness NWR on Facebook People For Protection Island & Dungeness NWR | Facebook
Editor’s Note: Eleanor Stopps was named Citizen of the Century by Jefferson County for her efforts.
As we see across the nation, the Trump administration is dumping National Wildlife Refuges to private entities like SpaceX. This Trump nominated judge is going along with it. The plaintiffs will be appealing up the court system. It raises the question of why is U.S. Representative Emily Randall running the playbook of Project 2025 and attempting to dump our local national wildlife refuges to the privately held Jamestown Tribe? Especially since we are so close to an election that we are hoping will turn the tide in Congress?
SpaceX’s operations have caused significant damage to the fragile bird habitat surrounding the launch site, according to a New York Times investigation. A rocket launch in 2024 sent debris flying into the refuge, crushing birds’ nests and igniting a small fire, the investigation found.
We knew that this would be coming. And here it is. In what would be a seismic shift, the Trump administration is quietly moving to strip a core protection of the Endangered Species Act. At the center of the change is what it means to “take” an endangered animal, something that has long been prohibited under the act. Under a new interpretation of the law’s language outlined in the memo, the accidental killing or injury of an animal would no longer be considered illegal; only actions specifically intending to target an animal would. The change would be transformative because, in the United States, the killing of endangered animals almost always happens incidentally, in the course of economic activity. Catrin Einhorn reports. (NY Times)
The Seattle Times is covering the story of the Washington State Dept. of Ecology (DOE) issuing the largest fine ever to the Port Townsend Paper Company (PTPC) for it’s Glen Cove paper mill. The violations that occurred related to the aeration ponds malfunctioning and the actual removal of some of the aeration equipment comes in the wake of the disasterous rupture of a badly maintained tank at a Longview mill that killed 11 and injured more.
This could be the reason for the increasing reports of excessive mill odor reported on Next Door for many months by local residents around the Port Townsend neighborhoods.
After decades of local complaints to DOE it appears that the cozy relationship with the mill owners may be over. As usual that took a disaster with deaths and serious injuries. The Mill<>DOE relationship led to one event in which the mill was given advanced notice of State air quality monitoring, which not surprisingly allowed it to shut down for “maintainence” the week of the monitoring . While Mill shutdowns are scheduled long in advance, the timing of this by both parties was suspect.
The inspections that led to the fines happened almost a year ago, which makes one wonder how long a pollution violation may go before DOE actually does something about it.
The Times quotes DOE as saying, “Other portions of the aeration system were malfunctioning or had been removed.”
These aeration systems are critical to reducing the smell that permeates the area. During periods of calm winds the smell can move into large areas of Port Townsend, causing many people to report headaches and other unusual ailments that were not present prior to the air pollution cloud moving uptown. The pollution is also highly variable to the prevailing winds, which usually blow the smell out to the Bay. When the winds shift from the South or simply stop altogether the reports of the smell increase.
The mill is important to the town and county due to the hundreds of jobs at stake. Paper mills have been shutting down for decades, leaving a legacy of highly toxic soils. Many are Superfund sites. In Port Angeles, the Federal government has simply been up fences and cleanup is just in the discussion phase as it has been for over a decade.
The full article can be found on the Seattle Times web site. Please support the Times with your subscriptions as it remains one of the only local independent newspapers in the Pacific Northwest.
WA fines Port Townsend paper mill for chemical spill, poor maintenance
Some good news for all of us. Restoration is one wing of the environmental movement (activism is the other). This is good restoration work. From the Trout Unlimited web site.
On the Olympic Peninsula, Owl Creek, a tributary of the iconic coastal Hoh River, lost its natural logjams after immense flooding over two decades ago.
This past year, Trout Unlimited and the Hoh Tribe brought them back. Twenty-two engineered logjams, over a mile of stream, were built by helicopter to restore stream habitat and function. These logjams slow the water, capture sediment, sort spawning gravel and carve out the pools young salmon and steelhead need to thrive.
Almost immediately, Hoh Tribe and TU staff found Chinook and coho salmon taking advantage of the new habitat soon after the first autumn rains
“Kʷokʷolísdo Ḳ̓á yika xa’bil-ts” means “restoring Owl Creek” in Quileute, a Chimakuan language traditionally spoken in coastal indigenous communities. The translation was provided by the Hoh Tribe. The Hoh watershed—including Owl Creek—is part of the Hoh Tribe’s Treaty-reserved Usual and Accustomed area. The Tribe has been fishing for salmon and steelhead, and stewarding these lands, since time immemorial.
