Shellfish protection district approved for Freeland

Published 2:00 pm Wednesday, March 7, 2007

As expected, the Board of Island County Commissioners took the first step to clean up Holmes Harbor Monday night.

They voted unanimously to adopt a resolution for the formation of a shellfish protection district for the southern portion of Holmes Harbor. Nearly 100 people attended a public hearing in the gym at Trinity Lutheran Church before the vote.

The new district will try to find the source of pollution that has been found in water samples, improve water quality, and then reopen the area for shellfish harvesting.

County and state Department of Health officials were on hand to answer questions from the public.

Following a presentation on the nuts and bolts of forming the district that was led by Jeff Tate, assistant planning director for Island County, and Keith Higman, environmental health director for the county, the commissioners listened as nine Freeland residents testified.

Reopening the beach was a common theme.

“Our goal is to ensure that shellfish collected on the beaches of South Holmes Harbor are once again safe for human consumption and the waters are open to swimming and wading,” Commissioner Mike Shelton said.

The Island County planning department will be the lead agency on the clean-up effort.

“This is a community issue,” Tate said. “The goal is to make the beach safe to use.”

In 2006, the state Department of Health released a report that found six outfalls, or freshwater ditches, that drain into Holmes Harbor were contaminated with elevated levels of fecal coliform bacteria.

The state health department issued a formal notice of closure in August for commercial and recreational shellfish harvest from the area. The area is also closed to swimming or wading.

But now that the state Health Department has officially restricted the area, a committee of state, county and other stakeholders has been pulled together to develop a closure response plan. Restrictions in the area will remain until water quality improves, however.

The Island County Planning and Community Development Office developed a strategy to clean up the closed area. That will require testing, treatment and monitoring.

Tate said the boundaries of the district were determined by topography and fresh water flows into the harbor. Tate told the crowd that water quality testing has already begun.

The centerpiece of the plan is the county water quality monitoring program, which will include source identification, education and outreach, enforcement when and if necessary and regular reports and updates to the public.

Some in the audience, including Freeland resident Geoff Hornsby, asked how long the area would be closed.

“We don’t know how long the closure will be. It’s hard to answer. There could be a significant change in a year,” Tate said.

Tate said it is the goal of county and state officials to re-open Freeland Park as quickly as possible.

“It is important to the South End economy, nearly 4,500 people use the beach every year,” he said.

Freeland businessman Steve Shapiro wondered whether there would be testing for heavy metals, and if water samples could be archived for future testing for heavy metals and other contaminates.

Tate said the focus of the district is bacteria, but further water quality testing for other contaminates will be done in the future.

Mike McHugh of Tulalip Tribes Fisheries told the commissioners the closure has economical and cultural impact on the Tulalip Tribes.

“We want to see it re-opened for commercial shellfish harvest,” McHugh said.

Christine Goodwin, president of Friends of Holmes Harbor, said she has volunteers ready to help with the clean-up effort.

“Let’s make Holmes Harbor the front door to Freeland instead of the dirty back porch,” Goodwin said.

The purpose of the shellfish protection program is to develop a strategy to improve public health and the marine environment in South Holmes Harbor. Tate said they expect to identify and reduce or eliminate upland and non-point pollution sources that hurt public health and the marine habitat.

Funding comes partially from county funds and from a $288,000 state Department of Ecology grant.