Neah Bay Dredging will improve Strait of Juan de Fuca, Salish Sea oil spill response

Posted on December 14, 2023 by Al Bergstein

Some of the most significant oil spills in Washington State’s history happened in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Salish Sea. Rescue tugs were stationed around 1999 during winter only months to protect the Strait. During the late 2000s, environmental activists led by People For Puget Sound pushed for a permanent rescue tug to be stationed at Neah Bay (and also at the East end of the Strait). With the support of then Representative Keven Van de Wege the State finally approved the tug at Neah Bay. The East end of the Strait still remains extremely vulnerable.

 Neah Bay Emergency Response Towing Vessel – Photo: Saltchuk Marine Shared Services

The Port of Neah Bay plays a pivotal role as a harbor for Emergency Response Towing Vessels (ERCivTVs) responding to distressed or disabled vessels, and as a designated harbor of refuge. The heavily trafficked Strait of Juan de Fuca sees various types of vessels passing through: cargo, passenger cruise, oil tankers, vehicle, fishing, and privately owned.

Neah Bay Marina

From 1999 to 2016, the stationed Neah Bay rescue tugs responded to 57 disabled vessels or those with reduced maneuvering ability. These incidents could have resulted in accidents or groundings leading to oil spills. The rescue tug is important to preventing spills, which would be extremely damaging to the area’s environment, economy and cultural resources, according to the Washington Department of Ecology.

This (ERTV) stands ready 24/7 on the northwestern Olympic Peninsula point in the Port of Neah Bay to quickly respond. However, challenging tides affect its readiness and the ability of this deep-draft vessel to navigate the channel.

Map courtesy of Army Corps of Engineers

That’s about to change with a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project to make navigation improvements by deepening the harbor entrance channel. A hydraulic pipeline dredge will deepen the 4,500-foot entrance channel to -21 feet from its current depth, allowing unrestricted access for ocean-going tugs, barges, and larger ships transiting Neah Bay during low tide.

The Corps of Engineers is expected to remove up to 30,000 cubic yards of never-before-dredged sediment material from the channel that’s expected to take two months to complete, pending weather conditions.

“This project will help to ensure that the rescue tug based at Neah Bay is ready to respond to marine emergencies on Washington’s coast,” said Rich Doenges, Southwest Region director for the Washington Department of Ecology. “We think the channel deepening represents a necessary step to prevent impacts to our state’s sensitive coastal environment and preserve our Pacific shorelines.”

The project falls under the Corps of Engineer’s civil works mission’s Continuing Authority Program (CAP) Section 107. It authorizes the Corps of Engineers to make navigation improvements for the non-federal sponsor, in this case the Makah Tribe. The $3.3 million project is mostly federally funded due to a cost-share waiver for Native American Tribes.

Seattle District Project Manager and biologist Juliana Houghton emphasized how the dredged material is perfect for reuse and will help fortify a nearby beach.

“We’ll place the beneficial use dredged material in an area along the shoreline that needs rehabilitation because of a lack of naturally occurring stream sediment,” she said. “The goal is to restore intertidal habitat by depositing the dredged material as beach nourishment.”

A Duwamish Services, LLC dredging crew connects a dredge pipe in Neah Bay, Dec. 8, 2023.
(Photo courtesy of Duwamish Services, LLC)

Deepening the Neah Bay entrance channel will reduce the emergency response tugs operating costs by minimizing the need for vessels to remain outside the bay in deeper waters during low tide. This will save an estimated $81,000 annually in fuel by reducing transit time during tidal changes.

The project first gained traction in the early 2010’s when the non-federal sponsor Makah Tribe contacted the Corps of Engineers Seattle District requesting a study to determine if navigation improvements for the Port of Neah Bay entrance channel were feasible.

“This project has been a long collaborative partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and we’re thrilled to see these improvements enhance the protection of the valuable Neah Bay ecosystem and improve safety for larger commercial and fishing vessels entering the port,” said Makah Tribe Chairman Timothy Greene, Sr.

Throughout the planning process Corps of Engineers officials coordinated, consulted and worked with federal, tribal and state agencies, including Environmental Protection Agency, National Marine Fisheries Services, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Makah Tribe, Washington’s State Department of Ecology, State Historic Preservation Office and Clallam County.

For more information about the US Army Corps of Engineers Seattle District, visit the district’s website at https://www.nws.usace.army.mil/ and follow on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/USACENWS/ and on X (previously Twitter) at https://twitter.com/SeattleDistrict.