The Jefferson County Commissioners today published a draft of a new version of the letter about their level of support for the proposal to transfer the two National Wildlife Refuges into the sovereign nation of the Jamestown S’Kallam tribe. The final letter would have been sent to U.S. Representative Emily Randall, the politician who has bought into this proposal on behalf of the Tribe, and who has done zero public engagement on this issue. The Commissioners debated the issue and ultimately, after debate, the Commissioners decided not to send the letter and simply pass along the written comments to Representative Randall. This is a positive step, allowing Randall to go get the public input she should have done all along. Randall’s junior status as a Representative has been on display during this entire process, and we are hoping she has learned something from this.
The draft letter significantly tempered their support, clarifying a few key points. For sake of the public understanding the debate, here’s points from the draft letter:
Public Input:
“One central piece of input we’ ve gotten from residents of Jefferson County is a desire for more public engagement about this proposal.” – That is perhaps an understatement.
Importance of the lands in question:
“These sites are not only central to the Tribe’ s heritage but are also integral to the ecological health and quality of life for our entire region.”
Is title transfer necessary?
“…there is concern about losing protections provided with oversight by the USFWS.” Finally the Commissioners are recognizing the very real concerns that moving these lands into sovereign nation status would possibly create.
Hope instead of concrete assurances from the Tribe:
“It is our sense (emphasis mine) that if the island were transferred into trust, the Tribe would continue to manage it to a standard that would meet or exceed federal requirements.” There is absolutely no guarantee that is being given nor could one be enforced if promised once the lands are transferred. It is all based on faith that nothing would ever change. The very fact that this transfer is being considered now is proof enough that some future tribal council would decide on a very different use of Protection Island and Dungeness Spit.
Admission of commercial concerns:
“However, we’ve also heard concerns from several constituents that the Tribe may take a more business- forward approach in managing Protection Island and, in neighboring Clallam County, Dungeness Spit Refuge lands.” Never heard the use of “Business-forward” to describe actual conversion of tide lands into an aquaculture farm before. Also they heard from constituents as if this is a secret project of the Tribe. The Tribe has been very open about this and it has been known publicly for many years. Are the Commissioners that out of touch? Or are they wanting to blame the opposition to the transfer for somehow bringing the Commissioners new information? The answer is “yes” they are trying to blame opponents of the transfer. They did so in the next paragraph:
The Opposition:
“…we have observed a recurring argument among some opponents who use the phrase “public land in public hands” to justify federal retention. Within the context of our region’ s history, there is a certain irony and arrogance in this framing. It overlooks the historical reality of colonization and the systemic dispossession of Indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands. To claim these areas are only ” public” when under federal control ignores the thousands of years of stewardship practiced by Tribes prior to European arrival.”
The opposition doesn’t claim that the lands are “public lands”, they are public by definition. The legal national definition of “public lands” which the Commissioners themselves should be aware of is this Statutory definition: Under 43 U.S.C. § 1702, “any land and interest in land owned by the United States within the several States and administered by the Secretary of the Interior through the Bureau of Land Management… except... Outer Continental Shelf; and lands held for the benefit of Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos.”, as stated in the U.S. Code. General federal usage: Commonly refers to all real property owned collectively by the American people and managed by various federal stewardship branches.
The opposition doesn’t appear to be ignoring the historical reality, and anyway, what does that have to do with the proposed transfer of these lands to the Tribe? Does the historical reality dictate that we give back the Wildlife Refuges we fought so hard to create by keeping them from “business forward” real estate development? If there is any irony to be found at all in this it is that the Tribe, who claims to have the protection of these wildlife refuges as their reason for doing it, are already engaged in putting a commercial oyster farm of up to 80000 bags of oysters against the very shores of the Dungeness Spit, burying the bottom where many of the birds we are protecting feed.
Who are these two refuges supposed to be for? They were established to recognize that before the Europeans arrived, and actually before the tribes arrived, this island and Spit were “owned” by the wildlife on them. The birds. The American public are currently protecting the habitat of these animals for all of humanity, not just for a “business-forward” entity, no matter who they are or however many generations they have been here.
