WATERSHED PROTECTION
ORGANICS PLAY ROLE IN SALMON RECOVERY IN PACIFIC NORTHWEST
For the first time in history, a large urban area will feel the impacts of an Endangered Species Act listing. Managers of organic materials have a unique opportunity to be part of the solution.
Sego Jackson, Josh Marx and Holly Wescott

The salmon and the waters in which they live define the quality of life in the Pacific Northwest, from Washington’s Puget Sound to Oregon’s Columbia River Basin. In 1999, two federal agencies announced that wild, Puget Sound chinook salmon and the wild, Puget Sound bull trout (in the salmon family) were officially listed as threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The announcement served as a wake up call that the salmon, their habitat and our environment are in peril.

For the first time in history, a large urban area will feel the impacts of an ESA listing. To protect the species, many changes must be incorporated in our way of life, including what we can do with the land, how we use water, and how we conduct routine activities that support our urban society. The Washington Organic Recycling Council (WORC) and its member agencies have identified a unique opportunity to expand the beneficial uses of organics to help in this historic effort to save the species.

The ESA listings provide federally mandated protection not only for the species themselves, but for all of their habitat. Because salmon utilize such a large and diverse area of land and water throughout their life cycle, this essentially means that everyone working and living anywhere in the Puget Sound region will feel the impacts of these listings. The Puget Sound region includes 12 counties and 18 watersheds from the Canadian border south to Olympia, the Washington state capitol. Developers and private property owners face more stringent development regulations. Farmers face more stringent agricultural regulations. Local governments and their citizens face more stringent stormwater management regulations, road maintenance practices, and regulations on water withdrawal/water usage.

However, it is critical to understand that salmon are indicators of ecosystem health. Unhealthy salmon runs mean unhealthy ecosystems. Therefore, along with the effects of tougher regulations, everyone in the Puget Sound region will feel the effects of overall improved quality of life as steps are taken to restore, protect, and conserve invaluable land and water resources for salmon.

WHAT IS CAUSING EXTINCTION OF THE SPECIES?

In developing solutions to foster salmon recovery, the first step is to look at why they are declining. Four major factors, often referred to as the “4 H’s,” have been identified: Hatcheries, Harvest, Hydropower and Habitat.

• Hatchery fish production, although intended to supplement declining wild stocks of fish, has over time contributed to the decline of these wild populations. Hatchery fish out-compete wild fish for food and habitat, and decrease the genetic strength of the wild fish through interbreeding.

• Massive overharvesting of salmon for many years also has taken its toll on salmon populations as not enough fish are left to return to spawning grounds and continue the cycle of life.

• Hydropower and dams have created impassable barriers to fish and resulted in less water for them to use.

• Salmon habitat, defined as the entire watershed from the headwaters to the open ocean, has been severely degraded through urbanization and forestry, making it very difficult and often impossible for salmon to complete their life cycle.

In considering habitat destruction or degradation, perhaps the most important issue is development or urbanization. Development of any kind results in fewer trees, degraded soil and impervious surfaces such as cement, rooftops, pavement and compacted soil. All of these dramatically affect surface water runoff within a watershed, directly degrading salmon habitat.

This is evident both during common Pacific Northwest rain events, and during dry summer months. In winter, impervious surfaces and nonnative landscapes result in increased water flows (or “flash floods”) to streams/rivers, which in turn flood out spawning grounds where salmon lay their eggs. In summer, impervious surfaces result in lower stream/river flows because less water is stored in native soils to recharge these streams. It has become very clear that the issue of surface water runoff and impervious surfaces must be addressed to successfully recover salmon.

With regards to habitat, a diverse group of local governments, citizens, Native American tribes, and businesses from the Puget Sound Region has been working with the federal government to develop the best plan for salmon recovery. Until the federal government approves a plan and puts it into law (expected in summer of 2000), we will not know what specific actions will be required. However, essential recovery goals focus on stormwater management and road maintenance practices; shoreline protection; creation of long-term salmon conservation plans; increased regulations for agricultural land and on pesticide and herbicide use; and increased amounts of habitat acquisition and restoration projects. Once decided, guidelines will have to be implemented and enforced at the local level. A contractual agreement to do so will be essential for federal approval.

ORGANICS AS ONE SOLUTION

One solution is being put forth by the Washington Organic Recycling Council (WORC) and many of its member agencies. The project, dubbed “Soils for Salmon,” has been designed to retain native soil and/or incorporate soil amendment into new construction as another tool to support species recovery. With a booming economy, the Puget Sound region is one of the fastest developing areas in the nation. Traditional construction practice often results in disturbance and removal of several feet of native soil. With completion of a structure (house, apartment complex, office building), sod is typically placed on glacial till. The resulting soil profile is dramatically altered from the native soil profile and can have significant impacts on surface water runoff with direct effects on salmon habitat degradation.

