In the recent State of Our Watersheds Report, the Squaxin Island Tribe points to a drastic increase in impervious surface, especially outside urban growth boundaries. The animation below illustrates the growth in salmon harming pavement and hard surfaces. From the report itself: From 1986 to 2006, the Squaxin Island Tribe’s Area of Concern saw a […]
In the recent State of Our Watersheds Report, the Jamestown Tribe documented a decrease in forest cover on the Olympic Peninsula. The animation below illustrates the decrease and the impact it could have on salmon. From the report itself: A minimum of 65% forested land cover is needed to prevent severe stream degradation. Four basins […]
In the recently released State of Our Watersheds report, the Suquamish Tribe reported a 300 percent increase in exempt wells on the eastern portion of the Kitsap peninsula. The animation below illustrates this drastic impact to salmon: From the report itself: Between 1980 and 2010, there was an increase of about 300% in the number of permit-exempt […]
In the State of Our Watersheds report the Nisqually Indian Tribe points to increases in impervious surface and the impact it could have on salmon. The animations below show the shift in paved land in 1986, 2006 and (estimated) 2026. From the report itself: As the population continues to increase, so will the impervious surface area, causing […]
The Seattle Times’ article on Treaty Rights at Risk and the decline of salmon habitat in western Washington sparked a massive online response. By Monday afternoon there were 157 comments posted on the article, mostly negative. Most comments focused on tribal sovereignty, the meaning of the Boldt decision or tribal economics. But some focused on […]
In the State of Our Watersheds report the Upper Skagit Tribe point to drastic increases in impervious surface and the impact it is having on salmon. The animations below show the shift in paved land in 1986, 2006 and (estimated) 2026. From the report itself: The Skagit Chinook Recovery Plan recommended that impervious surface area […]
The number of well logs has increased nearly 280 percent in WRIA 17 between 1980 and 2010, and over 300 percent in the Chimacum Creek watershed (Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe chapter in State of our Watersheds).
Every red dot is a new well in a basin that has been closed for new withdrawals: The State of Our Watersheds Report describes the impact these wells are having on salmon habitat: The WRIA 1 watershed instream flow rules were set in 1986 to “protect and preserve” instream resources from low flow exceedances. … […]
Instead of downloading the entire State of Our Watersheds Report, you can now browse the data the treaty tribes put together in a new interactive map tool. The browseable maps gives you all of the information that was included in the regional and tribal reports in an intuitive interface.
Late last week the treaty tribes in western Washington released a new report showing that — despite drastic cuts in harvest and investment in habitat restoration — we are losing the fight to recover salmon. In short, salmon habitat destruction is still going on faster than restoration. One of the most damaging aspects of habitat […]