Given the definition of the Commissioners in this ill worded paragraph, then *all* lands in the U.S. are not public or somehow deserve to be given back to all tribes because we took them all.
The Commissioners should strike that paragraph. It serves no purpose other than add fuel to the idea that somehow anyone opposing this is anti-tribe or racist. The opposition simply wants this co-management to continue.
Finally
“For these reasons, Jefferson County urges the delegation to carefully consider these complexities before advancing the Act.” As usual, when confronted with public opposition, the politicians decided to simply ask for more information and public input by Representative Randall.
To the public and Commissioners, let me simply state that I know the opposition people quite well. Virtually all of them have worked for and possibly even donated to your campaigns. Most of them own homes and businesses in Jefferson County. They pay taxes to this county. They appreciate that you listen to them as well as you listen to the Tribe, a sovereign nation demanding something that no one but them has asked to be given away.
“A new lawsuit challenging a logging project in Oregon threatens to unravel the management plans governing hundreds of millions of acres of federal public land….“They’ve opened Pandora’s Box here,” said Susan Jane Brown, the attorney who filed the lawsuit and serves as principal at Silvix Resources, a nonprofit environmental law firm.”
If there ever was an environmental reason to make sure Democrats take back Congress this fall, this is it. You likely have never heard of this issue before now, but it’s been used to undue numerous environmental protections across the country.
A large crowd of people gathered at Cape George on Sunday to hear Lorna and Darrell Smith discuss both the history of Protection Island and why they are concerned about the proposed Jamestown S’Klallam Land Transfer that the tribe recently has made public.
In the 1970s and early 1980s Lorna Smith was a key person in the work done to make Protection Island a national wildlife refuge. She acted as the liaison between the Seattle Audubon Society and the two women from Jefferson County that led the battle to get the island designated as a refuge, Zella Schultz and Eleanor Stopps, The thousands of letters of support from both native and non native Americans convinced even normally reticent politicians such as Senator Slade Gorton to help push the legislation through Congress and convince President Ronald Reagan to sign it. It was supported by all members of the Washington delegation and the Republican governor, John Spellman.
Also in attendance on Sunday were two granddaughters of Eleanor Stopps who share Lorna’s concerns. This reporter, who also worked with Audubon photographing the spit in the late 70s, also was in attendance.
The Smiths spent the first hour discussing the rich bird heritage of the island and the Spit, before pivoting to the proposed land transfer and the many questions that need to be answered about this proposal.
The Tribe currently is paid approximately $800,000 a year by the federal government to co-manage the Spit and the island. A month ago the Federal Government authorized over $76 million to support the refuges of the country. Money is there. There is no imminent threat of the government cutting off funds. That would have to be authorized by Congress.
The tribe has already begun requesting the ability to lay 80,000 bags of oysters on the bottom of Dungeness Spit’s inner bay, much to the dismay of bird supporters, who worry that this may cause continued loss of fish and other animals the birds feed upon. Currently, there is a lawsuit moving through the courts to stop this from happening.
In March, tribal Vice Chair Loni Greninger testified in Congress that the co-management has been very successful from both the point of view of the Tribe and the government. So if the working arrangement for co-management is successful, why should the Tribe give up $800k and why should Americans give up one of their 570 national wildlife refuges to the Tribe to become owned by them? How much is the Spit and the island worth to the Tribe and why? The answer might be found in the tribe’s lucrative aquaculture industry, wholly owned by them. While the tribe in their proposal denies having any plans for anything other than the vague term, “conservation” the actual answer to this question might have come from Vice Chair Greninger’s comment to the Port Townsend Leader on April 22nd edition. In it she stated:
“If we’re able to have that fuller ownership instead of co-management, then I don’t have to rely on any other government and their rules and regulations,” she said.
This is exactly what is feared by those who fought so hard to protect this island and Spit. With the tribe in full ownership, we will have no say as to what happens to it, nor if future tribal leaders decide to utilize these environmental treasures for economic gain. While it is understandable that the Tribe once used to forage for seafood there, the differences between subsistence shellfish harvest and modern mechanized aquaculture, with the ability to liquify the bottom with air compressors to get to geoduck, or spread thousands of bags of oysters across hundreds of acres at a time is a far cry from how it once was done.
There is every reason to continue to have the tribe manage the refuges. There is little incentive for Americans to simply hand them over to satisfy a demand. Why is Representative Emily Randall and Senator Maria Cantwell so hellbent on getting this done?
