It's likely to end up in Tidball's berry patch, drowning his strawberries and swamping his raspberries. And because this stormwater will wash over industrial rooftops and parking lots, it will be contaminated with heavy metals, such as zinc and cadmium. So Bob and his supporters continue to fight to save one of the few remaining pieces of viable farmland in the valley from the effects of stormwater pollution.

So, it's no coincidence that King County has been experiencing more frequent and severe flooding in recent years. More and more of the land beside the county's rivers and streams is being paved over or built up. In heavy rains, the water that can no longer soak into the ground ends up in the basements of homes in Issaquah and Carnation.

Salmon bear the brunt of this increased stormwater runoff. Salmon need healthy streams. As a watershed is covered over with more and more roads, rooftops, and other impervious surfaces, the streams in the watershed experience dramatic declines.

How much pavement is too much? Research has yielded a surprisingly similar conclusion. When a watershed becomes covered by about ten percent impervious cover, its streams will degrade. As the percentage of impervious cover increases, degradation tends to increase accordingly. This means that streams will begin to experience declines even at rural residential densities. Once an area is covered by suburban-style development, its streams will no longer support healthy fish populations.

How does the increased flow of stormwater runoff degrade fish habitat? The two primary fish habitat are pools and riffles. Riffles are shallow, gravelly, fast-water areas that are the main food production areas of streams. Pools, which form in deeper, slower flowing areas, are the main fish rearing and resting areas for most salmonids. Scouring stormwater flows destroy pools and riffles. Eroded sand and silt blankets over critical spawning gravels. Frequent and prolonged high flows cause spawning gravels to be replaced by cobble too large to be used by fish for spawning. In extreme cases, all gravels may be scoured down to bare glacial till or bedrock.

Impervious surfaces can also cause stream water temperatures to rise, damaging fish habitat. All juvenile and adult salmon need clean, cold (50-55 degrees Fahrenheit) water for migration, spawning, and rearing. Increased streambank erosion leads to a loss of important vegetation. Less shade from streamside trees and shrubs causes water temperatures to rise. In addition, local air temperatures have a strong influence on the water temperature in headwater streams. Just as paved areas warm the air temperature, they affect water temperature as well.

Often, as urbanization increases, streams are diverted, channelized, dammed, and piped. As these man-made alterations increase, so do the ecological impacts-the endpoint being a biologically sterile stream completely encased in underground concrete pipes. In addition, related habitats such as wetlands and ponds may be damaged or eliminated by grading and filling activities.

For ideas on reducing impervious surfaces, 1000 Friends of Washington has produced an illustrated handbook on land use and water quality linkages that is now available to the public. Call (206) 343-0681 to order a copy.

Salvage Rider Shenanigans
For further proof that the Salvage Rider has nothing to do with "salvaging" dead and dying trees, two environmental groups got the goods under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Friends of the Clearwater, an Idaho group which monitors the Clearwater National Forest, and the Ecology Center, Inc., based in Montana, submitted FOIA requests to a handful of National Forests, including the Clearwater, Nez Perce, and Boise National Forests.

The groups sought information on: 1) evidence of an epidemic in the forest due to insects, disease, or evidence of dead and downed trees; 2) a backlog of salvage timber in the Forest. These two points are taken straight from the Salvage Rider law (P.L. 104-19), which was ostensibly aimed at alleviating a forest health crisis and a backlog of salvage timber.

The response? The Forest Service office in charge of Clearwater responded that they could provide no documents in their files indicating dead, damaged or diseased trees outside their natural range of variation. "There are no documents that provide evidence that this is an epidemic, rather than endemic." As for evidence of a salvage timber backlog? Zip. Likewise from the other Forests.

For more information, contact Natalie Shapiro, Friends of the Clearwater, at (208) 882-9755, cove@moscow.com.

Green News From Europa

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK: Students and activists from all over northern Europe convened in August in Copenhagen (Europe's designated cultural capital for 1996) to discuss the state of the environment and how to make Europe a greener continent. The nine day event was put on by the Danish organization, Youth and Nature. Participants attended workshops on topics such as nature in the city, tribal-life, outdoor life and dams. Each day began with a guest speaker from the European enviro-activist community and ended with students making a statement to the press.

The final press release, containing two pages of suggestions for a better environment, was sent to the various governing bodies of northern Europe. Among the suggestions: governments should encourage people to grow their own food; outlaw non-recyclable packaging of consumer products; develop curbside recycling programs; raise the taxes on automobiles and petroleum products; and where possible, use forest products instead of plastics.

SCANDINAVIA: Greenpeace and environmental activists have been blockading construction of a bridge that will connect Denmark and Sweden. Despite poorly conceived environmental impact studies and being millions of dollars over budget, the bridge project continues.

Activists are concerned about how the bridge supports planted in the seabed will affect sea creatures and natural fresh/saltwater mixing that takes place at the construction site. The bridge, when completed, is expected to increase trade between the two nations. Environmentalists are concerned that this will mean an increase in auto-emissions as well.

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Contents on this page were published in the September/October, 1996 edition of the Washington Free Press.
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