Subject: News flash: F & W wants to breach Skagit WMA dikes
Date: Sep 8 01:04:05 2003
From: Scott Atkinson - scottratkinson at hotmail.com


On August 29 Allyn wrote:

>I guess I (and other sources you've looked at?) haven't made the point
>baldly enough:
>
> Without abundant salmon runs, the entire forest/watershed suffers.

Question: is the "entire forest/watershed" suffering presently in the
Skagit River drainage? I guess we need to define suffering, and with regard
to whom, rather than resorting to melodrama. I also note that you have not
addressed the fact that king salmon are indeed making a dramatic
recovery--do you disagree with this?

>Birders and duck hunters are special interest groups too, if I'm not
>mistaken. I'm a member of the public, and I consider habitat
>restoration, especially of wetlands, to be one of the few really good
>uses of my tax dollars.

Comment: you should say birders, duck hunters, AND joggers, walkers,
boaters and farmers.

>What happened to the thousands of former resident wetland species?
>They got kicked off, and most never found a new home. Not just salt
>marsh birds, but amphibians, native plants, other fish and aquatic
>species.

Melodrama ("got kicked off," "never found a new home") doesn't replace
facts. I guess it missed your attention that there is vast marshland and
estuary beyond the dikes at the Skagit WMA. Most "salt marsh birds" I can
think of are doing quite well, thank you, in the vast acreage of estuary
south of the dikes, indeed all along the Skagit River delta (Allyn--I'll do
you the favor of naming a few specific examples--Marsh Wren, Virginia Rail,
Am. Bittern). And--you conveniently passed over the fact--that predator
species for salmon will most likely need to be controlled for salmon
restoration; I'm thinking Great Blue Herons in particular. (Let's not
forget the case of the Caspian Tern colony to the south, eradicated for
salmon restoration). Amphibians and native plants--again, let's stick to
specifics: which ones? Last time I checked, we don't have any amphibians
that benefit from salt water inundation, I'd venture to say that the present
arrangement at the WMA headquarters, with a number of fresh water sloughs
and backwaters, is better for amphibians. On native plants, which ones
among the rarities were displaced which are no longer present? I'm aware of
a few rarities in the WNHP lists for the area, but last time I checked they
are still present although not at the main access, but I don't know that
anyone believes they ever were there. I guess you missed it, but there is a
vast native estuarine flora beyond the dikes. Which "other fish and aquatic
species"???

>You can make a shrubby/weedy area almost anywhere in a decade or so.

I guess you missed the entirety of my first note. To birders (of which I
gather you would not include yourself, judging from all) this is not just
any shrubby/weedy area, but a area which is unsurpassed within the county
for passerine migration and for generating one-shot rarities. Shrubby/weedy
areas indeed occur in many other places nearby (take Milltown), but none are
close in terms of what has been found. I attribute this chiefly to LOCATION
on a flyway and at the southern edge of the delta, but that alone cannot
explain it.

Spotted Owl-salmon interaction: it is long known that Spotted Owls often
occur in old-growth forested valleys that also therefore have healthy and
undisturbed stream or river systems that support salmon and/or steelhead
runs. However, in this case, flooding the Skagit WMA main access
bottomlands will do nothing whatsoever to help the Spotted Owl (and wasn't
the whole topic here the breaching of dikes Allyn?)

>And what's wrong with raptors and shorebirds? They need excellent habitat
>too.

Loss of adjacent farmland with its ploughed fields and pasture by voluntary
or coercive measures will not bode well for roosting shorebirds (how many
shorebirds does one see in the vast Typha-Scirpus mat beyond the dikes at
high tide)? Raptors seem to also be numerous in winter over agricultural
lands...

>I think you need to do more reading in something other than bird
>watching books to get a better grasp of ecology and how things hang
>together. A few good ones to start with:

>Stewart T. Schultz, "The Northwest Coast: A Natural history"
>Arthur R. Kruckeberg, "The Natural History of Puget Sound Country"
>W. T. Edmondson, "Uses of Ecology: Lake Washington and Beyond"
>Edward O. Wilson, "Diversity of Life"

I'll ignore your presumptuous and offensive comment, but will advise that I
know all of the books involved, one of the authors reviewed my book (with
Fred Sharpe) on wild plants (970 taxa) of the nearby San Juan Islands, FYI.
The generalities and errors of your arguments suggest to me that you need to
conduct ecological (not just birding) surveys at the Skagit WMA in
particular. I would advise you to walk the loop trail sometime over the
next two weeks to take in the peak of passerine migration--a cool morning,
or one after a heavy rainstorm often brings best results. Then go bird at
the Milltown access for comparison, the Hayden Reserve (Snow Goose) to the
west, and then to Jensen west of there. Walk out beyond the dike into the
marsh--take a look at the vastness of the marsh floral communities and study
composition for adventive species (if you know what those are). Most likely
you've never been to any of these places so I'll be happy to provide
directions; you may also may not be able to identify what you do find, I
suggest you contact one of the guide services (on birds) or the WNPS (on
vascular plants), I can provide leads on other flora and fauna too.

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com

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