The birds are currently protected, as is the unique ecosystem they rely upon. Why should Americans relinquish this to a tribe that is engaged in the business of oyster, geoduck, crabbing, fish farming and fishing when they themselves are admitting that they want to set their own rules for the use of Protection Island? If the Tribe does get it, will we be on the outside looking in and have no input into protecting birds that live there? Many of us are waiting for more answers.
An argument that has been used recently to support the notion of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe taking ownership of our two wildlife refuges is that the current administration is not funding support for refuges. This press release seems to show that’s not quite true.
In the wake of the terrible tank explosion and deaths in Longview, I have read the call from David Ginsberg for a variety of recommendations on the local mill safety and pollution. Additionally, I have read the letter from the mill management, which, according to the Port Townsend Leader was published by the mill on June 1st but is not on the mill’s web site despite a newer post, unrelated to the explosion, is there.
I worked at the mill during COVID in their IT department, helping get remote access available for everyone to work from “home” and also I was in charge of upgrading hundreds of their computers. In my job, I met a lot of the workers, as I had to go to their workstations, both in the offices and the dozens of production environments to remove and install new computers. I often ate lunch with them, and a number of them became friends. Many drive long distances to work here, because our housing situation is not good for the middle class workers that would likely love to live closer to the mill. Some of them would have agreed with David’s call for actions, and some would likely not. It’s a mixed bag of people and perspectives, just like the U.S. today.
The mill is inherently a dangerous place to work. Mill management does take safety seriously from what I encountered. I had to take training, wear steel toed boots, eye and ear protection when I went into the main plant. There are extremely high speed paper making machines that sometimes break down. When they do, it can be a roll of the dice if anyone happens to be near the break down, and it could be deadly if someone was in the vicinity. The mill has been very lucky up to now. But other non-lethal injuries are fairly common and the mill closely tracks them. There are also forklifts roaming around, moving huge rolls of paper. The mill is a very old industrial site, but it has continued to be upgraded for various technical improvements over the decades. Nevertheless, anyone walking around there needs to be very vigilant.
Chemical tanks at Port Townsend Paper Mill. Unclear which of these may be holding the same kind of chemicals that exploded at Longview. Parking lot in upper center. Walkway to work passes by the top circled tanks. Image courtesy of Google Earth.
Every day when I came to work, I am pretty sure that I and the other workers, walked right by three large tanks, that seem to be the same tanks that were involved in the Longview explosion. The tanks are nondescript large tanks that had no discernible markings or safety warnings on them (that may have changed). I assume this because of the photos I’ve seen of the tank that exploded. The pulp “cookers” here at the mill are next to the tanks. None of us likely understood the risk, because I know that if I would be working there today, I would walk the long way around from the parking lot to get to work. However, that way is not the “safe” way, protecting people from the constant truck and forklift traffic. The walkway from the parking lot to the main offices and mill itself goes right by these tanks. Is it really the best idea to have workers constantly walking past them? Could a simple mistake cause a catastrophic explosion? Or are these not the tanks in question?
The mill management is different from the mill ownership. Management is local. Ownership is by Atlas Holdings, from Greenwich Connecticut, apparently some kind of holding company that invests in paper mills. This blog published a short overview when they took over the mill. Profit margins on paper mills are slim, according to CSIMarket https://csimarket.com/Industry/industry_Profitability_Ratios.php?ind=111 Their industry profit margins appear to be 3 to 4%. About as much as Safeway or QFC likely makes. Can Atlas guarantee that they have done everything that could be done for worker safety?
The mill operates under a variety of safety and EPA laws, many federal, some state created, but I don’t know if any are locally created. A variety of environmental laws have been relaxed or eliminated under the two Trump administrations. I’m unclear if any specifically were related to mill safety, but I have read that there is no state nor federal inspection requirements for the tanks that hold these dangerous chemicals. I would love to understand what laws are applicable. If there are none, there should be.
The mill memo mentions that they have carried out inspections and are working on “scheduling further non-destructive testing to reassess tank conditions in 2026.” The county emergency management department also said they are working with the mill and preparing for a July meeting. Given all that has happened, the mill should be very open and forthcoming with their plans and the results. Unfortunately, there is no apparent legal requirement for them to do so. Additionally, all of us should be demanding the State take a much more active role in tank inspections.
