A River Never Sleeps

This Isn’t Just About Fish Anymore

Because of commercial fishing, massive amounts of nutrients carried in the bodies of salmon have been diverted away from the rivers of the Pacific Northwest.

The damage this has done, not just to the fishery but to the entire ecosystem, is incalculable.

As anglers, we know that our fishing has suffered. Those of us who have been fishing in the Northwest for more than a few decades will know that rivers that once were full of spawning salmon now are empty of fish. We can measure the collapse of the fishery in our own diminished experience on the stream.

But do any of us know how the bears, king fishers, otters, blue herons and water ouzels have suffered?

New scientific research, which is exploring the importance of salmon as a nutrient base, is giving us some insight into that very problem .

Researchers say that “only 3 percent of the marine-derived biomass once delivered by anadromous salmon to the rivers of Puget Sound, the Washington Coast, Columbia River, and the Oregon Coast is currently reaching those streams.”

We can assume it is the same elsewhere on the coast, all the way from Alaska to California.

A recent study of consumption of salmon by wildlife found 138 species of birds, mammals, amphibian and reptiles were predators or scavengers of salmon.

Just how dependent some of those species are was demonstrated on the central coast of British Columbia this fall, where starving grizzly bears were being shot because they’d abandoned local rivers to wander into town.

The bears were forced to go rooting for garbage, because the salmon runs failed, and conservation officers had to be called out to shoot the bears because human lives were at risk.

The water ouzel that couldn’t find enough salmon eggs to feed on probably died quietly in the woods, without anybody noticing, just as did the young otter that went into winter without adequate fat on its body. And who is to know how many Mayflies and stoneflies failed to survive, because of inadequate forage?

The importance of salmon as a source of nutrients is just beginning to be understood, as scientists strive to understand the complexities of nature.

It is vital research, because it is helping us comprehend the magnitude of the crime against nature that has been committed, with the destruction of Pacific salmon runs.

Fishermen have long argued that salmon stocks should be returned to historic levels.

Hopefully now bird watchers, nature lovers, conservationists and eco-freaks will all join the fight.

This isn’t just about fish anymore - it’s about the whole natural world of the Pacific Northwest.

The Editor;

After reading your article about the Keogh River (see backissues, June) and nutrient enhancement using briquettes, I am extremely interested in the brand and availability of them.

They look very much like a brand called Woodace that are time released and have quite a full fertilizer analysis...... If you could provide us with that information and any current technical studies you know of that justify and their use I would be most appreciative.

I have to deal with other biologists that see any chemical fertilizer as "poison" and will fight me with all the water quality and riparian impact arguments they can come up with!

I see big changes and big fights ahead for our Endangered Species Act, state agencies, and local in regards to perceptions of water quality tolerances and how they have to be set to meet salmon return needs.

-Jim Comrada
Environmental Horticulturist
Vancouver, Washington

(Ed. Note: The fertilizing briquettes were developed at Lesco in Ohio, by Scott Boutiller. Canadian fisheries scientists have found that they are an effective way to replace the nutrients lost when salmon runs were wiped out by overfishing, pollution and industrial development. Certainly it would be preferable to have a river fertilized naturally, by the decomposing bodies of spawned out salmon, but until then, the briquettes seem like a miracle. If your critics know a better way to help salmon runs recover, we’d like to hear from them.)

To the editor:

If you live in or around Nanaimo, Ladysmith or Shawnigan Lake, indeed, on southern Vancouver Island, there are some things you need to know about the water.

In brief, major logging companies are spraying herbicides and pesticides and spreading tonnes of chemical fertilizers inside fenced land - land which is fenced specifically to protect your drinking water.

That's one thing you need to know. Another is: public officials say they are powerless to stop it.

Recently people in Shawnigan Lake came across a TimberWest crew spraying "Vision" beside McGee Creek, a fish-bearing stream which is part of their community watershed. This glyphosate herbicide contains surfactants highly toxic to amphibians and it was being used in concentrations four to five times stronger than "Round-Up," the contractor said.

TimberWest plantation manager Jim Maselj said he was fully aware that the area to be sprayed was in a community drinking watershed. But, he said, residents were given "ample notice." The permit for this project was issued Nov. 27 1998, and was posted Dec. 4 1998, for 30 days, in Mesachie Lake, more than 50 miles from Shawnigan Lake. It was issued by David Brown, deputy administrator of pesticides, Ministry of Environment and Parks. He said the herbicide project "conforms with all government environmental regulations."

The fact is, Weyerhaeuser has been fertilizing its enormous tree plantations,within the restricted access section of the Nanaimo drinking watershed since 1998, apparently without the knowledge of people at the Nanaimo water district office. Wayne Hansen, an official at that office, said the first time he heard of this program was when he read my article in the Times Colonist earlier this year.

American-produced fertilizers proven to contain the known human carcinogens: cadmium, chromium, strontium, nickel and zinc have been Weyerhaeuser's products of choice until treeplanter complaints forced them to stop earlier this year. Have these been spread over the years behind the chain link fence which surrounds the water supply?

Recently I've received a freedom-of-information package from the Nanaimo water board which makes clear that Weyerhaeuser has spread 44 tonnes of these products on 1000 hectares of cutblocks inside this supposedly inviolable sanctuary. The information sheets issued with those products warn that ammonaical nitrogens, the bulk ingredient, are known to promote algae growth and increase water turbidity, and are a known toxic hazard to fish.

In fact, nitrate water pollution caused by fertilizers is a global problem.

Then there's this: Les King, Chief Commissioner of the Greater Nanaimo Water District, says "The GNWD does NOT have the legislative ability to direct Weyerhaeuser to discontinue its fertilizer, or any other practice."

Having cut all the old-growth timber on its vast south island private lands,Weyerhaeuser has an agro-forestry biotechnology agenda which includes massive fertilization, designed to dovetail with introduction of genetically modified trees..

Consider these words from George Weyerhaeuser Jr.,senior vice-president of technology, responsible for corporate research and development, chairman of Weyerhaeuser, excerpts from a recent speech to investors:

"Through the old technology, we were able to get significant gains for each generation of new trees, but it would take something like 15 years. And we regularly found that some qualities were adversely correlated. So, if you picked for one characteristic, you would lose the other. It limited the amount of gains we could capture.

"Now we have the ability to undertake this transformation. For example,there are gene guns that actually shoot genetic material into the cell. This kind of technology is going to dramatically change our business...

"Cloning is the focus of our research efforts at Weyerhaeuser. Our goal is to enable the delivery of a clearly superior seedling, which promotes added value through the entire forest products chain... We currently hold 42 US and international patents in this area. The process involves taking an immature seed, extracting specific tissue to produce genetically identical embryos in very large scale.

"Exciting changes are underway in the forest from biotechnology research and development, changes that will undoubtedly have a dramatic impact on growing trees for solid wood fibre. These genetic traits that we are designing are going to add significant value."

Really? Do we really want to see conversion of our beautiful coastal Douglas Fir biogeoclimatic zone to some kind of "franken-forest," with whatever water-pollution goes with it? It seems that plantation managers haven't noticed the growing consumer demand for eco-certified wood products.

By the time such agro-forestry stands "mature" in about 20 years, it may well be that there is no consumer market for fibre derived that way.

If you care what's in the water you drink, if you care about what forests are left, isn't it time you made some phone calls?

- Ingmar Lee
(Mr. Lee is a professional B.C. treeplanter who has planted over a million trees. He lives in Victoria.)

{E-mail letters may be edited for clarity, taste and brevity. It is understood they express the opinions of the writers, not the editors.}