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Foreward The following information on the story of Port Gamble was collected for the purposes of the Science, Management and Outreach of Contaminated Sites class, facilitated through Huxley College of the Environment at Western Washington University. The class itself is funded by the Department of Ecology, in order to help provide resources to the students that would otherwise be inaccessible. This book was a student-led project that focused on the history, the cleanup, and current/future state of Port Gamble. With the help of funds from the Department of Ecology, multiple trips were made to the town itself to garner history in a firsthand experience. Regulators of the town and Ecology were interviewed in order to fully understand the cleanup process. It is important to recognize cleanups like the one that occurred in Port Gamble, because without understanding all the work that goes into cleaning up toxic messes, the end product of a clean area cannot be fully appreciated.
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Department of Ecology Celina Abercrombie Dawn Hooper Artie Kapell
Pope Resources Linda Berry-Maraist Stephanie Foster
Great Peninsula Conservancy Sandra Staples-Bortner
Western Washington University Dr. Rebekah Paci-Green Dr. Ruth Sofield
The cleanup in Port Gamble has allowed the town to re-imagine its future and appreciate its past.
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HISTORY
PORT GAMBLE SURROUNDINGS
S'KLALLAM TRIBE PORT GAMBLE MILL
CONTAMINATED LEGACY
BAY CLEANUP
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
GLOSSARY AND WORKS CITED
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HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF PORT GAMBLE
The town of Port Gamble is a quaint fixture in an otherwise bustling area on the Puget Sound. The company town itself is located on the Kitsap Peninsula, along the shores of Hood Canal. The picturesque views and extensive history attract people from all over, and provide visitors a unique experience. Labeled as a National Historic Landmark, the town offers a rich variety of history centered on natural resources, people, and industry.
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In addition to social changes, the mill also brought ecological changes. During the mill’s 140 years of operation, production processes leached toxic chemicals into the bay, and deposited an inordinate amount of wood waste in the sediments. The aftermath of this will be detailed in later sections. Yet, even after the shuttering of the mill in 1995, the importance of the area was still significant. The importance emanated from the S’Klallam, the community in and around Port Gamble, and the ecosystem services, which eventually led to a cleanup of the contaminated areas.
The sawmill that founded the town began in 1853, and was one of the longest continually active lumber mills in the United States (S. Foster. Personal Communication, May 17, 2017). The mill had an irrevocably profound impact on both the land and people in the area. For the tribes previously located on the mill site, it meant a loss of traditional territory, and with it, access to some of the richest shellfish harvesting shorelines in the region. For both the S’Klallam and the new settlers arriving, the mill brought jobs, homes, and, for a time, a booming era of industry.
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PORT GAMBLE SURROUNDINGS The area around Post Gamble is lush with timber, streams, wildlife, fish, shellfish, and more. Port Gamble is situated at the intersection of land, river, and sea, which is why the ecosystem is home to salmon, forage fish, and a plentiful supply of land and sea birds. In the temperate climate, the Douglas fir and cedars grow tall and green, making it easy to see why people call the area a natural jewel. In 1968, Edwin Coman Jr. wrote that in Port Gamble, “magnificent timber grew so close to the water’s edge that entire trees were mirrored in the blue of 4 the bay.”
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In Port Gamble, many geographic features serve to protect the ecosystem and bay wide community. One of these features are the uplands, which are the elevated forested areas that foster many water connections. Parts of these uplands are also located in the Port Gamble Forest Heritage Park, which was purchased by Ecology for Kitsap County. Ecology also worked to protect the Western Shoreline Block, which is an important feature of the bay.
The Port Gamble mill on the left and Point Julia on the right are seen across Port Gamble Bay.
Shellfish beds line the coast of the bay. Historically, the S'Klallum have heavily relied upon shellfish for their survival.
Another characteristic of Port Gamble is the jetty situated in the bay, which surrounded the previous mill site. This jetty helps to direct tidal features and protect the mill. All of these features help benefit the quality of life for the community 11 and ecosystem inside the bay.
