Last Stand
by Tyson Lin
Scott Salmon, Whatcom County District 2 firefighter and local fisherman, stood knee-high in the chilling current of the Nooksack River fishing for steelhead and pointed toward the nearby evergreens. He said that removing the trees will lead to erosion.
"Sediments will be dumped into the river and this will give fish an unhealthy spawning area," Salmon said.
As he stepped out of the river, beads of water dripped off his wader suit. He knelt down alongside the rocky embankment and picked up some mud.
"This murky sediment is unhealthy for the fish," Salmon said. "The majority of this comes from logging and landslides upstream."
Runoff from logged lands causes a sediment build-up in rivers and streams, he said.
Sediments divert the flow of water causing a rise in temperature and altering the natural environment for salmon, said John Thompson, Whatcom County Endangered Species Act coordinator and resource planner.
Aquatic animals protected under the ESA — such as the newly revived spring run Chinook salmon on the Nooksack River in Whatcom County — would be threatened by revisions to the National Roadless Area Conservation Act proposed by the George W. Bush administration. Revisions to the act would allow roads to be built more easily on pristine habitat — compromising the ESA and potentially leading to environmental impacts like sediment build-up in rivers and streams.
The original act, enacted during the Clinton administration, protects old-growth forests and requires managers of 192 million acres of national forests to emphasize clean water, recreation and the safety of wildlife and their habitat.
If Congress approves the revised plan, it could greatly alter the Northwest Forest Plan implemented to protect endangered species throughout the Pacific Northwest. Bush also proposed dismantling the Aquatic Conservation Strategy, a part of the NWFP, said Dave Werntz, Northwest Ecosystem Alliance science director.
The NWFP is intended to provide a balance between habitat destruction and conservation of wildlife. The ACS, which is designed to protect aquatic habitat for salmon and other fish. The NWFP governs the lands west of the Cascade Mountain Range in Washington and Oregon, Werntz said.
The ACS, created in 1994, protects resident and native fish communities and their habitat in all major forest aquatic ecosystems. The strategy balances the needs of endangered species with regulations for timber sales.
Under Bush’s proposed plan, timber sales and projects that are currently prohibited could be allowed. Environmental reviews might be less comprehensive and local federal forestry officials could alter management plans without having to conduct Environmental Impact Studies — an analysis of the project’s impact on wildlife, watersheds and public recreation throughout the forest. This, in turn, would allow more logging and less mandatory regulations toward the protection of endangered species, Werntz said.
The ESA, originally passed in 1973, provides for the classification and protection of invertebrates, wildlife, fish and plant species that are in danger of becoming extinct. The act makes it unlawful for anyone to harm, injure or damage a listed animal. The ESA also protects threatened or endangered species’ habitat.
In 1992, only 10 spring run Chinook salmon were recorded in Whatcom County. Ten years later, that number increased to 5,000 with the help of the ESA, fish hatcheries and local organizations such as Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association.
NSEA monitors Whatcom County waterways and has completed more than 120 restorations on more than 15 miles of local streams to protect salmon habitat. Volunteers from NSEA replant native vegetation along stream banks, install fencing to keep livestock out of the streams and create spawning habitat by adding natural debris like rocks and logs.
NSEA board member Jeremy Brown said the association’s restorations are designed to protect the creeks from runoff and sediment accumulation in the stream. The sediment comes from road building and logging, he said.
But if the proposal by the Bush administration passes, logging companies won’t have to worry about the consequences of endangering the salmon or the ecosystem, Werntz said.
He said if the administration undermines the National Roadless Area Conservation Act then he believes it will lead to more logging. Cutting down mature and old-growth trees will cause damage to the overall environment, while reducing the power of the NWFP and programs such as the ACS, Werntz said.
"Bush’s approach is to remove the teeth of the ACS," Werntz said. ‘"Instead of working with the ACS, let’s remove that entire part of the program."’
Washington Loggers Corp. owner Howard Hammer, 82, has been in the logging industry since he was 15. He said he agrees with Bush’s proposal to log on federal lands.
"I am on Bush’s side 100 percent," Hammer said. "I would even go farther than Bush will ever go."
Hammer said through his years of experience with logging, he has not jeopardized any animal habitat.
"We don’t endanger any species in these hills," Hammer said.
Clearing out the old growth makes new vegetation for the animals, he said.
"Animals don’t go out in the old-growth forests to feed," Hammer said. "They go out in the clear cuts where there is nice young stuff growing."
NWEA volunteer coordinator Hudson Dodd said those who claim logging is beneficial to wildlife are distorting the truth.
"Reality is, logging old growth destroys the vast majority of all organisms in the ecosystem," he said.
Just because people don’t know salmon require old growth to survive doesn’t mean it isn’t true, Dodd said. Through scientific research, the connection between the abundance of old-growth forests and salmon population health is becoming more clear, he said.
Hammer said, however, he feels the regulations are still too restrictive on loggers.
"I don’t want to shoot environmentalists down but we need to come to the middle road," he said. "It’s a bad thing when people can’t work out a problem. If there is no way to settle it, let’s sit down and talk about it."
