Culverts add obstacles to salmon, state, politics
NEAR KENDALL, Whatcom County — It doesn't seem like much, this no-name pipe, sluicing water into an unnamed stream that ripples its way to Bear Slough in the North Fork of the Nooksack River.
But small things can make big problems for salmon. This culvert was placed too high above the stream bed. It's a target no salmon can hit in its journey home to spawn. This pipe, and thousands like it, is as impermeable a barrier to upstream spawning grounds as the thickest, tallest dam.
More than 1,676 culverts from Neah Bay to Walla Walla block more than 2,377 miles of potential salmon habitat. And those are just the culverts owned by the state Department of Transportation. Pipes owned and maintained by other state and local agencies add to the problem.
It's been a well-known problem for years. But culverts recently became a big, costly liability for the state.
Last summer, U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo S. Martinez agreed with 20 of the state's Indian tribes that the state has a duty to fix problem culverts because they diminish salmon runs, and that violates the tribes' fishing rights guaranteed by treaties signed in the 19th century.
Martinez didn't offer a specific remedy or set a deadline, and now the ruling creates dilemmas for all sides.
The state says it wants to fix the culverts, but it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Tribal leaders say while it may seem like it's just a matter now of getting the other side to pay up, the political realities are far more complicated — and delicate. They want to settle the case, but they don't want to create a potential political liability in an election year for Gov. Christine Gregoire, their ally on expanding tribal gambling, social-service programs and other issues.
"Our objective is to just make sure it doesn't become a political factor," said W. Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe and president of the Washington Indian Gaming Association.
"We won the case, and we are not going to do anything to negate the fact. But we are trying to find a politically viable solution. The governor doesn't want this to turn into a campaign issue."
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Culverts add obstacles to salmon, state, politics