Once in the Port Gamble forest, time seems to stop. The sound of traffic disappears and only the sounds of wildlife exist. In 1853, the thick forests caught the attention of Andrew Jackson Pope and William Talbot, the two men from Maine that started the Port Gamble sawmill. In the forest, they found both visual splendor and commercial venture. However, the forested areas are more than just a scenic landscape, since they serve as a cover for wildlife, and help ensure water quality and supply for the surrounding community. The area also has served as an important subsistence source for the S’Klallam, as they have taken 3 advantage of the thriving fish and shellfish community. Today, the town of Port Gamble covers 120 acres of land, and is situated south of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Located in an unincorporated Kitsap County, the town sits in the 100-year floodplain, on the Hood Canal fjord. The small eponymous bay of Port Gamble lies at the entrance to the Canal, and takes up more than two square miles, consisting 1 of both subtidal and intertidal areas.
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S'Klallum village on Point Julia. This village was later burned down by the U.S. Government.
S'KLALLAM TRIBE
GA M B L E For generations and generations, the S’Klallam tribe has lived and thrived off the abundance of fish and shellfish they garnered from the bay. With at least 15 villages across the southern portion of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the S’Klallam were part of the South Coast Salish linguistic group. Nicknamed “the Strong People,” the tribe lived in permanent wooden houses were used as shelter, but they also moved to seasonal sites for fishing, hunting 3 and gathering in the surrounding area.
relocation from their ancestral land. The S’Klallam found themselves far from their Port Gamble Bay, as they were shunted to the Skokomish Reservation at the bend of Hood 17 Canal. Feeling placated at this reservation, the S’Klallam remained unhappy; they eventually returned to Point Julia, the adjacent spit to Port Gamble. The tribe called their encampment at Point Julia Little Boston, as the term “Boston” was used by the tribe to refer to 3 the settlers.
These established and seasonal villages are most likely what Andrew Jackson Pope and William Talbot encountered when they approached the bay. The arrival of these two men initiated profound cultural changes for the tribe. One of these changes began with the renaming of the actual area, as Port Gamble was not the original title.
The 1855 Point No Point Treaty between Washington Territory Governor Isaac Stevens and three tribes -- S’Klallam, Chimakum and Skokomish -- changed not only the relationship between people, but also the land. Without fully understanding the document the tribes signed, they ceded ownership of their land in the northern Kitsap Peninsula, in exchange for hunting and fishing rights, and a small 3 reservation for the three tribes. One big difference in ideology between those on the Stevens side of the treaty, than those on the tribal side of the treaty, was that private 6 property was not a part of tribal culture. Furthermore, the treaty was communicated in a language that was not fully understood by the tribe. The treaty contained 14 different articles, which were explained in a Chinook language that contained only about 100 words, and was usually only used for trade purposes. These aspects ensured many of the specifics of the treaty were not fully communicated to 3 the tribe.
The S’Klallam called the area around Port Gamble “texexq e’ultx.” The white settlers arriving mispronounced this as “teekalet,” and misunderstood the meaning of the name as “the brightness of the noonday sun.” However, to the S'Klallam, the meaning of their word was “skunk cabbage” in the Suquamish 3 language. This was presumably not the only misinterpretation that occurred between the Puget Mill Co. and the S’Klallam tribe. The Oregon Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 allowed Pope and Talbot to petition for the S’Klallam land with a treaty. Soon thereafter, the 1855 Point No Point Treaty secured both the mill’s location and enforced the tribes’
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H I STO RY With the ceding of their ancestral land came two promises from the Puget Mill Co. These were that the S’Klallam tribe would always have work at the mill, and would have lumber to build their new homes.6 Accepting these promises, the mill drew the tribe into a developing American economy. As the S’Klallam labored at the mill, they turned to the company town for other forms of subsistence than their traditional forms. They began traversing to the General Store for the food and supplies of the American West.3 Although the mill did provide steady jobs and labor for the S’Klallam, the Point No Point Treaty and dispossession of land proved to be a festering reminder of their loss. In the 1930s, the tribe successfully petitioned the US federal government to recognize their independence. Following this win, the newly recognized tribal government acquired loan money from a Washington congressional representative to build additional houses at Point Julia. However, the attempt to expand tribal housing was short-lived. The US government poured gasoline over the existing shore housing and lit it ablaze it for “sanitation purposes.”6 This was a time older S’Klallam members remember as traumatic, as the burning houses had been their home for most of their lives.3 Well into the 1970s, the tribe had to continue to petition the government for their previously promised fishing and land rights. For the S’Klallam, legal troubles were also coupled with ecological troubles. The practices of the mill led to toxic substances accumulating in the bay, affecting the health of the fish and shellfish that are a main form of subsistence for the tribe. This, in turn, affected the health of the S’Klallam people.
