I had the chance to walk the proposed Mount Property Stormwater Treatment Facility behind the Village Green and bandshell on a field trip with the stormwater committee on Tuesday. The plan being used was formulated by Amanda Azous, a highly respected wetlands expert. Public Works had 2 open houses showing the plan, which, due to scheduling conflicts, I was unable to attend.
The field trip / walk was far more instructive than looking at any paper plan, and it was much easier to see the reality of what is proposed and what exists now. Here we witnessed Eastsound Swale doing what a wetland is supposed to do; percolating and filtering water and flowing naturally. (except where the property was cleared and bermed for a dam at the south end of the lot; there was a drain put in and the water was flowing into that.)
It's hard to fathom how destroying a wetland's tree buffer filtration system, and then rebuilding an artificial wetland, could be the best possible option, or the only option. All the wetland vegetation and trees behind the bandshell would be bulldozed, destroying the natural flow and the remaining stream that exists. Then the land would be graded and dug and filled with topsoil and replanted with things that would take years to get to size. (One would hope that at least the wetland soil would be re-used, but see below - noxious weeds, so probably not.) There will be a patch of trees left intact at the southwest end of the parcel; if you count possible root damage from excavators as intact.
Two retaining ponds are planned, with a foot bridge and trail crossing the wetland east-west, plus a 60 foot long concrete 10' wide ramp for an excavator to maneuver down to the north pond and clean out the pollutant sediment. I don't know how the south pond would be cleaned. (Not sure what happens to that gunk or where it'll be dumped.) Then a fence, hopefully not cyclone, would be constructed around the ramp and north pond to keep people out; the trail and footbridge would go alongside the south side of this fence. This is what we'd look at as we look from the Village Green toward the bandshell and behind, so there are aesthetic considerations.
Taking down most of the trees would not only ruin their root filtration; grading for the detention ponds would finish the job. Add to this the effect of sun exposure - which would encourage the rapid spread of noxious weeds already taking hold. (see below). Some people are concerned about the hawthorn trees (east edge) as noxious weed trees. They tend to take an area quickly and are thorny; perhaps should be removed, but their roots are doing the job of filtering. The rest of the trees which include alders and a few crabapples should be protected (both are recommended wetland trees and indicative of wetlands), as well as any pines that would help slow stormwater runoff. Conifers are the best at filtration, absorbing 50% of rainwater with their roots and holding it there. In the higher elevation areas of the swale, there are a few pines that do the job nicely.
Another concern; there are oyster shells at the dam site. There is a possibility that this site, especially the south end, might be a midden, since Eastsound Swale was once a waterway used by First Peoples. The tribes should know of this plan and what it might mean; they should be included in the discussion. There are federal laws to consider, as well as state and local laws. It's hard to believe the proposed plan is compliant with federal and state laws.
The county /public works has a hefty grant for building the facility - over $200,000 - but that may not go far enough once they get excavators and a lot of concrete and replanting involved. My guess is that there'd be no money left over for monitoring and cleaning the pond. Wouldn't that grant money be far better spent on a minimally invasive plan that's much less expensive and that would minimally infringe and leave the tree filtration vegetation that's there?I appreciate the efforts that have gone into this, and the sincerity of those who believe in this plan, but I think it's overkill in more ways than one.
Scientific data shows that wetland functionality is actually destroyed within 20 years by over-use of detention ponds and by removing natural buffer and tree-root filtration. Hopefully the replanted trees would grow to size in 20 years, but with added sun drying things up and changing water temps and encouraging noxious weeds, I'm not convinced. Most scientists in their wetland study data say that it's far better to leave a wetland untouched than to destroy it and build an artificial one. Even Dr. Adamus, the scientist who wrote the summary document for the CAO (who also wrote-off the Eastsound Swale as "low value habitat" on his map) says that it's always better to leave natural buffer vegetation in a wetland than remove it and build an artificial wetland. A wetland's health is essential to the health of our critical aquifer and to marine habitat, especially as Eastsound Swale affects marine habitat to the north (President's Channel) and the south (Fishing Bay.)
There are noxious weeds to consider. There's a whole field of reed canary grass west of the wetland that is infringing, and the east edge of the swale also has it. There is a large patch, around 30 x 30,' in the wetland. The roots are rhizomous and once sun hits that grass, its proliferation explodes like wildfire; it also reproduces by seed. If the trees are removed, the natural wetland soil would have to be removed and disposed of if there is canary grass rhizome in it. What a waste. Far more effective would be removal of the large inner patch with a small backhoe, then hand removal of any starts, combined with sheet mulching and arborist chips. There's the chance that excavators would spread this grass around from their tires; that's how horsetail roots get spread from site to site. There's some english blackberry in the swale that would also spread with sunlight, as it would then produce fruit and thousands of seeds as well as its aggressive deep roots. Excavators never seem to get all roots; they seem to spread noxious weeds, and then Canada thistle and bull thistle would come into the disturbed clear-cut land; who will maintain this from all these weeds on an ongoing basis?
What of the bird habitat; how much songbird habitat will be lost? How much of any possible amphibian habitat left? (most of the tree frog and salamander habitat was already destroyed by putting in Enchanted Forest Road.) What other small animal habitat that would be destroyed? The Eastsound Swale is likely a place where bats catch insects and keep the mosquito population down. Was any of this considered, and the increased insect problems when insect eaters lose habitat and nesting sites?
Rather than blow that grant money on a project that seems likely to destroy the wetland, it's time to stop, take stock of what we already have, do more study to make a better plan, and use the money we save from a less expensive plan for monitoring and stewardship.
The first thing that needs to happen is for the stormwater committee to interface with Amanda Azous and find out her thoughts and reasonings on the plan, find out if she also designed an alternative less invasive plan (and if not, why not?), discuss alternatives, and halt until we know how best to proceed.
This proposed treatment facility won't be able to handle Fern Street runoff and additional growth; that is already known. Adding more impervious surfaces with future development including roads - how much of this has been considered? in this plan? Where will the additional stormwater treatment facilities going to be if this parcel can't handle all that? Perhaps it's time to put a ban on any more impervious surfaces until we have some viable solutions to these questions. Eastsound was supposed to be a walking village, not a parking lot/road system, and our long range planners have failed in that objective.
True, pollutants are going into Fishing Bay at an alarming rate and something has to be done about stormwater; we all agree on that. But this plan is not the answer. We need to go back to the drawing board. And for those who write off Eastsound Swale and critical areas within the Urban Growth Area as negligible in value (except for development), saying it's "too late" and "nothing can be done," call them out on it because that is untrue. It's not too late for Eastsound Swale. It's NEVER too late to stop further damage and begin to mitigate past damage.
Ask yourselves, Eastsound and Orcas residents who know the value of functional wetlands and the legalities that protect them; ask yourselves, business owners, marine biologists and concerned environmentalists, and visitors: do you want to see all the natural tree vegetation behind Eastsound Village Green be leveled, noxious weeds take over (they already have a foothold and this will worsen if sun is allowed into that site), and a functioning wetland ruined? Please let your council members, EPRC, and Public Works know that this is not acceptable for your vision of Eastsound as a transitional, sustainable village as well as the hub of our island. There are better ways to plan for the Village needs, better ways to address stormwater. Written comments are always best.
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