PORT GAMBLE — Representatives of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe and Pope Resources gathered July 23 at the old mill site to bless the work to come: The removal of some 6,000 creosoted pilings, as well as overwater structures and wood waste, the remnants of more than 140 years of industrial activity.
The project is expected to take two years and cost about $20 million, to be paid by Pope Resources. According to state Ecology officials, it is the largest piling removal project to date in the region.
“It will open up a vibrant future for this bay,” Pope CEO Tom Ringo said of the cleanup. “We are bringing healing to an ailing ecosystem.”
He added, “This place needs healing and blessing. This project needs blessing.”And S’Klallam representatives, standing on ancestral ground, offered blessing songs and prayers.
“I believe that today is a day of rejoicing,” said S’Klallam elder Gene Jones, a Shaker minister.
Much has been done to improve the health of Port Gamble Bay since the mill closed in the 1990s: Pope Resources’ cleanup to date of the former mill site. The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s removal of debris from its shoreline. The removal of the Point Julia pier. The North Kitsap Forest & Bay project’s acquisition of 1.5 mile of shoreline, now maintained as Port Gamble Heritage Park.
The final cleanup is no less comprehensive. By the time this project is completed, 6,000 creosote-coated pilings, overwater structures and 70,000 cubic yards of wood waste and contaminated sediments will have been removed. Wood waste located close to shore will have been dredged and remaining areas contaminated by wood waste capped with clean material. Eelgrass, which provides shelter for Pacific herring and crab, will have been transplanted in the cleaned areas. Water quality will be monitored for 10 years.
Port Gamble Bay is one of seven priority bays identified for cleanup under the Puget Sound Initiative. The initiative was established to coordinate efforts to restore and protect the health of Puget Sound by 2020.
Ecology officials say chemicals from pilings and wood waste have created a hostile environment for shellfish and finfish that call the bay home — and for the people who depend on shellfish and finfish as part of their diet and economy. The bay is also prime spawning habitat for Pacific herring, an important forage fish for salmon; Ecology is working to determine if the herring stocks here are distinct, or if they are part of the so-called Quileute stock.
Sediment and shellfish-tissue samples revealed such chemicals as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, dioxin/furan compounds, PCBs and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
Getting to this point where the cleanup can start took more than a decade of determining the extent of the cleanup (approximately 78 aquatic and tideline acres); who is responsible (Pope Resources, whose predecessor, Pope & Talbot, operated the mill); and from where the money would come. Pope Resources had sought in court to have the costs shared by the state Department of Natural Resources, because it owns the bay floor, aka aquatic lands, but that lawsuit was thrown out.
Here’s how the project will proceed, according to the state Department of Ecology: The work will be conducted in two windows: July 2015 to January 2016, and July 2016 to January 2017. Hours: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with periodic nighttime and Sunday work.
Before the May 27 meeting, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe issued a statement regarding the cleanup:
“The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe has been involved in bay cleanup planning for years and are very happy to see the cleanup move forward. It is the Tribe’s hope that the cleanup will proceed in a manner that will have minimum adverse impacts to Tribal treaty fish harvesters and consumers.”
In the Treaty of Point No Point in 1855, the S’Klallam reserved the right to fish and harvest resources in their usual and accustomed areas.
(Residents can stay on top of the cleanup project and potential work-related impacts at PortGambleBayCleanup.com, or www.ecy.wa.gov/cleanup/3444.html. Call 888-707-8663. Email info@PortGambleBayCleanup.com)
WHAT WAS SAID AT THE BLESSING CEREMONY
Lloyd Fulton, S’Klallam elder and former mill worker: “There were good benefits from it (the mill), and there will be better benefits coming up ahead.”
Tom Ringo, CEO, Pope Resources: “We are bringing healing to an ailing ecosystem … This place needs healing and blessing; this project needs blessing.”
Jeromy Sullivan, chairman, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe: “I think it’s going to be done right. I don’t know that it would’ve been done right if we’d done it 15-20 years ago … I think we’ve got a good plan.”
Gene Jones, S’Klallam elder and Shaker minister: “I believe that today is a day of rejoicing.”
A Port Gamble S’Klallam canoe arrives at the former mill site, located on S’Klallam ancestral land across the bay from Point Julia, July 23. Michelle Beahm / Staff photo
Members of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Canoe Family prepare to dance to invite healing to the land and water during a blessing ceremony July 23 at the former Port Gamble mill site. Smiling over her right shoulder is Kelly Sullivan, executive director of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe. Michelle Beahm / Staff photo
From left, George Jones, Joseph Price and other S’Klallam members sing a blessing song July 23 at the former Port Gamble mill site. In the background is Tom Ringo, CEO of Pope Resources. Michelle Beahm / Staff photo
From left, Port Gamble S’Klallam Chairman Jeromy Sullivan, George Jones and other S’Klallam members sing a blessing song July 23 at the former Port Gamble mill site. Michelle Beahm / Staff photo
A Port Gamble S’Klallam canoe departs the former mill site, located on S’Klallam ancestral land, for Point Julia at the conclusion of the blessing for the bay, July 23. Michelle Beahm / Staff photo
