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Department of Ecology News Release - September 28, 2004
04-180
OLYMPIA - Private landowners who voluntarily plant shade-giving trees along the Willapa River watershed can help cure the river's warm-water woes, according to a study just published by the state Department of Ecology (Ecology).
Ecology's study covered 220 square miles of the watershed, including all of the major tributaries to the river upstream from tidal influence.
Some good news was discovered during the study: temperatures in the river's south fork are fine.
"Compared to other watersheds where we find temperature problems, the Willapa is set up for success because trees will thrive in this moist, coastal climate," said Anita Stohr, who authored the study for Ecology. "Shade will chill the water so the watershed will continue to support healthy fish runs."
State water-quality standards require cold water in streams and rivers and consider heat to be a form of water pollution. Cold water provides the best fish habitat because it holds more dissolved oxygen than warm water does. Warm water stresses fish and promotes the growth of bacteria and algae.
Besides adding shade, the study recommends that streamside landowners reduce upland and channel erosion. It also recommends that large, woody debris be placed in the riverbeds in future fish restoration projects to increase pooling and to reduce the pace and erosive power of the river flow.
Dave Rountry of Ecology's water quality program emphasized that, while tree planting will be voluntary on privately owned lands, the state's Forest and Fish Act will continue to govern privately owned forest lands.
"Ecology will continue to seek funding for the local conservation district, which can be passed along to landowners for tree-planting activities," Rountry said.
The conservation district already has one Ecology grant to help landowners improve river temperatures and to reduce bacteria pollution.
Ecology also has studied fecal-coliform bacteria in many areas of the Willapa River and its tributaries. The agency expects to release cleanup recommendations from those studies later this fall.
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Contact: Sandy Howard, public information manager, 360-407-6239
Willapa River Watershed Temperature Total Maximum Daily Load Study online: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0403024.html
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
