Until its closure in 1995, the Pope and Talbot Sawmill in Port Gamble was a leading global lumber exporter and the oldest continuously operating sawmill in the U.S.
Now, 171 years after its founding, the environmental damage caused by its operation is being cleaned up.
In June, the state Department of Ecology announced that a lawsuit – accusing the mill’s owners of releasing hazardous substances into Port Gamble Bay for decades – reached a settlement, resolving Pope Resources, OPG Properties LLC and OPG Port Gamble LLC of liability for injuries to natural resources but only if they build two habitat restoration projects.
Contractors restored 9 acres of shoreline at the mill site this year by removing asphalt and concrete and planting native vegetation to revive beach and riparian habitats for shellfish, fish and other wildlife. Soon, they will begin placing a thin layer of sand over 11 acres of mudflats and planting eelgrass over 10 years, providing essential habitat for many species of wildlife in the bay.
The projects are underway and will cost the mill’s owners nearly $10 million, according to the state. The remedial works is required by a Model Toxics Control Act consent decree between the liable parties and the DOE.
Cheryl Ann Bishop, a DOE communications manager, wrote on behalf of the trustee council. “A goal is for the degraded area to once again support tribal treaty resources including but not limited to shellfish, forage fish, salmon and other marine species as well as avian and terrestrial wildlife,” Bishop wrote. “These resources benefit all of the community, including both tribal and non-tribal.”
In total, 20 acres of critical habitat will be restored, contributing to the hundreds of acres of habitat projects in Western Washington funded by natural resource damage settlements with polluters.
“We expect the two projects to be built by mid-2025,” Bishop wrote. “The defendants will then be responsible for ten years of regular maintenance and monitoring of the projects, followed by less-intensive maintenance and monitoring after that time.”
The Department of Justice filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Port Gamble Bay Natural Resource Trustee Council – made up of representatives from the Jamestown S’Klallam, Lower Elwha Klallam, Port Gamble S’Klallam, Skokomish and Suquamish tribes, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the State of Washington – which determined that the hazardous substances released into the bay were harmful to fish, shellfish and migratory birds that feed, rest and reproduce in the bay.
