Salmon and Breathing Room
by David Cooper
Olympic Peninsula: Salmon, Timber and Energy
24 November 2000
The Initiative
Recent studies indicate a severe decline in wild salmon. Washington Initiative 899 (I-899) would provide a two hundred foot buffer zone around rivers and streams. Logging and developing would be prohibited in this area with the intent of protecting salmon habitat. Will a 200 foot breathing space be enough to bring salmon back? Will there be enough support for it?
The legislature heard testimony from four different parties' viewpoints:
(* some names and situations are fictitious.)
Let us now consider their respective views on this issue.
Native Perspective
Skokomish tribal member, Jim Birdsong, supports I-899. He personally witnessed the numbers of wild salmon dwindle and, in some cases, disappear entirely. Birdsong tells of how low the salmon numbers are. He explains that the NWIFC just completed a year long project to inventory salmon stocks. The results were as follows:
| Healthy wild salmon stocks | 187 |
| Depressed wild salmon stocks | 122 |
| Critical wild salmon stocks | 12 |
| Unknown wild salmon stocks | 113 |
| Extinct wild salmon stocks | 1 |
| Total wild salmon stocks in Washington | 435 |
More than half of wild stocks are in trouble. Poor stream conditions and loss of habitat are to blame. He states that in an effort to restore salmon, tribal fisheries have borne an unfair load. They have decreased fishing catches of tribal members and worked hard to restore salmon habitats. Some tribes have cut back their fisheries 80% or more to help restore fish populations. This has had a negative economic impact on tribes who primarily fish for a living. These cutbacks have put unemployment as high as 80% for some tribes. All the while, poor logging practices off the tribal lands and upstream continue to impact their efforts. The Skokomish tribe, for example, is working hard to repair decades of damage to the Skokomish river and the streams that feed it. Logging practices upstream continues to dump excessive amounts of sediment into a river that is already in poor health (NWIFC, 2000).
At one point, Birdsong says, "we need quick action to reverse what appears to be inevitable, the extinction of wild salmon." He then reminds the audience of the Point No Point Treaty of 1855 and Article 4, which guarantees Native Americans "the right of taking fish at usual and accustomed grounds. . ." This right ought to be feasible without loggers upstream continuing to destroy the source of food and livelihood. He concludes testimony by quoting Billy Frank, Jr., ". . . We need to back off and give the salmon room to breathe." (Treaty, 2000)(Personal communication, October 23, 2000).
Property Owner Perspective
Marjorie Anderson testified next. She lives on and owns 40 acres along the Chehalis river. She is opposed to I-899 and questions laws that remove a person's basic rights. She illustrates that the American family might find, to their horror, that the family next door will be forced to sell their house to a herd of buffalo under the fair-housing statutes of the Civil Rights law. And the home-owners association would be helpless to stop the new residents from practicing their native religion of stampeding through the neighborhood -- for fear of a discrimination suit (DeWeese, 2000).
She continues by stating her opposition to the state or federal government telling her what she can or can not do on her own land. Mrs. Anderson refers to the inadequacies of the Landowners Equal Treatment Act of 1999, which makes every effort to ". . . avoid, minimize, or mitigate impacts on non-Federal property. . . (that) retain habitat for endangered or threatened species. . .". Too often, she alleges, the owners are not fairly or fully compensated for losing the right to do as they wish on their own land. She states, "I was sickened when I heard of a family living in Sweet Home, Oregon whose41 acres were seized by the Oregon Department of Forestry."Why? She says their land may have been home to a pair of spotted owls. Now, they can do nothing on the land they own. They have been forced to sue the State government to regain the use of their land "taken" by the owl (Landowners, 1999)(Schaleger, 1998).
Mrs. Anderson proudly concludes by stating that the Bill of Rights emphasizes
". . . the pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of property."
Loggers Perspective
Chuck McTuggle was next to speak. He represented the Sampson Timber Company. He began by acknowledging the salmon issue is a very complex one; it is very easy to point fingers. His opposition to I-899 is simple, for two basic reasons. First, it is unnecessary because salmon no longer need rivers to survive. Secondly, economic losses from lost jobs and tax revenues and is only going to cost taxpayers billions in the long run.