Shellfish have been a major source of food for the S'Klallam for centuries.
From the various interactions such as the initial taking of land, to the S’Klallam working at the mill, to the contamination in the bay, the mill forever became a part of their cultural history. Even though many tribal members had not stepped foot inside the mill before it was demolished, it left “indelible memories in the minds of today’s younger generation of the Port Gamble S’Klallam.”3
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THE PORT GAMBLE MILL
The Port Gamble mill, which first began operations in 1853, and was founded by two central figures: Andrew Jackson Pope and William Talbot. The two men, natives of Maine, began their lucrative career in the timber industry together whilst in San Francisco. With both drive and ambition, Pope and Talbot were 3 eager to make a name for themselves, as well as a profit. After learning of the vast timber resources in the Puget Sound, they realized there was potential to succeed with a lumber business of their own. Pat Verd, a historian with the Port Gamble Museum, talked about timber being an open niche during the 1850s. She said, 16 “At that time, milled lumber was so scarce, it was like gold.” Captain William Talbot had been sailing around the Sound and Hood Canal on the Julius Pringle, looking for the perfect place to set up a mill. With its level, sandy spit, the Port Gamble 3 area was an ideal location. As stated earlier, the Oregon Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 allowed the men to acquire the land and bay. Andrew Jackson Pope, along with William Talbot and two other men, erected the Puget Mill Company in 1853, in what is now Port Gamble. Soon after this, the men subsequently ran three other sawmills in the Pacific 17 Northwest. The steam powered sawmill expanded along the Port Gamble waterfront, making it easier for incoming ships to access the lumber. The once Native American owned land known for fishing and shellfishing, was turned into one of the most productive sawmills in the US. The town itself took on an eastern coastal vibe, as the Talbot and Pope modeled the area 13 after their beloved Maine hometown.
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Soon after the Puget Mill Co. began, workers began filling the town of Port Gamble. With the isolated mill running all year round, except for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Independence Day, the company provided all year housing and food for the workers. According to Stein (2003), workers lived in company housing, ate at the mess hall, played ball with the company team, and bought goods from the company 13 store. Everyday life simply evolved around work at the mill. All housing areas had to be leased in Port Gamble, as it was a company town. Managers and married workers got their own houses, while most single men were given rental 13 cabin, bunkhouses, or hotel rooms. Between the company town and the mill, “[Port Gamble] was a booming place,” said Celina Abercrombie, a member of the Department of 1 Ecology’s Toxics Cleanup Program. A second mill was added to Port Gamble in 1857, which was built out further onto the spit. Sediment was dredged up from the water and hillside and used to enlarge the mill site. Pilings were also driven out further into the bay, creating both an 1 artificial shoreline and continuing to expand the mill site. With the site expansion, Pope and Talbot called for more workers. They requested workers from their hometown Maine, because they “embodied the virtues of dedicated 13 labor, loyalty, and harmonious living.” Pope and Talbot were Calvinist thinkers and they stressed order and responsibility from their workers. They were convinced men from Maine 13 held similar ideals.
A timber raftsman guides logs toward the mill in an organized fashion near Port Gamble,. WA.
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Port Gamble Mill in operation during 1940. P ORT The company built their first school in 1862 to attract more families to the area, along with more amenities such as “a barber shop, a bowling alley, a daguerreotype studio, and a 13 dance hall.” Port Gamble became “pretty self-sufficient with 1 the whole town and mill,” said Abercrombie. With just over 400 residents in 1890, the New England style houses adorned the simple streets of Port Gamble. Chinese laborers, cooks, or laundry personnel were restricted to live apart from the mill workers, in communal or single housing. The S’Klallam mill workers, however, continued to reside on their 13 side of the bay in Little Boston. For more than a century, the mill operated with gusto and the town grew into areas previously uninhabited by European 3 settlers. The mill operated with a frenzy in its early days, as “saws buzzed huge chunks of wood, creating sawdust that filled 3 the barges on the north end of the mill.” The sawdust meant success to the mill workers, as the increase in lumber meant the increase in income. The mill workers were tied directly to this success, as the mill became the primary driver of livelihood for those living in and around Port Gamble. Much of the lumber cut from Port Gamble had an international destination. Hawaii was an important market for the mill, which helped the mill escape the financial hardships of the Panic of 13 1897. However, the mill did not escape the Panic of 1907, and the mill closed for six months, ending the mill’s nearly sixdecade streak of continuous business success. In 1925, as the Puget Mill Co. was again losing money, a new proponent appeared. Through Puget Mill Co.’s hardship, Charles R. McCormick Lumber Co. acquired both the Port Gamble town and mill. In an effort to revamp the mill, McCormick invested money to modernize the equipment. The Great Depression, however, had other plans for his renovation. In 1938, Puget Mill Co. was able to buy back the town and mill. Shortly after this, the company consolidated and was renamed as the Pope and
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Talbot Inc.