In Mr. Ginsberg’s letter, there was a laundry list of other issues dating back a long time. While I agree with his general assessment that there are other issues that need addressing, now is the best time to focus on tank safety. It is in the public eye, and the state will likely be working on improving this one issue in the months ahead. Let’s focus on this and not try to “boil the ocean” of other issues that Ginsberg raises.
It’s a great time for anyone concerned about safety, whether the mill workers themselves or the community at large, to come forward and make your voice heard. Write emails, letters or go to city or county council meetings. The way the news cycle works, the State and Atlas Holdings will be counting on this to fade as an issue quickly. This chance may not come back again until another disaster strikes. We are all hoping it doesn’t happen here.
Here is the interview I did with Phil Andrus last week. While I didn’t get every point across I wanted I got the jist of it for you. We discuss the proposed land transfer of Dungeness Spit and Protection Island to the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. Is this good or not for the bird sanctuary? Do we give away a National Wildlife Refuge with no guarantees of what might happen to it in the future? You decide. The devil as usual is in the details of the proposal.
The twenty year saga of the Pleasant Harbor Marina and Golf Resort may have finally been dealted a death blow in court this last week. The County Hearings Examiner has ruled against the developer and county. See attached.
The developer must build infrastructure and recreational features before he can sell lots to raise money. This was always an underlying requirement that for years the developer attempted to modify with legal challenges to the county.
Building roads, sewer and water systems, reworking the intersection with Highway 101 and building out the golf course are expensive enough, but the conference center + 208 hotel rooms would seem to make the whole venture financially infeasible. Hard to think of a bank or traditional lending source that would touch this proposal.
The project has cost the county hundreds of thousands of dollars in time, labor costs and legal challenges by the developer to not pay what they considered costs that they said they shouldn’t pay. The county finally settled out of court to avoid even more costs.
This county’s commissioners made a massive costly mistake in approving this project in the late 2000s. There was a significant vocal opposition to it, posing the very issues that have brought us to this sad end. Other than outright killing the proposal, the county expected that the developer would build out the infrastructure before he sold lots. That didn’t happen. There has been logging on the site, but little else that would qualify in the mind of the hearing examiner.
The Olympic Peninsula Environmental News has covered this sad situation since the beginning. You can search the site for background stories if you wish.
We are very grateful for the continued work of the Brinnon Group, who has spent thousands of hours and funds fighting this. You can help offset their costs by donating what you can.
This week I wrote an Op-Ed piece that was published in the Port Townsend Leader. In case you don’t have access to the Leader I have included what I wrote below with minor updates. Unfortunately, the Leader only allowed a 700 word limit on the editorial. Obviously, there are many more words to be said about this proposed transfer. A few of them would be: if you agree that more needs to be clarified, and that the process ought to be slowed down, please contact our city, county, state and federal representatives and make your point of view known.
Your comments might be to oppose or simply slow the process to make sure that the island is never to be used for any commercial activity. That is currently not a part of this discussion between the Tribe and the State and Federal Government.
I want to clarify that I do not support efforts I’m hearing about in Clallam County from a group who oppose this and appear to be anti-Tribal in nature. I am not anti-Tribe.
You might ask: Why should I have any credibility to discuss this issue at all?
I have worked for the Tribe, creating two films over 5 years. I worked closely with the late Tribal Elder, Marlin Holden, a close friend, for “Treaty Resources: Legacy of Our Ancestors” that is viewable at the Tribe’s library. I have interviewed the late Kurt Grinnell and Ron Allen. I have presented in front of the Tribal Council a number of times. I was trusted by the Tribe to video tape tribal meetings, something I was told had never been allowed by anyone outside the Tribe. As a member and chair of the Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee I supported efforts led by the Tribe and other aquaculture companies to reestablish Olympia Oysters in Discovery Bay. The Tribe has done an outstanding job under Ron Allen and Kurt Grinnell’s leadership to forge new economic engines for the Tribe and Clallam County’s benefit, including an active aquaculture industry that sells geoduck to China along with oysters and clams regionally.
Promotional poster for Legacy of Our Ancestors
I produced a second film, paid for by the Tribe about the Dungeness River Management team on the restoration of the Dungeness River, called “Working for the River”.
