Neah Bay: Recent Saves By Tug Highlight Need

“Saving the Kauai has already paid for the tug program many times over if you use the example of the non-tanker ship, New Carissa, and how much that cost to clean up,” said Palmer. The New Carissa ran aground near Coos Bay, Oregon in 1999, spilling an estimated 100,000 gallons of fuel oil.“It’s so much cheaper to prevent it in the first place,” said Palmer.

Monster December Storm Likely Harmed Future Olympic Peninsula Chinook Returns

FORKS(Dec. 19, 2007)–Chinook returns to Olympic coastal rivers — already down significantly from recent years — took another hit from early December’s monster storm.
“Right before the storm, we had active spawning in throughout the Quillayute River system , and the kind of flows we saw with this storm will certainly reduce egg survival because the high water scoured eggs out of the gravel,” said Roger Lien, fisheries biologist for Quileute Tribe.
Average flows this time of year on the Olympic Peninsula’s Hoh River are about 3,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). Flows of more than 60,000 cfs were recorded during the Dec. 3 storm.

Hoh River Flooding: Needs of Fish and People Must be Balanced

“We know and understand that resources have to be protected, but we think it’s time to move toward more natural solutions that pose less harm to salmon and trout. Ultimately we would like to look for ways to move as many of the people, buildings and roads out of the river’s floodplain,” said Vivian Lee, Hoh tribal chairwoman.