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World War II helped the mill again gain economic prosperity, but with the modernization of both industry and development, the mill began losing economic significance. The company restructured its business, splitting into two as Pope & Talbot and Pope Resources. The latter took over the town site, mill, timber acreage, and the real estate development situated in Port Ludlow. Pope Resources leased the sawmill to Pope and 13 Talbot, Inc., which continued to saw logs. In 1966, Pope Resources saw an opportunity in the quaint wood buildings of the town, and sought registry as a historic town, which was subsequently granted. Being listed as a historic site allowed the town to transition into the tourism sector, as the price of lumber began to drag the mill’s success down. However, the incoming visitors could not account for the mill’s continuing financial losses. On November 30, 1995, the mill blew its whistle for the last time, ending its record as the oldest continuously operating sawmill in the US. After 142 years, the mill ceased operations, and consequently, Pope and Talbot’s lease on the town also ceased. Pope Resources absorbed the town and maintained its historic aspect.17 Today the town serves as a tourist attraction, luring in visitors with the tale of a time passed. The people that currently live in Port Gamble work in the town or surrounding area, and still only rent their houses in the company town.
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A CONTAMINATED LEGACY
The start of the mill, in 1853, also marked the start of the introduction of toxic chemicals into Port Gamble Bay. At the height of its production years, the mill had sprawled across nearly the entire bay. This meant throughout the bay there were creosote soaked pilings supporting an array of 7 piers, loading docks, bulkheads, and overwater buildings. When the mill was physically removed in 1997, the buildings might have been gone, but the contamination remained. The pilings that helped support many mill structures had creosote impregnated onto the pilings, which means that the wood was covered in creosote to protect the pilings from insects, rot, and saltwater. The chemical compounds that make up creosote were so effective at preserving the wood from deteriorating in the water, that most wood pilings had creosote added to protect them. However, the 300 chemicals that make up creosote are toxic to aquatic organisms. Fish, seabirds, and marine mammals exposed to creosote tend to experience growth and reproductive 10 problems. For the S’Klallam tribe that subsisted on these resources, this meant less marine life.
eelgrass beds and other areas of aquatic habitat.
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The reason that wood waste is actually toxic, is when microorganisms break down the wood waste, they rob the water of oxygen. This process will release sulfide and ammonia over time, harming vegetation and aquatic wildlife around the mill site, damaging the overall ecosystem of 1 Port Gamble Bay. Along with the creosote and wood waste, petroleum hydrocarbons, arsenic, chromium, lead and mercury were found in the Sound. Tribal and community concern for the well-being of their home prompted an investigation into what was actually occurring below the surface of both the sediment and the water. Various combinations of these toxic substances were found in shellfish 7 tissue when Anchor QEA, the consultant, collected and analyzed samples from the bay.
Even before cleanup occurred, the pilings in the water still had creosote in them. “It's like brand new when you pull it out; for whatever reason when it's underneath the sediment if it’s in that anoxic condition, it just does not deteriorate or break it down. So, it is very fresh and smells fresh; 1 it looks fresh,” said Abercrombie. Another culprit of contamination in the bay, was an abundance of wood waste that the sawmill left in the water from the various industrial activities, such as cutting the timber or transporting it. Wood waste, like the creosote, was also added to the bay with little forethought. An immense amount of wood waste accumulated even from just cutting the logs, and tossing the subsequent sawdust into the bay. When asking if any mill workers were aware of what the sawdust was doing to the bay, Stephanie Foster, Pope Resources Assistant Project Manager for the Port Gamble 5 project, stated with a shrug, “They just didn’t know.
Throughout the bay there were creosote soaked pilings supporting an array of piers, loading docks, bulkheads, and overwater buildings.