Promotional poster for “Working for the River”
But I also was there at the efforts to create a wildlife refuge at Protection Island. In late 1970s, I was a professional photographer who volunteered for Seattle Audubon, the organization leading national efforts organized by Jefferson County locals Zella Schultz and Eleanor Stopps over a 20 year period. I traveled to John Wayne Marina where Fish and Wildlife staff took me to the island to photograph. The island had been under threat of having 800 lots developed, with no protection for the rare bird habitat that did and does exist there. Through all the efforts by Zella, Eleanor, Lorna Smith, Hazel Wolf and thousands of others, Congress finally established the Refuge, especially with the help of Republican Slade Gordon and Governor John Spellman, Democratic Senators Scoop Jackson and Warren Magnuson & Governor Dixie Lee Ray, along with the entire Washington State delegation who convinced the Reagan administration to sign the bill, the only such refuge established during his eight year presidency.
I have read a lot of what the Tribe wants to do with Protection Island. On the surface, with little detail, it seems benign. I have read a draft of a possible Congressional Bill that would establish the handover. But I am very troubled by the possible use of this island refuge for commercial aquaculture. Destroying the nearshore for commercial purposes would impact the habitat that these birds need to feed and survive. My concern is that we are rushing into an irreversible action with very little forethought and this legal business decision is not clearly defined at the moment. Now is the time to do the right thing and ensure that Protection Island is protected for *all time and all people* of the United States. That is what currently exists.
To hear more on this issue, I will be on KPTZ (91.9 locally on the Olympic Peninsula and kptz.org online) at 9PM Sunday May 17th on Phil Andrus’ “Cats in our Laps” show for one hour to discuss this in even more detail and answer questions from Phil. The show will be podcast later.
With that background, here is the 700 words that were published today in the Port Townsend Leader. I have expanded on this original letter today slightly to include a few issues that I was forced to edit out due to space constraints.
If I told you that a prized National Wildlife Refuge was going to be handed over to an aquaculture company, what would be your reaction? If I told you it was going to be handed over to The Jamestown S’Kallam Tribe, would your reaction be different? Would it be different if you knew that the Tribe runs an expanding aquaculture company?
What if I told you that in a few years, you will not have any say in what the aquaculture company does with the Refuge? That is exactly what is happening.
Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge is being considered for transfer to the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe to add to their reservation. Protection Island is currently owned by all of the citizens of the United States. Why does the Tribe want it for their exclusive use? And what is the importance of Protection Island?
The U.S. Department of the Fish and Wildlife has this to say about Protection Island:
Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge provides some of the last remaining undeveloped habitat for many burrow-nesting seabirds in the Salish Sea, but is of particular importance to the rhinoceros auklet. Scarred by over a hundred years of farming and grazing, and carved up for a summer home subdivision in the late 1960’s, it was finally recognized in 1982 with a National Wildlife Refuge designation before irreversible damage occurred.
It supports thriving wildlife populations, including what is thought to be the third largest rhinoceros auklet colony in North America, one of the last two breeding sites for tufted puffins in the Salish Sea, and the largest glaucous-winged gull colony in Washington state.
Over the last year, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe have been working in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife and U.S. Representative Emily Randall to transfer the title of the island, with its nesting habitat, to the Tribe. At this time, the proposal does not specify the aquatic lands, which remain with the State, but mentions a path to the state relinquishing them to the Tribe in the future.
There is a draft bill that will soon be introduced to make the transfer happen. This work has been done by the Tribal attorneys without any public input. It oddly goes along with the Trump administrations goals of getting the United States of out management of Federal Lands. Project 2025, specifically the “Mandate for Leadership” document, proposes restructuring federal land management by prioritizing energy production, expanding logging, and increasing state or private control over public lands. (highlight is mine). Key proposals include Chapter 13 (Interior Department) for dismantling conservation agendas…
We have already transferred the Dungeness Spit Wildlife Refuge to the Tribe with an understanding that the Tribes aquaculture business was going to drop 80,000 bags of oyster spat on the bottom of the bay. This transfer was opposed by the wildlife biologist that worked at the Spit at the time that the transfer was proposed. There is currently a lawsuit in progress to challenge the process that was used to do this transfer.
Question: “Is the proposed transfer of Protection Island really the best thing for us to do?”
