New investments save dynamic coastal wetland habitat – Washington DOE

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Al Bergstein

And more good news. State and local partners secure $5 million in federal conservation grants.

The Department of Ecology is delighted to announce we have secured seven National Coastal Wetlands Conservation grants worth more than $5 million. The 2020 federal grants will help our local partners restore and enhance nearly 500 acres of coastal wetlands and 17,500 feet of marine shoreline in Jefferson, Kitsap, Snohomish, Thurston, and Whatcom counties.

Discovery Bay Acquisitions ($713,268)  —working in partnership with Jefferson Land Trust to acquire and conserve 9 acres of critical wetlands and nearshore habitat in Discovery Bay in Jefferson County, including nearly 2,173 feet of Puget Sound shoreline. The project will conserve degraded and filled estuary and nearshore habitat and preserve a rare intact pocket estuary that provides high-functioning salt marsh habitat in the Discovery Bay area.

Tarboo Creek Wetlands Acquisition and Restoration ($508,000) — in close coordination with the Northwest Watershed Institute we will help permanently protect and restore 14.5 acres of wetlands on three adjoining parcels along Tarboo Creek in Jefferson County that drain directly to Tarboo-Dabob Bay and Puget Sound.

Misery Point Habitat Acquisition ($1 million) — this collaborative project with the Great Peninsula Conservancy will preserve 20.7 acres and approximately 3,500 feet of Hood Canal and barrier lagoon shoreline in Kitsap County. The property contains a 1,600-foot sand spit that shelters a 3-acre tidal lagoon, important refuge habitat for juvenile salmon and waterfowl.

https://ecology.wa.gov/Blog/Posts/April-2020/New-investments-save-dynamic-coastal-wetland-habit

Filed under: Environmental Protection, Government, Jefferson County, Jefferson County, Puget Sound | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Navy (re)turning lake to estuary on Bangor Navy Returning Lake to Estuary on Bangor Base – Kitsap Sun

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Al Bergstein

The deeper story that isn’t clear from the headline is that the Navy is destroying a marsh and restoring an estuary. Why? To put in a fence and a parking lot. All this without environmental review, or protections. The fence and parking lot are costing us, the taxpayers, almost $52 Million dollars. We are grateful for the crumbs of $100 million in total for *mitigation* money from the Navy to the Hood Canal Coordinating Council for the *total* mitigation of the new sub base work. This is just a fence a parking lot…does that sound out of whack to you?

Could you or I, or even the State of Washington for that matter destroy a marsh like that in this day and age? No. This is what we mean when we talk about the issues of militarization of the Sound and Hood Canal. We get no say in how our money is being spent on issues that compromise our local environment. We are grateful that someone in the Navy has even thought to trade off recreation of the estuary.

The larger issue of whether this new sub base expansion is even needed is never debated. When we question Norm Dicks long held support of the military, and the Navy in particular, this is the kind of thing that he, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell should, as our representatives, be seriously questioning. To be clear, we support our military, but with a budget in WA DC that will be forcing a $50 Billion cut to the military, (as reported on NPR just this AM) because of the inability of both political parties to come to the table and get things done, whether in this day of a crashed economy we even need a larger military base for our subs is not on the table for discussion by the population that supports them with their taxes. The reality is that over 40% of our taxes directly go to the military (perhaps much more if the nature of the ‘black budgets’ of the our top secret security wings were made public). There is a lot that could be done for the taxpayers with even 10% of that returned to jobs programs with environmental overview. Not security fences and parking lots that are of a highly questionable need.

Navy (re)turning lake to estuary on Bangor
Kitsap Sun
By Ed Friedrich The Navy is restoring a Hood Canal estuary that was blocked by farmers even before the creation of the Bangor submarine base. Cattail Lake was created when a road dammed Cattail creek. (MEEGAN M. REID/ KITSAP SUN) BANGOR —

BANGOR — The Navy is restoring an estuary that hasn’t held saltwater in more than 60 years. The $2.2 million project compensates for environmental damage from the building of a huge, new security fence.

Read more: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/mar/17/navy-returning-lake-to-estuary-on-bangor/#ixzz1pU0MwbcA

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Restored wetlands no match for real thing

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Al Bergstein

Samuel P. Schuchat, executive director of the Coastal Conservancy,
left, walks through the Ballona Wetlands during a conservancy tour of
the natural reserve in Marina del Rey. New studies show that wetlands
do not quickly return to their original vitality once destroyed or
altered. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times / January 19, 2012)
By Bettina Boxall
February 1, 2012, 1:23 p.m.
How easy is it to recreate nature? When it comes to wetlands, the
answer seems to be "not very."
A new paper examining data from more than 600 restored or man-made
wetlands found that in key ways, they don’t measure up to the real
thing.

Read the whole story at

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/environment/la-me-gs-restored-wetlands-no-
match-for-natural-20120201,0,7166919.story

Link to the PLOS Biology study:
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001248

Restoration of Ailing Wetlands

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