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Another deposition of wood waste from the mill was wood bark rubbing off of logs, as they were tied together in log rafts or hauled onto awaiting barges. While being loaded onto those barges, loose wood chips would slide off their piles, falling into the water. Together, the bark, wood chips, and sawdust would accumulate along the bottom of the bay. This accumulation suffocated
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BAY CLEANUP
The blue water gently moving in Port Gamble Bay still belies the decades of industry and contamination that filtered through it. Suspecting that the contamination from the mill was extensive, the S’Klallam tribe began 7 monitoring for pollutants in Port Gamble Bay during the mid-1980s. However, it was not until after the mill was closed and demolished that Washington State’s Department of Ecology, along with Pope Resources, 1.3 began conducting environmental investigations from 1997-200 Finding substantial amounts of industrial contamination in Port Gamble Bay, Ecology dredged 13,000 cubic yards of woody debris and sediment 7 in 2003. Dredging helps remove contaminated materials from the bottom of a waterbody or sediment. The findings from this 2003 dredging clarified the need for more cleanup in the bay, as there was more wood waste than 1 expected. In 2008, Ecology worked with Pope Resources to help facilitate the cleanup process of the Port Gamble Bay, under Washington State’s Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA). The Washington State Legislature allocated $9 million 1 dollars for the Port Gamble cleanup. The Department of Ecology did not provide cleanup services itself; as a state regulatory agency, it only provided oversight of the process. State courts found Pope Resources responsible for the cleanup; however, the company needed to hire consultants to do the work. Dawn Hooper, from Ecology, 8 explained. “[Pope is] a small company, they don't do cleanups,” she said. Pope Resources hired the consultant Anchor QEA, an environmental engineering firm. Pope and Anchor QEA worked with Orion Marine Group (OMG), which carried out the construction work, including removal of the contaminated pilings, wood waste, and sediment. Together, they followed best management practices or BMPs, which are the practices determined to
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be most effective when reducing areas of pollution. Ecology also conducted and facilitated tests and surveys to ensure the cleanup progressed, as it 5 should. Many of the environmental studies conducted throughout the bay, took place during the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study or RI/FS. The remedial investigation determined which contaminants existed in and around the mill site, and whether or not those contaminants were a significant health hazard to those living in Port Gamble or a hazard to the ecosystem. The authors of the feasibility study, Anchor QEA, considered various cleanup options and recommended a preferred cleanup action. Pope Resources hired the consultant Anchor QEA to conduct the RI/FS. As part of the RI, Anchor QEA conducted soil and groundwater investigations, herring and caged mussel studies, and eelgrass studies. The soil and groundwater studies determined where the contamination was in the area, what kind of contamination was present, and what could be done to remove it. The caged mussel studies also provided baseline concentrations of contaminants in the bay. The Pacific herring studies, prompted by unusually high rates of herring embryo mortality, provided baseline information on herring health and relationships between their spawning stocks. Eelgrass studies determined the quality of the habitat and state of the eelgrass beds. This information was helpful in determining how the restoration process would 1,11 unfold, as well as the type of cleanup needed.
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layers of clean sediment or another material. This action helps to seal off contaminated soils or sediment, allowing the area to recover and once again become habitat for subtidal geoduck populations. Eelgrass mitigation also began in Phase I. In the second season, Orion Marine continued to remove 1,10 pilings and completed the dredging, capping, and restoration efforts.
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Left: Cleanup crews prepare to remove the large red overhead conveyor at the Port Gamble Mill site during early stages of cleanup in December, 2015. Image courtesy the Dept. of Ecology.
The cleanup also included removing vessels, gear and derelict debris around the bay. Some debris was larger than expected, such as an old barge and fiberglass boat that had settled along the bay’s western shoreline. Scattered buoys and fishnets also had to be gathered up. But, the biggest removals were the pier and overwater structures from the mill itself, a process that took 1,15 many months. To conduct this cleanup in an orderly fashion, according to the level of contamination along the bay, areas were organized into sediment management areas or SMA’s. The RI/FS helped to determine the best cleanup techniques for each SMA.
Any cleaning up of the bay, however, did not begin until the S’Klallam tribe blessed the process. The mill site was previously their ancestral land, and this blessing honored their continued connection to the Port Gamble area. “The tribe’s presence played a very large role in determining [the cleanup],” 1 said Abercrombie. When the cleanup did begin, it was split into two construction seasons, each a year long. Phase I began in July 2015; Phase II started a year later and ended in January 2017. During the first phase of cleanup, the contractor, Orion Marine, began removing pilings and dredging intertidal and subtidal sediments. The areas dredged, as well as other intertidal and subtidal areas, were then capped. Capping isolates contamination by laying down additional
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Port Gamble mill site during late stages of cleanup in 2016. Image courtesy of Dept.
