Story Photos
 Photo by Bill Wagner U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service worker Kyle Hurley sprays herbicide Thursday on shoulder-high spartina at the upper end of the intertidal zone on Long Island in Willapa Bay. |
Spartina Battle: Tide turning, but fight to save fish, wildlife hitting snags
Friday, August 6, 2004 11:54 PM PDT
By Eric Apalategui
Printable version
E-mail this articleLONG BEACH -- As a second year of full-on assault nears its end, much of Willapa Bay's spartina grass is yellowing under a blanket of herbicide.
"This year it looks like the efforts are going to pay off," said Kim Patten, the Washington State University researcher whose work laid groundwork for the spray plan.
Researchers and officials who gathered for a conference here Friday say the tide may finally be turning in battle against the non-native plant. But they say new threats loom over Willapa's low horizon:
• Even with $2 million spent this year, agencies ran out of their most effective herbicide by mid-summer, and they don't have money to buy more.
• Much of the bay's remaining spartina is rooted in numerous private plots, and not all owners have agreed to treating it and sharing the cost.
• Environmentalists intend to sue the state government, alleging that regulators allow improper use of herbicides around aquatic habitats such as Willapa Bay.
By summer's end, state and federal agencies hope to treat the bulk of spartina growing on the bay's southern and eastern shores, leaving the Long Beach Peninsula, several northern meadows and mop-up work for coming seasons.
Most scientists believe spartina deteriorates fish and wildlife habitat while it also encroaches on valuable oyster and clam beds. For example, University of California, Davis researcher Ted Grosholz reported Friday in Long Beach that the bay's native mudflats harbor four times more organisms than spartina meadows.
Not everyone agrees. Larry Warnberg, who has a small organic oyster farm in Nahcotta, is a vocal opponent of all pesticide use. But he also believes, contrary to most scientific studies, that spartina cleans the water, enhances wildlife habitat and guards against erosion.
"It's helping heal the bay and maintain the high water quality we know we have," Warnberg said. "I haven't been convinced that the negative impacts outweigh its benefits."
In the coming weeks, three state agencies and the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge "are going to run out of herbicide before they run out of time and spartina to spray," said Kyle Murphy, spartina program manager for the state Department of Agriculture.
This year agencies started using the herbicide imazapyr -- known as "Habitat" -- which appears to outshine the inconsistent glyphosate ("Rodeo" and "Roundup") still used for smaller-scale work, said Terri Butler, deputy project leader for the wildlife refuge, where many of the spraying techniques have been refined.
"Everything we know right now tells us we're going to be effective, (but) it's pretty hard to kill weeds theoretically. You have to do it on the ground," said Bill Brookreson, Deputy Director of Agriculture.
Brookreson and other state officials already are looking to Olympia for extra funding.
"We have to make the case for it," said Rep. Brian Hatfield, D-Raymond, who with fellow district Democrats supports aggressive spartina control. "I think slowly but surely everyone's getting on the same page."
Miranda Wecker of the University of Washington's Olympic Natural Resources Center said that treating small private tidal lands, largely untouched so far, could be as tricky as rooting spartina out of slippery tidal channels and prying money out of government coffers.
Due to state law, Brookreson said, land owners must pay roughly half the hefty bill for removing noxious weeds. So far, the county's weed board has not compelled property owners to eradicate spartina themselves or pay for it when agencies step in. The rule remains an option if property owners don't join the fight, Murphy and Brookreson said.
Wecker was skeptical. "It's just unrealistic to think that hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of land owners are going to pay half the costs," she said.
Adding more uncertainty, the Washington Toxics Coalition in late July filed notice that it plans to sue the state Department of Agriculture for allegedly violating the federal permit allowing herbicide use around waterways such as Willapa. Specifics of the proposed lawsuit were unavailable Friday.
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