Do you want the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge (“Spit”) industrialized?
It may very well be.
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe has a 50-acre lease in the Refuge of which 34-acres they propose for a commercial oyster operation.
The proposal is to start with 20,000 black, plastic bags and eventually increase to 80,000.
This would be right in the heart of the Graveyard Spit mud flats feeding grounds for thousands of migrating birds.
Not only will this habitat be changed, birds are known to be caught in and under these net bags, as are other animals.
In January, the Clallam County hearing examiner approved the operation even though county staff denied it.
Right now the USACE and the state Department of Ecology are reviewing the tribe’s permit request.
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe has greatly benefited our area with protections and restorations, but this proposal is harmful.
It will harm the wildlife, their habitat, the area’s aesthetics and nearby property values, and the economy of the refuge and the community, both dependent upon refuge visitors.
It will add more plastics into the marine ecosystem and wildlife.
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe has permits for shellfish operations in three other areas of the North Olympic Peninsula.
The refuge is designated a “Special Aquatic Site.”
The migrating birds are protected by the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act and that protection must be enforced.
Migrating birds face many dangers in their flights, including fragmented habitat, less feed, pollution and shootings.
Keep the Refuge a refuge.
Darlene Schanfald
Sequim