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P ORT A big cleanup challenge was removing the pilings. The pilings had been soaked in creosote and posed a danger to both human and environment health. To remove these pilings, a machine called the vibratory hammer shook the structures loose from their resting place. Only about two or three of the pilings were broken, according to Stephanie Foster. This was a great achievement, since broken pilings allowed the creosote to ooze out and re-contaminate the area.5 The cleanup of the bay kept surprising those involved, as buried pilings began surfacing in areas that were unexpected. Inadvertently, the project became one of the largest piling pulling projects in 1,5 Washington State history, removing over 8,500 creosote-soaked pilings.
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All the dredged material now sits in a giant pile on the old mill site. On top of that material, a piping system has been installed to run water across the entire surface. Called sparging, the water removes salt from the dredged materials so it can be disposed of on forested land owned by Pope Resources. Going forward, the only task left is long term monitoring to ensure contamination has 1 been effectively negated.
As the scale of the project unexpectedly expanded, it put a time crunch on the two-year permit. At various points, construction and cleanup had to take place all day and all night to avoid the seasons when herring schools came to spawn. High tide was also a problem faced throughout the cleanup. During the second phase, high tide occurred during the day, covering up much of the area that needed to be accessed. The only option was to carry out cleanup during the nighttime 1 low tides. “It was an interesting place to be late at night, “said Artie Kapell, the current Ecology project manager of the Port Gamble cleanup. “It was like working with humongous insects at midnight in 9 forty-degree wind; it was incredible how we all managed to do it,” he said. When Ecology was following the rules and regulations under MTCA, many were surprised at how rigid the process was. “The science is so specific in terms of what is a good habitat, what is a bad habitat,” said Kapell When talking about the specificity, “Who would imagine that the difference 9 between angular rock and non-angular rock?” he said. With the pilings and wood debris removed, over 3,400 feet of shoreline was restored. Orion Marine placed larger rocks along the coast to protect it against erosion as the bay’s strong tidal 11 currents flow out of the narrow mouth of the bay. Much of the cleanup improved the intertidal habitats across the bay and the removal of derelict structures and debris meant that the aesthetics 11 of the area improved as well. Abercrombie said the restoration included replanting of more than two acres of eelgrass in the subtidal zone provided restored habitat for Pacific herring and forage fish. Oyster habitat was improved on another ten acres by adding whole shell and shell hash. Over 5,000,000 oyster seeds from the NOAA/Manchester Shellfish Restoration Laboratory were then dispersed to boost re-colonization. Along the western shoreline, native trees and shrubs were planted and mulched 1 to restore the riparian zone.
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Left: An aerial image of Port Gamble. It is thought to have been captured in the 1920's or 1930s. Image courtesy of: Olympic Property Group
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Above Left: This graphic describes the lumber harvesting process. Above Right: This graphic shows the various sediment management areas (SMAs) present in the Port Gamble cleanup project.
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H I STO RY Left: A bald eagle stands on the piles
Shoreline south of the mill site in
of dredged material located at the Port
Port Gamble Bay.
Gamble mill site. The pipes laying across the top spray water over the sediment which slowly washes the contamination out of the material. S'Klallum houses can be seen on the hill above the bay in the distance.
RETURN TO THE PAST
Standing in Port Gamble, the quiet streets offer little insight to the noise and bustle that existed from the mill over 100 years prior. However, the streets and town layout are still reminiscent of the early logging town from the 1850s. Port Gamble remains one of the nation’s most well preserved original lumber towns. Pope Resources still owns Port Gamble, and as such, the town is still considered a company town. Private landowners surround the town
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and, for some, provide homes for lease. Being a part of the U.S. National Historic Landmark has made the town a popular destination for tourists. Activities In addition to attracting tourists for its historic landmark value, the quaint town is also home many other activities. One of which is a lucrative wedding business, which attracts people from
all over for destination weddings. Another theme instilled within Port Gamble is recreation, as the diverse environment allows for bird watching, sea kayaking, paddle boarding, hiking, cycling, mountain biking and horseback riding. There is also a three-day long festival called the Old Mill Days, in which people invoke the old spirit of the mill. Finally, the town claims many homes are haunted, which has led the area to become a hotspot for those interested in paranormal 1 activity.