The Soils for Salmon project was developed to lend assistance to the overall salmon recovery effort and fill a gap in the work being done. While attending a breakthrough scientific conference titled “Salmon in the City” in 1998, WORC board member Sego Jackson realized that the important functions of soils were being alluded to but largely overlooked in the strategy presentations. Talks covered forest hydrology for urban planners, low impact and zero impact design strategies, and the need to limit impervious surfaces. There was an absence of discussion about maintaining or improving the quality of urban soils, which is necessary if some of these other strategies are to be successful.

Because most professionals working on salmon issues were overwhelmed by the immensity of the salmon recovery effort and were working feverishly on other specific areas, it was apparent that a soil quality strategy would need to be championed by people working on organics and soil issues, not salmon issues. Jackson proposed that WORC organize a meeting of several dozen professionals to explore a soil quality strategy. The result was a day-long seminar, cosponsored by the area’s leading research universities. Over 200 people attended the sold out meeting.

Since then, WORC has sponsored two other sold out seminars designed to examine implementation techniques, policy implications and research related to use of organic soil amendments to improve the water retention and holding capacity of soils disturbed during construction. Land use and surface water planners, construction firms, landscape architects and contractors, topsoil and compost producers, salmon recovery personnel and organizations, watershed coordinators, conservation advisors, consultants, researchers, municipal recycling coordinators and funding agencies have attended the meetings.

WORC and many of its members, such as the King County Department of Natural Resources and Snohomish County Public Works, are involved in a wide array of projects that link the use of organics and soils to the ESA policy, regulatory and programmatic arena. These projects include: Incorporating soil amendment and organics language in state and local stormwater management plans and soil amendment requirements in local development ordinances; Master Composter/Recycler education classes and on-site demonstration projects linking soil and water/fish concepts; Research with local universities to build on existing organic amendment knowledge; Wide distribution of educational materials promoting the use of organics in lawn and landscaping practice as a means to support salmon recovery; and Working with local road and park departments in need of sustainable Integrated Pest Management Practices and other best management practices that support salmon recovery to increase use of organics.

RIPE OPPORTUNITY FOR ORGANICS

A few recognized tools for managing water quality and water volume include minimization of pollutants and decreased uses of herbicides/pesticides, increased stream buffers, and retention of forest cover. Soil as a stormwater management tool also should be utilized in the regulatory and land use tool box. Fish rely on clean, fresh water to survive; they equally need healthy soil in the watershed above them. Managers of organic materials have an opportunity to offer a solution that supports clean water and helps close the recycling loop. Incorporation of a soil strategy as part of an ESA response helps to move the Pacific Northwest in the direction of a more sustainable future through healthier soil and water.

The Soils for Salmon project has catapulted WORC and others working on organics/soil issues into a much broader arena which includes surface water and land use planners, fisheries personnel, the state Department of Transportation, nonprofits working on salmon issues, research universities and policy makers. There is new and renewed understanding of the importance of organics and compost facilities that provide needed organics. WORC has enjoyed increased membership for the first time in years, plus spinoff projects.

A CALL TO ACTION

Significant work on soil quality strategies will continue in the Northwest and will take decades to fully implement. Many of the soil and development issues affecting salmon also are significant throughout the country. Rapid development, excessive impervious surfaces, winter stream scouring, low summer stream flows, stripping of native soils and vegetation, overuse of and pollution from lawn biocides, pet waste polluted runoff — these problems are widespread. Even so, scientific research and strategies to address these concerns as they relate to urban soil quality are scanty. The tide appears to be shifting, however, with the Soils for Salmon project and the upcoming Urban Soil Quality Conference in Minnesota as evidence. More effort by others working in the organics/soil field is needed. It is time for all of us to provide the knowledge, resources and funding to address broader environmental concerns through improving soil quality.

The Soils for Salmon concept originated from Sego Jackson (Sego.Jackson@co.snohomish.wa.us), principal planner with Snohomish County Public Works and who, as a citizen, advises local salmon recovery projects and serves on the local county water resources advisory committee. Josh Marx (josh.marx@metrokc.gov) develops programs to increase organics capacity with the King County Department of Natural Resources and Holly Wescott (hwes461@ecy.wa.gov) is the compost and biosolids specialist with Washington State Department of Ecology revising statewide organics regulations. All are board members with the Washington Organic Recycling Council. For more information on Soils for Salmon, call WORC at (360) 754-5162 or e-mail alacarte@olywa.net.