McTuggle held up a map of South America and pointed to Chile. "This country has NO native salmon, yet they export to the US 30,000 tons of salmon each year! Compare that to annual catches of King Salmon in California of around 2500 tons." He states that Chile and Norway are able to compete this way because they farm raise their stocks in pens. Buyers prefer these salmon, as the source is dependable and constant, unlike wild salmon whose numbers fluctuate and who return on irregular dates (Marx, 1998).
Gesturing to Mrs. Anderson, he brought up the town of Sweet Home again and the restrictions placed on logging there: "Folks, [logging restrictions] devastated their economy." He pulled out papers overflowing with statistics. In the1980's, Sweet Home annually generated 86 million board feet of timber but that dropped to 100,000 board feet in 1992 when the restrictions were in effect. Unemployment rose, people moved away, businesses closed, and taxes went up. Linn county gained $12.7 million of revenue in 1988 and only $2.1 million in 1996 (Schaleger, 1998).
Replying to Jim Birdsong, McTuggle denies that the entire logging industry wantonly destroys salmon habitat. Sampson Timber, he stated, is a progressive company that wants the best for the environment. He then listed various environmental measures of the logging industry. The Rayonier Logging Company has hydroseeded 25 miles of new roads and ditches at a cost of $100,000. Other companies work with state and federal agencies to decommission inactive roads by removing their culverts and restoring the landscape to its previous state. Some companies also require their workers to complete a 40 hour program which includes study of forest practice laws and silviculture (Road, 2000)(Listing, 2000).
To conclude, he refers to a new ideal that new, young forests are actually a positive conception. Forest fires no longer create young habitat because of preventive measures. In some areas, certain wildlife will tend to do better in fresh, young forests, such as the golden-winged warbler, the eastern towhee, and the prairie warbler (AP press, 1999).
Commercial Fishing Perspective
Corky Johnson testified last. Since he is a commercial fisherman and depends on Columbia River salmon, he supports the 200 foot protective zone. He began with tales of the 'good ole days' of fishing. Total fish populations were once estimated to be above 15 million. They dropped to 5 million in the 1960's; today only one million return, a small fraction being wild stocks. Of all harvestable Coho, 50% are taken by Tribal fisheries and sport fishermen catch the other 50%. This leaves nothing for the commercial industry. Salmon need to have a clean habitat. Logging, he feels, destroys this habitat by choking the rivers with silt and logging roads block salmon routes entirely (Columbia, 1999)(Commercial, 1999).
Johnson feels the fishing industry is not to blame for decreased stocks due to over-harvesting. He argues that many fisherman support environmental practices such as bans on gillnetting, limits on harvest, and breaches of dams. The fishing industry has already paid a tremendous price to save salmon. Habitat loss has resulted in harvest restrictions and the loss of $27 billion in industry revenues nationwide. These restrictions have impacted the west coast industry which has lost 72,000 wage jobs since 1980. He proudly asserts his membership to the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Association (PCFFA). This organization believes that commercial fishermen must lead the fight to protect wetlands, estuaries, old-growth, salmon-producing forests, and healthy river ecosystems. Otherwise, their industry will be gradually strangled and snuffed out. In a sense, they try to speak for the fish (Spain, 2000).
He concludes by quoting Ron Nolan, Ph. D.: "Logging restrictions to protect salmon habitat would yield other economic benefits in tourism and recreation that could outweigh the costs of the reduced timber harvest." (Nolan, 2000).
My Personal Position
Blunt as it may be, the salmon are in big trouble and there appears to be no real solutions on the immediate horizon. With certain runs of King Salmon already extinct on the Columbia river, others are sure to follow. Humans must continue with what they do best, improvise. Humans are an adaptive species, able to adjust to situations when survival is in question. I feel the I-899 issue will only serve to postpone the inevitable extinction of wild salmon. Compare them to the millions of wild buffalo that once roamed the plains of the Midwest. Now, they are only found in tiny numbers on farms. Moose, Elk and Grey Wolves could once flourished in the Pacific Northwest. Many decades have passed and we have learned to live without them. Wild salmon too can be lost and yet preserved in a domestic form on fish farms and hatcheries.
