April 20, 2023

Areyoupreparedforarealemergency?

Fromapoweroutagetoamajordisaster,thebestthingyoucan doforyourselfandyourlovedones,istobeprepared.Thiscan include:

Minorevent(suchaspoweroutage)

•Extrabatteries

•Portableradioorhand-crankradio

•Cellphonechargingbank

•Generator,ifneededformedicalequipment

•Flashlights/lightsticks

•Icetopreserverefrigeratedandfrozengoods

•Extrablankets

Majorevent(inadditiontoitemsabove)

•Establishameetinglocation/communicationplan

•30-daysupplyofpotablewaterandnon-perishablefood

•Firstaidkitand30-daysupplyofprescriptionmedications

•Copiesofimportantdocumentsandcashinsmallbills

•Sanitation supplies

•Emergenc y whistle

•Clothingincludingleathergloves,thick-soledshoesand protective hat

Don’tforgetemergencysuppliesforyourpets!

Preparednessdoesn’thavetobeoverwhelming.Makethe commitmenttostarttoday,acquiringanitempermonth.These itemsmakegreatgiftstoo,especiallyforthosehard-to-shop-for lovedones!Formoreinformationandresourcesvisit:

www.clallampud.net/emergency-planning

By Randy Johnson, Habitat Program Manager Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe

The Dungeness and Sequim Bays are part of the traditional lands of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe (JST) and by the signing of the Treaty of Point No Point (1885), it reserves them all rights to fish within their usual harvest area. Salmon are not only a form of subsistence for the nəxʷsƛáyəm, ‘The Strong People,’ but also hold an integral value to their culture, and so protecting salmon is an important endeavor.

Over the past 100 years the salmon population on the Olympic Peninsula went from being plentiful to meager, mostly due to the loss and degradation of their habitats. These impacts are partially from legacy issues such as removing logjams and straightening streams, but many ongoing practices such as clearing riparian areas, and modifying stream banks create habitat havoc.

To have the salmon population increase, JST is addressing these habitat impacts by reconnecting estuaries and floodplains, renaturing streams, and adding logjams back into local creeks and rivers.

Significant results have been achieved due to comprehensively implementing restoration measures in watersheds. For example, in the 1900’s settlers channelized Jimmycomelately (JCL) Creek and isolated it from its natural estuary, virtually destroying the stream’s salmon productivity. By 1999, the return of summer chum salmon had dwindled to just seven fish.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife initiated a 12-year stock recovery program, where biologists and volunteers collected and incubated eggs from wild JCL Creek summer chum salmon and released the fry into the creek. Concurrently, the Tribe and habitat restoration partners renatured

Restoring a vital aspect of ‘The Strong People’ culture

A before and after look at the Dungeness River Levee Setback Project with points of reference to note the changes. | PHOTO PROVIDED BY JST

the lower half-mile of the stream and reconnected the creek to its estuary. The final return of stock recovery fish occurred in 2014 and since 2015, the return of naturally produced, summer chum salmon to the JCL Creek has averaged 2,406 fish per year and in 2022, the return was 4,664 fish.

The JCL Creek restoration is a template for JST’s efforts on the Dungeness River. This past year (2022),

the Tribe completed five habitat restoration projects on the Dungeness River:

• Constructed 12 engineered logjams in 2,000 feet of river located three miles upstream of the salmon hatchery.

• Constructed six engineered logjams and a 750-foot side channel a mile downstream of the salmon hatchery.

• Removed a river dike at the Dungeness River Nature Center to reconnect the eastern floodplain.

• Constructed 400 feet of pedestrian bridge for the Olympic Discovery Trail to cross this area.

• Removed 1.8 miles of federal levee in the lower river to reconnect approximately 140 acres of floodplain.

• Reforested 46 acres of reconnected floodplain.

These projects will significantly increase salmon productivity in the Dungeness River. However, much restoration work remains to be done in the river and the nearshore environment to bring the river back to its full potential.

For more information, visit jamestowntribe.org/ program-staff/natural-resources.

1973 PROTECTTHEPENINSULA’SFUTURE 2023 CELEBRATINGOUR50TH YEAR

DEDICATEDTOPROTECTINGTHEOLYMPICPENINSULA’SENVIRONMENT&QUALITYOFLIFE JUSTSOMEOFWHATWEHAVEDONE &CONTINUETODO

ClallamCounty workingwithClallamCountyforstreamandwetlandbuffers workingtoprotecttheDungenessNationalWildlifeRefugehabitatfrom pollutingindustrializedshellfishgrowingoperations gainedSequimBayprotectionwhenJohnWayneMarinawasbuilt strengtheneditsGrowthManagementActandCriticalAreaOrdinance

MillerPeninsula

workingtoprotectthisintactforestednatureparkland&fordayuse preventedanuclearpowerplantandoilport stoppedanoff-roadvehiclepark retained3000acresforastatepark

SequimCity wonalegalbattletohaveSequim’ssewagetreatedtothehighest standards persuadedJamestownS’KlallamTribetosenditssewageeffluentto Sequimwastewaterprocessingplant

PortAngelesCity partneredininitiatingtheRayonierMill-Harbortoxicwastecleanup effort

Awards

RecognizedbyClallamCounty,SequimCity,WAState DNR, Seattle non-profits Joinus!LearnMoreaboutus!

