Subscribe to the NewsPlan Posted for Cleanup of Gamble Bay
By Admin
Below is an excerpt from a Kitsap Sun article describing the recent community meeting to discuss the proposed cleanup of Gamble Bay.
Preservation is a key component of the Washington State Department of Ecology’s plans for the bay. Ecology is leading the charge to clean up the site.
Timothy Nord, manager with ecology’s toxic cleanup program, said the agency’s priority is to clean up the bay so its existing rich natural resources are protected well into the future. Those resources include cockle, manila and littleneck clams, oysters, geoducks, smelt spawning areas, sandlance and herring.
Port Gamble Bay is the second largest herring spawning area in Puget Sound, Nord said.
“What we do will have significant impacts for the community and significant impacts for the tribe,” Nord said.
Ecology has worked with the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, Department of Natural Resources, Pope Resources and its subsidiary Olympic Property Group to develop the proposed clean up.
The entities have worked together to identify the areas that need the most help. That includes two sites where the old mill operated two wood chipping operations.
Wood chips and sawdust from the site didn’t always make it on the barge and would fall to the bottom of the bay instead.
Ecology determined some of the debris should be removed to improve habitat.
Its initial proposal for cleaning up the site includes a mix of dredging the sediment around the mill sites, removing the contaminated soils, and laying a cap of sand over the remaining materials to speed up natural restoration of the area.
In other areas where the negative environmental impacts were less, the state proposes a monitored natural recovery, which would allow naturally occurring processes to reduce the sediment impacts over time.
While the department has an initial plan for how it proposes cleaning up the site, public feedback will be considered before the plan is finalized, Nord said.
Most of the questions Wednesday dealt with understanding the impacts dredging would have on the geoducks and the other sea life in the bay.
People also questioned what impact the chemicals from the site currently have on fish and shellfish.
Aging creosote pilings in the water are a source of the toxins, and at least two people emphasized their desire to see all of the pilings removed.
The pilings are just one part of the equation and contribute a low level of contamination, Nord said. The clean up may not remove them all at first, but he hopes they would all be removed, he said. At least 640 have already been identified for removal, he said.
Once the cleanup is complete the plan will include a requirement that parts of the site be monitored for up to 20 years to make sure the efforts continue to be successful.
“This site is going to look remarkable different. The environmental imprint of this site is going to be remarkably improved,” Nord said. “We want to make sure this very important ecosystem is protected.”
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