To understand how important the Stillwater Fish Passage project is, consider this:
It has taken only 150 years in this region to damage salmon habitat that flourished for thousands of years. Development in shoreline areas. Dams. Fertilizers. Logging. Polluted stormwater runoff that ultimately makes its way to the sea.
Today, dams are being torn down on the Elwha River. Culverts are being removed so salmon can return unimpeded to natal streams. Dikes are being removed so waters can return to estuaries. Pollution sources are being identified and corrected.
But a foremost expert on salmon believes we’re losing habitat faster than we’re restoring it. Billy Frank Jr., chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, says salmon populations have declined sharply because of the loss of spawning and rearing habitat. According to the commission report, “Treaties at Risk: Ongoing Habitat Loss, the Decline of the Salmon Resource, and Recommendations for Change”:
“Tribal harvest levels have been reduced to levels not seen since before the 1974 U.S. v. Washington ruling that reaffirmed our treaty-reserved rights and status as co-managers with the right to half of the harvestable salmon returning to Washington waters.
“As the salmon disappear, our tribal cultures, communities and economies are threatened as never before. Some tribes have lost even their most basic ceremonial and subsistence fisheries — the cornerstone of tribal life.”
Despite efforts to restore habitat — and tens of millions will be spent on projects in Washington state this year by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board — development in shoreline areas continues, new neighborhoods compete with salmon for instream flows, pollution continues to taint runoff, many culverts remain.
Those who worked so hard for so many years to see this day in Kingston — when an estuary, once restricted by a road and culvert, would flow freely under a bridge — have reason to be proud. The project is an example of what we can accomplish to live in harmony with salmon, and how far we have to go.