ProtectthePeninsula’sFuturePOBox421SequimWA98382 https;//wwwprotectpeninsulasfuture.orgContact:info@protectpeninsulasfuture.org

305 W. First St., Port Angeles, WA 98362 360-452-2345 · peninsuladailynews.com

147 W. Washington St., Sequim, WA 98382 360-683-3311 · sequimgazette.com

Publisher: Terry R. Ward

Advertising Director: Eran Kennedy

Special Section Editor: Alyssa Brown

Special Section Designer: Han Bui

Creative Artists: Tracy Long, Mallory Stewart, and Han Bui

Advertising: Christi Baron, Vivian Hansen, John Jaeger, Harmony Liebert, Chig Martin, Joylena Owen, and Lara Stanton

© 2023 Sound Publishing

A demonstration of how the Dungeness River Nature Center Project has progressed over an 11 month period with points of reference.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY JST

Photo bySueChickman

Photo by TimRiley.

Tributaries & volunteers nourish the ongoing recovery of the Elwha River

By Chelsea Behymer, Elwha Science Outreach Coordinator, LEKT/ American Conservation Experience

Just West of the Elwha River, near the new bridge construction on Highway 101, I join Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe (LEKT) Natural Resources Department staff, Clallam Conservation District (CCD) organizers and local volunteers who are gathered around a trailer full of young plants.

Recovering pre-dam salmon habitat in the Elwha valley goes beyond the Elwha River itself; it includes tributaries that provide water, sediments and organic material, as well as places for adults to spawn and their offspring to grow. The importance of Indian Creek for fish habitat has only been recently realized once again.

“I had surveyed Indian Creek for years, wondering why there were no spawners, even after the dams were removed. I noticed the substrate had no gravel or fine sediment. As I was walking away from the channel, I realized I had gone up and then down over a hump. I kicked the duff and surface ‘soil’ to find homogenous cobbles - and then it hit me. This was not a natural feature. I was standing on a dike,” says LEKT Fish Habitat Manager Mike McHenry. McHenry explains the process of removing the 700’ long human-made embankment likely constructed to divert flow away from the highway over a century ago. Since dam removal, the Tribe has identified areas outside of Olympic National Park impacted by historic land uses. Little River is another example of an Elwha tributary, where recent efforts have restored connectivity to historic floodplains and immediately resulted in significant improvements to fish habitat.

While volunteers plant saplings along a deep pool that had formed behind wood which was placed on Indian Creek last year, LEKT Technician mcKenzi Taylor enthusiastically re-tells the story of how the project was halted even before it was complete when adult salmon were observed spawning where they were working. Revegetation will secure this habitat for future generations of fish.

The LEKT Natural Resources department includes a wide range of

TheNorthOlympicSierraClub

JOINUS!HELPUS!

Foralmost15years,SierraClub’sNorthOlympicGroup hasbeenworking hardtoprotectournaturalresourcesinJeffersonandClallamCounties.

WE WORKforcleanwaters cleansoils cleanair cleanwildlifehabitats clean,healthyfood andlesswaste

WEWELCOMEMEMBERSOFALLAGES

And,we’realwayslookingforvolunteers—whynotyou!Dropusanote.We’llgetback withyoutodiscusshowyoutoocanbeinSierraClubenvironmentalchampion.

Google NorthOlympicGroupSierraClub tofindusandtosignupforournewsletter. https://www.sierraclub.org/washington/north-olympic

Contactusheretovolunteerorwithquestions:northolympicgroupsc@gmail.com

P.O.Box714,CarlsborgWA98324

programs, some that have emerged as the recovery process has evolved. For example, wildlife monitoring efforts demonstrated increasing ecosystem complexity by documenting the expansion of animals utilizing the Elwha watershed, specifically in places that have been revegetated. This has led to the Olympic Cougar project, a collaboration among six Tribes and large cat conservation non-profit Panthera to understand habitat connectivity across the Olympic peninsula for wildlife.

