Executive Director's weblog - "Quite a Week"
People for Puget Sound Executive Director Kathy Fletcher recently started her own weblog to share her thoughts about conservation and the health of Puget Sound
Quite a Week
This past week the Southern Resident community of orca whales was officially added to the Endangered Species list. My first reaction was jubilation--we have been seeking this listing for a long time. My second reaction was to realize that actually, there is nothing to celebrate when a species reaches the brink of extinction. This listing is the same thing as acknowledging that Puget Sound itself is endangered. Because the orca whales are top predators in the Puget Sound food web, and because they are long-lived creatures, they reflect the damage that has been done throughout the Sound. To save them, we must literally save the Sound.
My jubilation is not wrong--this decision will give our work a much-needed boost. But it's important also to pause and take in this sobering reality: Puget Sound is in deep trouble. We don't have much time left to save it.
Even without a major oil spill, our orcas are at grave risk, but with a major spill, they could be history. Yet now Alaska Senator Ted Stevens is trying to repeal the Magnuson Amendment, which limits oil tanker traffic into Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits. Senator Stevens must not be a guy who worries much about what oil can do to the environment, because he is also working overtime to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration and development. Our late great Senator Warren Magnuson wanted his legacy to be a healthy Puget Sound where orca whales thrive. I guess Senator Stevens sees his legacy to Alaska somewhat differently. Ironically, he and Senator Magnuson were good friends when they served together in the U.S. Senate.
This past week was also remarkable because of a gathering of tribal and First Nations leaders from all around the Salish Sea--Puget Sound and the Georgia Strait. More than 30 tribes and bands from both sides of the Canadian-US border participated in a meeting at the Jamestown S. Klallam tribal center. The Swinomish Tribe played a major role in getting everybody together. I was honored to be invited to observe the meeting, where chiefs and elders spoke of their relationship to the natural world, especially the marine environment. People spoke from the heart, yet there was a deeply practical side to their work together restoring the Salish Sea to health is an essential ingredient to survival. One man said, "We are coming together to save who we are as a culture." Another noted, "At the root of our culture is the environment that created that culture." And finally, "We're the ones we've been waiting for." Story after story described the loss of natural resources in small, almost invisible steps. "Pretty soon the ducks just aren't there anymore," someone said. "Things creep up on us."
One Saanich elder read a priceless document that describes the 13 moons of the calendar. Each lunar month is specifically tied to the natural world, the culture, and the patterns of life. The book tells very tangibly of the ties between the people and the land and water. There is a Moon of the Bullhead, a Moon of the Frogs, a Moon of the Sockeye, a Moon of the Chum. Just learning the calendar would be a rich education.
The meeting ended with the idea of establishing a Coast Salish Aboriginal Council. I hope it happens.
In other news of the week, a General Accounting Office report ripped the Chesapeake Bay program for its reliance on voluntary measures that are not doing the job to protect and restore the Bay. I have been saying for a long time that while education and voluntary action are essential, they are far from enough to save the Sound. Indeed, without rules for everybody to follow, it's pretty discouraging to do the right thing and see the resource lost anyway. Let's face it, some folks obey the speed limit for safety reasons; others because they don't want to get a ticket. Take away the state patrol, and I'm afraid voluntary actions would be about as effective as they have been in Chesapeake Bay.