Protection Island refuge was established after a national campaign led by two local women, Eleanor Stopps & Zella Schultz, and the work of the Seattle Audubon Society led byHelen Engle and Hazel Wolf one of the legendary environmental leaders in our state. It was a work that took tens of thousands of volunteer hours with help from National Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy. (You can listen to an interview I conducted with Eleanor Stopps in 2010 for my film “Voices of the Strait” at the following link.)
Transferring the Island to the Tribe means that it becomes part of it’s reservation and sovereign territory of the Tribe, no longer forced to follow the rules and regulations of the US Wildlife Refuge Acts of 1966 and 1997 There is no provision made for any public input into future tribal decisions on the use of the island, or it’s shores. There are vague references to the tribe continuing “conservation efforts” without specifying what they are. It will be up to the Tribe in concert with the State Department of Natural Resources to decide if they want to use the island’s shoreline for commercial aquaculture. DNR has been promiscuous in its granting of aquaculture permits. Can we trust that this commercially driven Tribe will make the right decisions on behalf of our Refuge when we will have no voice in decisions moving forward?
Also, the great work that the Tribe has done in restoring environmental places like Jimmy Come Lately Creek, the Dungeness River and other locations was done with Federal and State grants or funds. If the Federal Government is attempting to rid itself of Federal lands like this, who is going to pay for the ongoing management the Tribe claims they will do?
There are many who trust Ron Allen. What about future Tribal leaders after him?
What protection do we have if the Tribe’s plans dramatically shift towards commerce than protection? Can we effectively veto or alter the Tribes’ activities on the island? How? The act of moving this crown jewell of wildlife will place it beyond the jurisdiction of local or state officials forever. In fact, it makes enforcement by the Federal government a nation to nation affair that leaves our voices out of the regulation process.
I suggest we start by stopping. There is no need for speed in this process. If Republicans want to get rid of Wildlfe Sanctuaries and Democrats want to support whatever the Tribes want, none of that will change with another year or two of public input. Pause this transfer while we figure out how all of us and not just one Tribe, will have a voice in the future of Protection Island if we relinquish control over it to the Tribe.
Listen to me Sunday night on KTPZ.ORG at 9PM Pacific
As the controversy over the possible transfer of management and ownership of the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge and Protection Island to the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe continues, I was sent this quote which sums up the issue of approving this transfer. At the moment, the Refuge decision making process is theoretically one for the protection of its wildlife for all of American citizens. Yes, that’s not always what happens. But in this case, for 100+ years, I think it has been done well. It is worth remembering that the Tribe is attempting to engage in commercial aquaculture (for their financial benefit) at the very edge of the Refuge, with criticism coming from some key biologists as to the effects of this on the very species that the refuge is supposed to protect. To be clear, in 2024 the US Fish & Wildlife Service signed over management of the Dungeness Spit and Protection Island to the Jamestown Tribe in a deal with virtually no public input that will pay the Tribe at least $500,000 annually and allow them to commercially harvest non-native oysters in a 50-acre parcel within the Refuge. Now a bill has been drafted and will be presented in Congress that would give the Tribe total ownership as part of their reservation allowing them to determine all rule making and audiences for those rule making processes. This makes this quote all the more important in the decision making process of granting this request.
Jean Pratschner wrote Sequim City Council:
My husband Greg Pratschner (deceased) was a regional administrator of USF&W, all over the country. He often worked with tribal groups, very familiar with their agendas, programs, and abilities, often brought them into the Federal programs and helped with scholarships, training, grants, projects. He was awarded many honors for his inclusionary concepts in co-management. We had many Native friends. But, he often felt the goals and perspectives were not on the same page when it came to fisheries and refuges. He could never go against or find a legal way or option to alter a bad aspect of their programs, and always felt there was no argument or decision that he could use to make them comply with a negatively contrived agenda about an issue. His hands were always tied, by ultimately BIA power, that had no concern for non -Native viewpoint, only one opinion or goal would be followed. Native opinion. He always had to bend. Always. Sometimes it turned out less than good for all parties.
The never ending drama of the State Wildlife Commission continued with an open session allowing comments from both sides in the controversy. We urge the Governor to take steps to remove Director Kelly Susewind. The Governor never had any need to follow the lead of the hunters associations as they hated him from the beginning and never would have voted for him in the past or the future. These attacks on Commissioners nominated for their environmental protection stance and the ability to follow science rather than the hunting communities perceived needs to kill bears. This continues attacks across the country on environmental protection under this radical regime in Washington D.C. that fuels this behavior.