I think this measure would do good in the short term, even if a compromise were reached. For example, a smaller 100 foot buffer zone will still help salmon, but so very much more must be addressed. We must look at effects from development and pollution. Dam removal would restore 75% of the original habitat on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. In essence, the nature of the salmon issue falls within the four H's: habitat, hatcheries, harvest and hydropower. I-899, sadly, only focuses on habitat, just one of the H's.
For the wild salmon to return in large numbers, major changes must be made. We must change our social and economic values first. Monetary gain must not be viewed as the most important achievement. Human philosophy must change too, where people learn to coexist with nature instead of trying to control or exploit it.
Works Cited
1. "Listing of Washington State Accredited Loggers." (2000) Washington
Contract Loggers Association. Online. Internet. 3 Nov. 2000. http://www.loggers.com/tdir.html
2. "Columbia Basin Fish for the Future." (1999) The Federal Caucus Considers Habitat, Hatcheries, Harvest and Hydropower (the four Hs). Online. Internet. 1 Nov. 2000. http://www.usconservation.org/html/fourH.html
3. Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. (2000) Online. Internet. 4 Nov. 2000.
http://www.nwifc.wa.gov/ctnrm/2000_wildsalmon.htm
4. "Treaty of Point No Point, 1855." (2000) Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. Online. Internet. 4 Nov. 2000. http://www.nwifc.wa.gov/tribes/treaties/pnp.htm
5."Road Construction Improvements -Fish-friendly road construction and maintenance
." (2000) Washington Forest Protection Association: Forests and Fish Forever. Online. Internet. 2 Nov. 2000. http://forestsandfish.com/fff_roads.html
6. Schaleger, Ron. (1998) "Sweet Home hard hit by federal, state logging restrictions." Sweet Home On-Line (SHOL). Online. Internet. 3 Nov. 2000. http://www.sweet-home.or.us/forest/owl/index.html
7. "Conservation of Columbia Basin Fish, Building a Conceptual Recovery Plan." Online. Internet. 4 Nov. 2000. http://www.bpa.gov/federalcaucus
8. Associated Press release (1999) "No Logging Hurts Some Habitat." Associated Press. Online. Internet. 1 Nov. 2000. http://www.pacinfo.com/~dfrench/horselogging/news081499.html
9. "Commercial Fishing." (1999) Puget Sound Gillnetters Association. Online. Internet. 2 Nov. 2000. http://www.nwefish.com/psga/no_on_I_696/letters/pa_102299.html
10. Spain, Glen. (2000) "What is the PCFFA?" Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. Online. Internet. 31 Oct. 2000. http://www.pond.net/~pcffa/
11. Marx, Wesley. (1998) "Self-Help in Hard Times. Fishermen Go Local, Selling Dock-to-Table." Coastal Conservancy. Online. Internet. 3 Nov. 2000. http://ceres.ca.gov/coastalconservancy/coast&ocean/autumn98/a01.htm
12. Spain, Glen. (2000)"Fishermen Sacrificed to Save Snake Dams?" Pacific Coast
Federation of Fishermen's Associations. Online. Internet. 31 Oct. 2000. http://www.pond.net/~pcffa/biop.htm
13. Nolan, Ryan. Ph. D. (2000) "Logging Impacts, Dams... and More." Online. Internet. 3 Nov. 2000. http://www.cyberlearn.com/wwwboard/messages/264.htm
14. "Landowners Equal Treatment Act of 1999." (1999) Bill Summary & Status for
the106th Congress. Online. Internet. 2 Nov. 2000. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:HR01142:@@@L&su mm2=m&
15. Deweese, Tom. (2000) "We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident?" American Policy Center. Online. Internet. 2 Nov. 2000. http://www.americanpolicy.org/prop/main.htm