January 2024 Newsletter

January 12, 2024

Geoduck Eelgrass Before Hydraulic Liquefaction Harvesting   Will Jefferson Citizens Have a Say in Industrial Geoduck Farms?   With a growing multimillion dollar marked in Asia, the shellfish industry is eyeing Jefferson County's tidelands for increased geoduck cultivation. Geoduck cultivation involves the intense use of plastics—some seven miles and eleven tons of tubing per acre.  Each tube fosters a wholly unnatural density of the large clams that are then "harvested" using hydraulic hoses to liquify the tidelands down to three feet.  Then the whole process starts over again.  Geoduck cultivation raises many environmental concerns, among them: competition for marine nutrients, displacement of tideland marine life, and plastics pollution.  Ask the Jefferson County Commissioners to require a thorough review and public input before issuing any permits to farm geoducks.  A standard "Conditional Use Permit", as is required in neighboring Kitsap and Clallum counties, should be the norm.   Contact the County Commissioners Eelgrass Depleted After Hydraulic Liquefaction of Tidelands   Hear More About This Important Issue From Your Neighbors Working to Protect Our Tidelands.  North Olympic Sierra Club Monthly Meeting January 18, 7PM on Zoom, RSVP Required   RSVP     The 2024 Legislative Session Now Underway--How Will the Environment Fare? The 2024 legislature convened January 8 for a short session that will end March 7. The  Sierra Club is  lobbying to ensure hard won gains are not rolled back and that actions are taken to address the many environmental challenges we face. Read about our priorities and how you can engage here:   Lobby Your Legislators The Plastic Free Washington Coalition is supporting legislation to reduce packaging and decrease plastic pollution by passing the Re-WRAP Act.  This bill would begin to hold producers responsible for the enormous amounts of unnecessary packaging that goes to our landfills.   Find Out More Here     Ask DNR to Stop the Clearcutting of the "Last Crocker Sorts" Timber Parcel   Included in this sale are 76 acres of 90-year old structurally complex stands of trees. An environmental organization, the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition, has appealed this sale to the Jefferson County Superior Court to require DNR to implement its planning process to identify structurally complex forests needed to meet its protection targets. (Today, less than 2% of DNR’s forests in the Straits planning area have qualified as older forests.) Ask our DNR Commissioner to delay the clearcutting to allow our legal system the opportunity to resolve this issue.  Tell her legal challenges to DNR’s timber sales should be decided by judges, not chainsaws!     Contact DNR    Efforts to Roll Back Environmental Gains in Washington Six Initiative petitions were recently circulated that would roll back hard-won gains that the people of Washington have recently made. The petitions were funded by a multi-millionaire and were gathered by paid signature gatherers who are paid by the signature and will say almost anything to get people to sign. One of the initiatives, I-2117, would repeal the Climate Commitment Act, Governor Inslee's signature accomplishment addressing the climate crisis. The Act has already raised almost $1.5 billion and is redirecting money from polluters to green energy and transportation programs in Washington. Stay tuned for further developments.   New North Olympic Group Executive Committee Members Peter Guerrero and Bob Sextro were reelected and Emily Beals was newly elected to our executive committee.  Members and supporters are always welcome to attend (on Zoom) our business meetings that follow our monthly events on the third Thursday of each month.  If you're looking for an opportunity to work with your neighbors to protect the North Olympic Peninsula's environment, we have a few suggestions!  Join us for this month's meeting on Thursday, January 18, 7PM on Zoom.  RSVP above for link.     DNR Responds to Public Pressure to Save Elwha Forests Mature legacy forests share many of the characteristics of old-growth forests and can serve as critical carbon reserves to help lessen the effects of global warming.  Unfortunately, they constitute less than 3% of DNR lands.  Despite this, DNR seemed determined to clearcut legacy forests along the Elwha, flying in the face of tribal, state and federal efforts to restore the Elwha watershed. Strong public opposition from the community and the Sierra Club recently resulted in a win for these special forests when Commissioner of Public Lands, Hilary Franz, announced a proposal to conserve some 2,000 acres of state forest land. The proposal included 69 acres within the Elwha River watershed that were part of a controversial timber sale, which is now canceled.    Save Miller Peninsula: Our Video Now Available Online   In case you missed our October event, this video provides a historical perspective on citizen efforts that saved the Miller Peninsula from industrial development, current plans by Washington State Parks to replace this vital and unique ecosystem with inappropriate uses, and why it matters to continue to fight to preserve this important habitat.  We're continuing to follow this issue and will post updates in future newsletters.   Save Miller Peninsula Video Comments, Feedback?  Let us know here:   Contact Us The North Olympic Group's website is updated to reflect current environmental issues and events. Members are encouraged to periodically check it out.     North Olympic Group Website