There are many successes on the Elwha River; yet nearly a decade since restoration-related projects began, much of the funding has dried up — particularly at a time when the recovery of fish populations has still not

HowToHelpaStrandedMarineMammal

Report astrandedmarinemammalthatmaybesick,injured,entangled,ordead. Pleasekeepyourdistanceanddonotfeed,touch,ormovetheanimal. Takeaphotoandnoteyourlocation.Callthenumberbelow.

LEKT Natural Resources staff and volunteers prepare eelgrass plants along the Ediz Hook shoreline as a part of another recent and currently active project aimed to restore habitat critical to juvenile salmon.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY LEKT NATURAL RESOURCES

been sufficient enough to support the restoration of indigenous human connections to the river. But just as the once desiccated and desolate lakebed landscape above the former dams opened up space for ecosystem renewal, the need for volunteers has created opportunities for revived community engagement.

“It warms my heart to see [volunteers] out here,” says LEKT Senior Fisheries Technician and tribal member Sonny Sampson who came to assist with

the Indian Creek planting event, “I had no idea so many people were interested to come help.”

Sonny tells me he started at Natural Resources 30 years ago to help the fish and describes his excitement from recent fish surveys. “This is just the beginning,” he says.

Continued efforts are needed to ensure the longterm recovery of this dynamic social ecological system and there are many ways to get involved! 

To learn more about restoration projects carried out by LEKT and its partners, go to: elwha. org/departments/natural-resources or email Chelsea Behymer at chelsea.behymer@elwha. org.

Volunteers help LEKT Natural Resources staff plant native trees and shrubs along the recently restored floodplain of Indian Creek.

Wildlife camera traps capture Roosevelt elk sheltered among the early successional alder forests that have developed in several areas of the restoring former lake beds.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY LEKT NATURAL RESOURCES

Aerial image of the Little River restoration project, showing engineered log jams installed by LEKT Natural Resources department in 2020 that have already created new habitat.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY LEKT NATURAL RESOURCES

PHOTO PROVIDED BY LEKT NATURAL RESOURCES

Building climate resilience through communitypowered conservation

North Olympic Land Trust and Jefferson Land Trust form a Climate Resilience Alliance

By North Olympic Land Trust and Jefferson Land Trust

The Olympic Peninsula is a landscape of unparalleled wonders, rich human culture and abundant natural resources. Jefferson Land Trust and North Olympic Land Trust both work to protect the region’s fish and wildlife habitat, natural resources, prime farmland soils, working forests and breathtaking scenery.

The farms, forests and wildlife habitat here are already facing the effects of climate change. In 2020, North Olympic Land Trust and Jefferson Land Trust partnered to create a Climate Resilience Alliance to support local landscapes and communities through these changes.

“Working together on this scale makes sense because climate change doesn’t end at the county line,” says Tom Sanford, North Olympic Land Trust’s executive director. “We want to support ecological, economic and social resilience in communities across the entire Peninsula.”

Since 2020, the organizations have contracted Core GIS to conduct a Land Resilience Study; using the best available spatial planning data and science to analyze the Olympic Peninsula for lands with features that support continued resilience as the region deals with drier summers and warmer winters. For example, the study identified forested and agricultural lands that capture and

Fostering

By Alyssa Brown

store large amounts of carbon from the air and retain access to water in dry seasons.

“In order to adapt to the changing climate, we need to focus on protecting those areas that will help us build a resilient Peninsula,” Richard Tucker, Jefferson Land Trust’s executive director, says. “We can identify and prioritize areas for protection based on information gleaned from this study.”

Land trusts play a unique role in mitigating climate change and allow community members to take direct action to support climate resilience. Through community-raised and other funds, land trusts work with willing landowners to permanently protect lands with tools like conservation easements.

“The study has also given us the ability to gauge how much of these areas we’ve already protected,” Sanford says. “Of the farmland across the Peninsula, we’ve identified over 11,100 acres with natural climate resilience. Collectively, Jefferson Land Trust and North Olympic Land Trust have worked with community members to conserve about 1,800 acres of it so far.” 

To learn more about the Climate Resilience Alliance and the findings of the Land Resilience Study, visit northolympiclandtrust.org/ climate-resilience or saveland.org/ climate-resilience

community stewardship of Clallam County Marine Resources

The Clallam County Marine Resources Committee (Clallam MRC) strives to combine data-based science and citizen involvement in efforts to foster local stewardship and create resource management alternatives that restore and protect marine resources in Clallam County.

The team is composed of local citizens with interests in science, conservation, stewardship and recreation, as well as tribes, cities, academia, community development agencies and other local government entities.

Clallam MRC manages and supports projects such as marine debris removal, kelp bed monitoring, Olympia oyster restoration, forage fish surveying, Shellfish Biotoxin monitoring, Pigeon Guillemot surveying and community education and events, like the oiled wildlife training program and catch more crab event.