S’Klallam
Returning Wildlife
On the opposite side of the bay, the S’Klallam tribe continues to reside at Point Julia, on their 1,700acre reservation. The S’Klallam continue to fish, gather shellfish, and hunt around Port Gamble and Point Julia. Ancestral events such as clambakes still continue to bring together members in celebration, and the event “elicit[s] so much tribal pride,” as does the annual canoe voyage made 3 with other S’Klallam tribes.
As for the mill site itself, it still remains closed to the public. Yet, traditional species are flocking back to the site. Bald eagles land on the former mill ground as flocks of seagulls fly overhead. Deer tracks delicately thread their way across the sand, charting a path forward across a restored shoreline.
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A group of S'Klallum members padle a trible canoe past the old mill site as they prepare for an upcoming canoe journey.
Future However, this quiet town with its small activities may be in store for a large-scale change. When discussing the future of Port Gamble, many voices are heard, but ultimately only one has real volume. On January 17, 2013, Pope Resources submitted two alternatives for the future redevelopment of Port Gamble to Kitsap County. In the first plan, much of the area in and around the mill would be preserved. In contrast, the second plan calls for buildings to adorn 1 the previous Port Gamble Bay mill site, from end to end. The next chapter of Port Gamble will be written in 2017 by the submission of these two plans. Currently, an environmental impact statement (EIS) is being completed to study how these plans would affect traffic, the wetland, the geology, the cultural resources, and the archeological relics of the area. Once complete, Kitsap County will select the best alternative. Yet, while the future of the town is held by Kitsap County, the viability of the first alternative may ultimately hinge on the community’s, or outside party’s, ability to purchase the mill site from Pope Resources. Thus far, Pope Resources has received no offers to finance a purchase of the mill site. With the forest shifting towards public ownership and a return of a more diverse forest ecosystem, many in the community support the less-intensive second 1,5 alternative.
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At the same time, Pope Resources sold Ecology over 1,000 acres of forest land around Port Gamble, tripling the Port Gamble Forest Heritage Park and expanding public access to the land. “It was just a really huge event for the whole community to have this purchased from Pope Resources and placed into 1 the public system,” said Abercrombie. Over the next 25 years, Pope Resources will be allowed to log the Douglas fir stands one last time. While the beauty of the forest will be momentarily stripped, Pope Resources will log in a patchwork style and avoid environmentally sensitive areas. After logging, the land will be restored. After years of being used to cultivate fir, Pope Resources and Ecology will replant with a goal of shifting the forest towards a more natural state, one with a wide range of plant 2 species. Once this is done, it “will actually be a nice, diverse forest with a lot of planning involved” said Abercrombie.
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Port Gamble mill site in May, 2017. Mounds of contaminated sediment are piled on the site, undergoing a process called sparging which involves
washing the sediment with water in order 29 to clean the contamination in preparation for transport.
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The southern shoreline of Port Gamble Bay after restoration was completed in 2017.
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GLOSSARY OF TERMS Acknowledgements
We would like to express our sincere gratitude first and foremost towards the Washington State Department of Ecology, for funding this course through their resources dedicated to public education and outreach. However, Ecology went above and beyond just funding this project, as many employees took the time to explain aspects of their relation to the Port Gamble cleanup, and aspects of the cleanup itself. Specifically, we would like to thank Celina Abercrombie, Artie Kapell, and Dawn Hooper. Without their valuable insight, we would not have achieved the project what we did. Celina Abercrombie went above and beyond to help ensure our understanding of the cleanup was complete, even by personally traveling to Port Gamble to give us a tour of the area. Another round of thanks goes to Pope Resources for being very responsive to any questions or documents we needed from their company. Specifically, we would like to thank Stephanie Foster, and Lina Berry-Maraist for their gracious effort in explaining the history of Port Gamble. We would also like to thank Sandra Staples-Bortner for her contributions to this project not only as a member of the community, but as the executive director of the Great Peninsula Conservancy. Finally, thank you to Western Washington University professors, Dr. Rebekah Paci-Green and Dr. Ruth Scofield, for bringing this class to fruition, providing immeasurable support and guidance and always being there for us as we waded through the research.
