As many of you have noticed in your creek, we are having a banner year in the numbers of adult chum salmon returning to Shell Creek.
I want to THANK YOU for allowing the Edmonds Stream Team to continually access your property in the fall to collect data on the salmon run. We’ll be continuing our salmon surveys into mid-December when most of our observations will probably shift to just examining dead salmon to collect data on their spawning success (we’re currently still seeing ‘new’ arrivals as well as dead spawned-out salmon).
Students – Linked below is a news article on the Edmonds Stream Team “coming to the rescue” to resolve a fish passage problem for spawning salmon in Shell Creek.
The stream habitat and salmon abundance data collected by students was used to justify an emergency permit from the WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife to make changes to a blockage DURING the salmon run. Normally, such instream work would not be allowed during salmon migration – – but I had the data (collected by students) to justify the emergency action.
So… THANK YOU for participating in the Stream Team. You have made a big difference for our local salmon population!
One of the most important duties of City government is to protect the health and safety of its residents. Besides the obvious police and fire protection, it is the Public Works department’s duty to assure the safety of its residents, too.
While potholes in public roads can be ignored or put off for a long time, or roads can be closed pending repairs, the rail traffic on the Edmonds waterfront cannot. Every day, tens of thousands of gallons of hazardous, toxic, and explosive materials move up and down the Edmonds waterfront.
The following Public Comment was submitted and received by WA Dept. of Ecology regarding the site cleanup of the Chevron/Unocal site below the Point Edwards condominiums.
The revised draft 2024 Comprehensive Plan for the City of Edmonds has been published and is available for review online here.
The revised plan updates the initial draft that was published Oct. 3. This new draft reflects public input during the comment period, as well as input from the Edmonds Planning Board and City Council. It also includes state agency guidance and other information.
For decades, Coho salmon were turning up dead in urban streams the Pacific Northwest. The salmon would stop swimming straight, and then die before they had a chance to spawn. Researchers worried that unless they figured out the cause, the species would eventually go extinct.
Joe Scordino on the scene. (Photo courtesy Karen Barnes)
It is salmon migration season and significant numbers of chum salmon are actively making their way up Shell Creek. As is always the case, they need to pass many obstacles along the way. This year they were presented with a new and unexpected challenge.
On July 9, 2024, the Edmonds Environmental Council was incorporated as a Washington State non-profit organization. The EEC was formed to educate and inform the public on environmental issues, to constructively engage with local and regional governments, working through the unintended consequences of some of their policy decisions. With your help, the EEC will be a strong voice to protect natural areas, to ensure clean water, and to promote a healthy environment critical for both humans and wildlife.
We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, making your generous donations tax deductible.
Current projects include:
We are involved in an appeal with the City of Edmonds to the State Growth Management Board . A new ordinance is allowing stormwater contaminated with PFAS “forever chemicals” to be injected into the Deer Creek Springs Critical Aquifer Recharge Area (CARA). This aquifer supplies water for Edmonds south of 220th St SW and all of Woodway. We are currently in mediation with the city to avoid the costs associated with the appeal, with the goal of prohibiting PFAS from being allowed into our drinking water. For more details, please visit: https://edmondsenvironmentalcouncil.org/deer-creek/
Faced with an anticipated population growth of 30% over the next 20 years, the City of Edmonds is struggling through a major Comprehensive Plan update. The EEC is actively advocating for responsible development standards that protect people and wildlife, and mitigate impacts to water and the environment. For more details, please visit: https://edmondsenvironmentalcouncil.org/edmonds-comp-plan/
Restoring salmon runs to the Edmonds Marsh system has been an active, multifaceted effort by Board President Joe Scordino and VP Diane Buckshnis for over a decade. This includes:
Removing and controlling invasive plant species (including Bittersweet Nightshade and Purple Loosestrife) to restore Shellabarger Creek water flow under and along WA 104 into the marsh.
Fully completing the environmental cleanup of Chevron’s Unocal site
Acquisition of the Unocal property by the City of Edmonds
Connecting the Marsh to Puget Sound with a clean open channel
Edmonds used to enjoy several salmon spawning creeks including Shell, Shellabarger, Perrinville, and Lund’s Gulch. Years of development without appropriate environmental safeguards has all but destroyed this rich heritage. Allies of EEC, Sound Salmon Solutions and the Edmonds Stream Team volunteer organizations, are working to return salmon runs to this watershed. For more details, please visit: https://edmondsenvironmentalcouncil.org/salmon-restoration/
The 2044 Comprehensive Plan update for Edmonds calls for 9,069 new housing units, based on an assumed future household size of just 1.4 people per new unit of housing, which would bring the citywide average household occupancy down to 2.11. This assumption risks causing the city to overshoot its true housing needs and invites the kind of overdevelopment that could significantly strain city resources and negatively impact the environment.
The Edmonds Marsh needs your help! Will Chevron be required to complete the Unocal cleanup of the Marsh, or allowed to walk away with the job unfinished?
Council, the final Comp Plan will affect Edmonds for 20 years to come. I beg you to consider all of the concerns that so many respected and involved long term residents of Edmonds have presented to you. Please do not ignore the serious concerns that have been expressed.
The Edmonds Stream Team, working with adult and student volunteers from Meadowdale and Edmonds-Woodway High Schools, has been surveying local creeks for salmon – – and the team reports many adult salmon are returning to Shell and Lunds Gulch Creeks.
I am in total support of Joe Scordino’s suggestion. Especially in light of the results of the national elections. The urgency of protecting our critical areas and our air and water for future generations couldn’t be more important than it is right now.
As you may know, this is the time of year when I’m out with Edmonds Stream Team volunteers (students and adults) in/along the “salmon-bearing” creeks in/near Edmonds (i.e., Shell Creek and Lunds Gulch Creek in Meadowdale Park) to survey adult salmon returns and spawning. Besides the salmon occurrence data, we also collect habitat condition data (and have been doing that each fall since 2017).