These projects help to create a better understanding of the health of our local marine resources and provide opportunities for the community to foster a greater sense of place and belonging, becoming stewards of their local ecosystems.

The committee sponsors up to four student interns at a time for up to 80 hours. They take pride in offering students the opportunity to work in the field and foster their interest in natural resource careers.

Monthly meetings, workshops and presentations are open to the public, be sure to check the website for upcoming events. 

For more information on Clallam MRC’s impactful projects, visit clallamcountymrc.org and email the coordinator, Rebecca Mahan, at rebecca. mahan@clallamcountywa.gov to get involved.

A family walks on the new levee along the Dungeness River. The new levee allows the river to connect with nearly 200 acres of floodplain, which will help with high water flows during the flood events that are expected to become more frequent and severe with climate change.

PHOTO BY JOHN GUSSMAN

Facilitating marine stewardship in the community

By Alyssa Brown

Streamkeepers is a citizen-based watershed monitoring program of Clallam County’s Department of Community Development. The program provides project assistance in efforts to protect and restore our local watersheds. It is funded through county general funds, grants and contracts.

Streamkeepers offers volunteer opportunities with hands-on testing of watershed health, data collection, data entry and report writing. The program strives to enhance involvement in stewardship of local streams.

With watershed monitoring, the goal is to track the health of the stream or creek over time, gathering quality data and assessing what issues they face to then find solutions. The program reports their findings to a variety of audiences and publishes them publicly to provide accurate and accessible information on local watershed conditions.

Streamkeepers’ current projects include the quarterly monitoring of several watersheds throughout Clallam County, Benthic Macroinvertebrate monitoring, pollution investigation and correction, Port Angeles stormwater effects on creeks, Dungeness off-chanel reservoir ditch monitoring, Dungeness floodplain restoration monitoring and public outreach.

The following dives deeper into a few of these impactful projects:

Quarterly Monitoring

Each season, the Streamkeepers dispatch six teams to monitor 10 different streams. They

measure and test several aspects of the watersheds to form an overall picture of the stream’s health. Water quality is measured through pH, turbidity, temperature, salinity, conductivity and dissolved oxygen levels. The stream flow is also tested using equipment that determines the velocity and direction of the water through measurements of the creek’s depth at different points across its width. Wildlife observations are also documented as they provide insight on the health of the stream and surrounding ecosystem.

Benthic Macroinvertebrate Monitoring

Volunteers sift through the sediment in watersheds and collect samples to send into the lab in order to see how many larva and macroinvertebrates are present, as well as what species are most prominent in the watershed’s ecosystem. The findings provide insight on streams’ biotic integrity through analysis of what conditions the species present can live in, with some tolerant to higher quality water and others tolerant to low quality.

Pollution Investigation and Correction

Streamkeepers is one of the partners in this collaborative project started by the Clallam County Environmental Health’s Pollution Investigation & Correction Department (PIC). Other organizations include the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and Clallam Conservation District. Samples of the water are taken by volunteers and sent into the PIC to be tested. Testing includes analyzing the bacteria present (fecal coliform and escherichia coli),

nutrients available (Phosphate and Nitrate) and the toxins present, like metals and pesticides. Once the results are received, participating organizations will then get in contact with landowners and applicable parties to educate them and implement restorative solutions. Maps showcasing the data are available on the Streamkeepers’ website.

Public Outreach

Streamkeepers presents its data in many accessible ways including in the WA assessment of State Waters, reports to watershed planning groups and agencies, like the 2021 Annual Report for the City of Port Angeles, public events and presentations, as well as on the Streamkeepers website. 

To foster public engagement in Citizen Science and stewardship, Streamkeepers provides a diverse range of volunteer opportunities, outreach at public events and presentations to community groups.

Volunteers are always welcomed and needed! From 2021 to 2022, 32 volunteers aided in the monitoring of 34 streams within Clallam County.

For more information about Streamkeepers’ projects and volunteer opportunities, visit clallamcountywa.gov/901/Streamkeepers or email the Coordinator Joel Green at streamkeepers@clallamcountywa.gov.

Streamkeepers volunteers Stephen White, Coleman Byrnes and Ted Oldenburg process an aquatic insect sample while volunteer Sue Nattinger looks for aquatic insects on the collection net at Peabody Creek.

PHOTO BY STREAMKEEPERS

Streamkeepers volunteers dig into the creek sediment to collect aquatic invertebrate samples.

PHOTO BY STREAMKEEPERS

Streamkeepers volunteers Jack Word and his nephew Jacob measure McDonald Creek’s flow during the winter quarterly monitoring.

PHOTO BY STREAMKEEPERS

Streamkeepers volunteers watch for birds to identify at Peabody Creek.

PHOTO BY STREAMKEEPERS