Glossary and Appendices BMP Best management practices are the practices determined to be most effective when reducing areas of pollution. Capping Capping involves the isolation of a contaminated area by laying down additional layers of sediment or another material. This action helps to seal off contaminated soils or sediment. DNR Washington Department of Natural Resources DOE Department of Ecology, also see Ecology Dredging Dredging helps remove contaminated sediments from the bottom of a waterbody or other source. Ecology Washington State Department of Ecology
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EIS Environmental Impact Statement is a study of how redevelopment plans or other projects would affect the surrounding area in terms of both human and ecological community. Enhanced Monitored Natural Recovery Capping This process of capping enhances the natural recovery process going on, in order to foster natural recovery. FLTF The Former Log Transfer Facility is where the Puget Mill Co. would fall trees and rest them in the water in log rafts, until they were ready for transport. MTCA Model Toxics Control Act is Washington’s law on how cleanup is regulated for hazardous sites. NWP Nationwide Permit
OMG Orion Marine Group, also known as Orion Marine Contractors, Inc., was the contractor for the Port Gamble Cleanup. Monitoring Plan The plan to check the site in order to ensure no further contamination is occurring, and contamination levels are not increasing.
RI/FS Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study. The remedial investigation looks at the different contaminants that existed in and around an area and if those contaminants affect human health or ecosystem health. The feasibility study looks at the various cleanup options that are applicable, and recommends a preferred cleanup action.
Pope & Talbot Inc. Pope & Talbot Inc. was the company founded by the ancestors of Andrew Jackson Pope and William Talbot.
Sediment The loose natural material from Earth’s surface, or soil, that is under water. This can be found in rivers, bays, estuaries or oceans.
Pope Pope Resources: a spinoff company of the Pope & Talbot Inc.
Site Any reference to site is referring to Port Gamble Bay
Puget Mill Co. Puget Mill Co. is the original company that was run by Andrew Jackson Pope and William Talbot. This company founded Port Gamble.
SMA Sediment Management Area
Sparging Sparging is the process of washing off salt water from dredged materials so these can be cleaned and disposed of in another area without affecting ecosystem health.
Soil The loose natural material from Earth’s surface that is not directly under water.
PR/OPG Pope Resources, LP/OPG Properties, LLC
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WORKS CITED
Abercrombie, Celina. Personal Communication. May 10, 2017. Abercrombie, Celina. Personal Communication. May 17, 2017. Charles, Ron, George, Ted, Hirschi, Ron, Mansfield, Emily, Mattson, Laurie, Purser, Sharon, Stevens, Gina, Anderson, Greg. Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe. The Strong People: A History of The Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe. Print. 2012. Coman Jr., Edwin T., Gibbs, Helen M. Time, Tide and Timber: a Century of Pope & Talbot. Print. Greenwood Press, Publishers New York: 1968. Foster, Stephanie. Personal Communication. May 17, 2017.
Stein, Harry H., Pope Resources: Rooted in the Past, Growing for the Future. Documentary Book Publishers. Seattle. 2003. “Remedial Investigation Report Former Pope & Talbot Inc. Sawmill Site, Port Gamble, Washington.” Anchor QEA, LLC. Environmental Partners, Inc. February, 2011. Taylor, Kathy, “SMS/MTCA Cleanup Projects Update.” Washington State Department of Ecology. 2014, May 7. Verd, Pat. Personal Communication, May 17, 2017. Wilma, David. “Port Gamble-Thumbnail History.” HistoryLink. Web. 2003.
Gorsline, Jerry. “History.” Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe. Web. 2016. "History/Cleanup." Port Gamble Bay. Port Gamble Bay, 2017. Web. 01 May 2017. Hooper, Dawn. Personal Communication. May 10, 2017. Kapell, Artie. Personal Communication. May 10, 2017. “Port Gamble Bay and Mill Site.” Washington State Department of Ecology. AccessWashington. Web. 2017. “Port Gamble Bay Cleanup and Restoration.” Washington State Department of Ecology. Publication Number 17-09-063. April 2017. Print. Staples-Bortner, Stephanie. Personal Communication. May 31, 2017.
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From extraction to attraction, Port Gamble has seen it all. Located on the northwestern shores of the Kitsap Peninsula, the once bustling logging town now rests quietly refurbishing its glory days. Filled with family-fun, outdoor recreation, and a lucrative history, the town stands as a unique fixture. With over 140 years as the oldest continuously operating sawmill in North America, many know of the lumber mill, but don’t know the intricate history that carries on today. The men who built the town’s mill left a legacy that forever impacted tribal life, as well as the environment. From relocating a whole tribe, to being one of the most successful mills, to contaminating the bay, take a look inside to see the history that shaped the town and landscape to be what it is today.
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