Thanks to Louis.R.Velasco@usace.army.mil for the Press Release on this topic. Feel free to reach out to him for additional information as needed.

Filed under: Around the Salish Sea, Environmental Protection, Government, Olympic Peninsula, Straits of Juan de Fuca | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Washington’s Crabby New Resident

Posted on March 23, 2021 by Al Bergstein

Good overview of the current situation on the fight against the latest invasive species, the Green Crab. 

Researchers, tribes and volunteers work to fight the rising tide of European green crabs on Washington shores.
Morgan MacIntryre reports. (The Planet Magazine)

https://theplanetmagazine.net/washingtons-crabby-new-resident-a669170b819e

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Will Whale Hunting Return to the Pacific Northwest? -NY Times

Posted on November 14, 2019 by Al Bergstein

There are legitimate points of view here on both sides.  The Tribe is a sovereign nation.  As such, they have rights, to hunt and fish in their usual and accustomed places. However, given the perilous nature of whales, and what we know of them now that we didn’t know then, in “traditional” days, should give any modern purpose pause. I seem to remember that much of the last whale was wasted, as the tribe didn’t eat much of it, but I could be remembering wrong. Would love to have someone who was there tell me how much of the whale was actually used by the Tribe.

Many traditional ceremonies have been supplanted by modern equivalents. Female genital mutilation is a traditional ceremony, which has been ended in many parts of the world. It would be great to see the Makah honor the whales by continuing to protect them, and create an alternative that would work for their youth.  Barring that, it would be appropriate for people to boycott going to the reservation to show their dislike for this slaughter of an intellegent, beautiful being that is being destroyed all over the planet by hunting, changing climate, dwindling diet, and more. Do I have to be the to remind readers that hundreds of whales have died, many of starvation, over the last few years, their bodies piling up along the Alaska coast in remote areas.

Some tribes believe in doing things to support seven generations out. I have a hard time understanding how killing whales is going to support that. But the Makahs have their reasons. Here’s hoping they come to a better solution to the problems facing their youth.

The Makah are the only Native Americans with a treaty right to hunt whales, but they have not been allowed to do so for 20 years. A recent proposal could change that.

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NOAA study could set stage for Makah whaling to resume- Seattle Times

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Al Bergstein

Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. A bad idea wrapped in an old tradition, that no longer makes sense. You can extrapolate a lot of things  like this that people could do, and shouldn’t. Let your imagination think about it.

There should be new ways to teach people the hunt, and the point of the hunt, without destroying these creatures that we now know are so much more than just meat for someone’s table, that is, if they even eat whale meat anymore at all. I don’t support his action on their part. I understand why some of the tribe thinks they should do it, but I hope that they don’t.

On Friday, NOAA Fisheries released a draft environmental study that could set the stage for the resumption of whaling off the Washington coast by the Makah Indian tribe. The draft proposes six options ranging from prohibiting an annual hunt for North Pacific gray whales to allowing up to 24 to be harvested within a six-year period. Hal Bernton reports. (Seattle Times)

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/noaa-study-could-set-stage-for-resumption-of-tribal-whaling/

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Snowpack for Olympics is great going into summer

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Al Bergstein

The snowpack depth in the Olympic Peninsula as we head into summer is excellent. On May 1st, the last month until next November  that the snowpack is measured, showed that we were 103% of normal for  the year. This is still below last years snowpack but dramatically above the snowpack experienced in 2005, when the pack was only at 25% of normal. In 2006, the Makah Tribe ran very low on water supplies in their reservoirs  All measurements for the Cascades are also above normal. This is in contrast with drought conditions continuing across approx 60% of the country and especially  the southwest and central Rockies. Severe to execptionally severe drought (the highest level measured), continues to plague key farming areas from California to the Central Plains. Costs last year to farming were estimated to be between $50 and 200 B, which is higher than the estimated damage of Hurricane Sandy, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting

Given concerns about global warming, the understanding is that many areas will continue to experience wild weather swings,  storms with increased strength (as Oklahoma hurricanes  and Hurricane Sandy have shown recently, along with historic flooding in Texas) and prolongued drought. The drought of last year was epic, on a scale of the Dustbowl of the Great Depression. This year is expected to be close if not worse.

In the Northwest, we seem to be beneficiares of a pocket of ‘good’ weather. As global temperatures continure to rise, with little sign of a downturn in the trend (the trend is variable, as are most trends).

Filed under: Olympic Peninsula | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »