The transformation of Port Gamble Bay: from remediation to restoration

For over 140 years, a lumber mill operated at the mouth of Port Gamble Bay producing lumber and other wood products, and leaving behind a legacy of contamination and degraded habitat when it closed its doors in 1995. Fast forward to the present when state and federal agencies, local government, tribes, community groups, and industry teamed up to cleanup, restore and preserve the bay’s high-quality natural resources. Undertaking extensive cleanup and the largest creosote-treated piling removal effort in the Puget Sound, Pope Resources removed contaminated sediment, over 8,500 creosote-treated pilings and numerous overwater structures to improve over 3,000 feet of shoreline and over 100 acres of aquatic habitat. Complimentary to cleanup, Ecology partnered with public and private entities, tribes, and the community to preserve nearly 2,000 acres of forest land and tidelands, remove derelict debris and vessels throughout the bay, and restore native oysters. Today the bay provides a cleaner and healthier place for community members and visitors to work, live and play

How effective creosote-treated piling removal can help save a cornerstone species

An extensive body of scientific literature is available on the effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on fish. Pacific herring are a cornerstone species of the Pacific Northwest food web. Herring populations fluctuate annually with some areas of the Puget Sound seeing increased spawning, while other areas experiencing declines. These fish spawn on seagrass, macroalgae, rocks and a variety of structures. Creosote-treated pilings are one type of spawning structure, which typically results in detrimental effects to fish eggs. With thousands of creosote pilings in our Puget Sound waters, a serious challenge exists for spawning herring. In 2017, the largest creosote-treated piling removal project in Puget Sound took place in Port Gamble Bay as part of a larger baywide cleanup and restoration effort. Over 8,500 pilings, that supported lumber mill operations, were removed with nearly 100 percent fully extracted. Prior to cleanup, the Department of Ecology worked with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to conduct a herring embryo mortality study to examine the effects of PAHs and other contaminant exposure during this sensitive life stage. PAHs and other contaminants measured in shellfish have declined since cleanup and we are optimistic that these same results will be seen in a post-cleanup herring embryo study to be conducted in 2018. In other locations in Puget Sound, treated pilings remain as unsightly stubs, navigation hazards, and ongoing sources that slowly disintegrate and contribute to contamination of our waters and sediment. Given the substantial ecological benefits associated with effective piling removal, increased efforts and funding are needed to support full removal of creosote-treated wood from marine and freshwater environments. The small price of removal results in large gains for fish, shellfish, and other aquatic organisms, and for the humans that use our waters to live, work and play

Turning the ship: a new direction for managing wood waste in the Salish Sea of Washington State

Wood waste has been a major driver in numerous large scale, nearshore cleanups in Washington State Its presence has contributed substantially to both the extent and volume of sediment requiring cleanup which is costly and time consuming. Success in dealing with wood waste must start with controlling sources and a reassessment of how timber-related uses of our waters are conducted. Recognizing its ecological impacts and the financial burden of cleanup prompts the change from practices that release wood waste to state waters. While it is tough to change from traditional use of waters for transport and storage of logs or chips, the minor investment in source control measures is necessary to avoid impacts. Activities that generate wood waste have received less attention than the regulation of typical industrial process discharges and solid waste streams. Also, the nature of wood waste is highly variable which makes its toxic effects difficult to predict. Unlike many traditional contaminants, there is not a simple metric like chemical concentration that accurately characterizes the effects of wood waste in the aquatic environment. The Washington State Sediment Management Standards address both of these challenges, 1) implementing practical source control measures under state and federal (Clean Water Act) laws, and 2) use of biological criteria (bioassays) for final assessment of wood waste impacted sediments. These are detailed in Ecology’s technical guidance document, Wood Waste Cleanup, Identifying, assessing, and remediating wood waste in marine and freshwater environments

Wood waste remediation at sediment cleanup sites in Washington State: lessons learned after 20 years of cleanup

The timber industry in Washington State has played an important role in the state’s economic and industrial development, with mills producing pulp, paper, plywood and other timber products. The state’s waterways provided the most economical means to transport and store timber, resulting in the accumulation of harmful wood waste in or near productive littoral zones. The Washington State Department of Ecology has completed cleanup at a number of sites with significant recorded accumulations of wood waste. These include the Hylebos Waterway in Tacoma, Port Gamble Bay on the Kitsap Peninsula and the Scott Paper Mill in Fidalgo Bay, Anacortes. Throughout this process Ecology has developed methodologies for evaluating wood waste impacts to the benthic community as well as compliance with the State’s Sediment Management Standards (SMS) rule. A successful evaluation of wood waste impacts is complex but key objectives that satisfy the SMS requirements include 1) identifying past and continuing sources of wood waste 2) describing the overall nature and extent (lateral and vertical extent, percent cover) 3) characterizing chemical and biological conditions of site sediments and 4) informing and selecting among the potential range of remedial alternatives. Through the cleanup of multiple sites Ecology has refined its technical understanding of remediating wood waste such as 1) the volume and types of wood waste that is harmful to the benthic environment 2) the tools and methods that best define nature and extent and environmental impacts depending on the age and origin of the wood waste 3) how to correlate conventional chemistry results with bioassay results and 4) how to best optimize the selection of cleanup alternatives