Commissioner Smith is a local environmental activist from Jefferson County. I’ve known her and worked with her and her husband Darrell for decades. She was part of the team that lobbied congress to get Protection Island turned into a National Wildlife Refuge in 1982. She has fought for wolf and cougar protection along with protecting bears from slaughter. This hunting often leaves orphaned cubs in its wake. There is no one more qualified to fight to protect the issues of the environment than her. If the Governor abandons her, it will be a stain on his supposed environmental credentials for the rest of his term.
From the Washington Standard:
Surly public comments are a staple of Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission meetings, revealing the deeply personal stakes of those fighting over how far the state should go in protecting various species or allowing for hunting or fishing.
But last week’s session carried a slightly harsher tone, fueled by an investigation into whether commissioners violated open meetings and public records statutes ahead of a decision in 2022 to ban spring bear hunts, and a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against the agency’s director by a commissioner targeted by the probe.
The meeting took place Thursday to Saturday in Olympia. Speakers vented grievances with decisions of the citizen panel, actions of individual members and leaders of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, which the commission oversees. Some called for commissioners to resign, others for agency Director Kelly Susewind to be fired.
“Doc Holliday” timber sale is the name the DNR gave to a parcel of quiet, fern-filled, moss-strewn, biodiverse, legacy forest which is located next to Sadie Creek Campground, off of scenic highway 112 on the Olympic Peninsula. It is a joy for hikers to explore and where from time immemorial, Tribal members have gone to gather traditional foods and medicines. There is also a salmon nesting area. This is about to change, unless Commissioner Upthegrove and DNR come to their senses.
Almost everyone seems to agree that it doesn’t make sense to log legacy forests around the beloved Sadie Creek campground and right about the creek itself. Last year, former Republican gubernatorial candidate, Bill Bryant who visited the forest, wrote an op-ed called “This Puget Sound Forest Should be Saved, there are better ways to log.” Hundreds signed a tribal citizen led letter asking Upthegrove to halt the timber sale.
What makes the situation even more unique is that the logging company is willing to accept an offer that would allow it to forgo logging while paying the same amount of money to DNR that DNR would have gotten had the forest been logged. This means that there’s no loss of money to beneficiaries like schools, libraries, and fire districts. Clallam County Commissioner Randy Johnson, a former timber company executive who also sits on the WA Board of Natural Resources – the body that makes decisions about timber sales – also supports the idea of finding a solution to save these few important acres.
The price tag to keep Sadie Creek campground an enjoyable place to visit is just $32,000.
Commissioner Upthegrove ran on the promise to protect legacy forests. So far, he’s continued business as usual while we lose hundreds of acres of legacy forests each month. Advancing this collaborative partnership is one way to turn the ship around.
In a lawsuit, the commissioner and a wildlife group leader say department leaders manufactured allegations against them because they questioned their decisions.
The ongoing passion play attacking the environmental “wing” of the Washington State Fish and Wildlife Commission continues. This battle between the environmental wing and the hunters wing has gone from bad behavior to truly ugly.
To understand this issue, other than reading the good article on the Standard, found here: Washington State Standard Article you have to understand that this stems from a debate over whether hunters should continue to be allowed to kill bears in our state.
The commission, which is nominated by the Governor, has been a lightning rod for hunting groups nationwide. The current Commissioner, Lorna Smith, who lives in Jefferson County and has been employed by an NGO that is anti-bear and cougar hunting, is under attack by these hunting forces and oddly enough, the head of WFW department, Kelly Susewind and Deputy Director Amy Windrope. The Commission is in charge of overseeing Susewind’s department!
To add to all this, Governor Ferguson, who ran on an environmental ticket, in an early move to apparently throw an olive branch to the hunting community, fired former commissioner Tim Ragen. That act enraged environmentalists who said that Ferguson was reneging on pledges to help the very people who got him elected.
There is so much more to this soap opera. It wouldn’t be so pathetic if the killing of bears weren’t at stake. Do we really need to hunt this animals for money anymore?
Please read the Standard’s piece for a more detailed overview.
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This site is based on news and my opinion on that news. I come with over 50 years of experience in various environmental and tribal involvement. You may not agree with my POV. At my age, I am willing to listen to your POV and put it in comments. But I might not agree with you and that's the way it works.
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