Thurston County Withdraws/Re-issues SEPA Determination for NW Shellfish/Staley Geoduck Farm

Comments due June 25, appeal date is July 2.
Email comments to Scott McCormick at mccorms@co.thurston.wa.us.
Reference project 2012103227

Thurston County has withdrawn and re-issued its SEPA determination of "Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance" (MDNS) on the proposed geoduck farm located on the William and Marie Staley tideland parcel, operated by Northwest Shellfish. The changes did not benefit the near shore environmental impact, individually or cumulatively, nor did they address the lack of information provided.

Picture submitted with application which

cuts off the tideland area where existing

shellfish operations are located.

2009 satellite view from the same

Thurston County Geodata web site.

(click to enlarge)

 

Location of existing farms to the north.



 

It appears the changes are the result of operator/owner comments wanting to weaken the conditions, not any concerns over the continued expansion of geoduck farming and cumulative impacts. As noted in an earlier piece on this site the proposal neglected to mention shellfish operations on adjacent parcels and larger operations to the north. Could Thurston County truly consider whether this met the requirements of SEPA which require accurate information to be submitted? Will it meet the requirements of the Shoreline Management Act and their own Shoreline Master Program requirements when the development permit is applied for?

 

Rather than addressing the lack of accurate information having been provided, instead, the following changes were made:

 

Condition 3, which required a recorded document which would allow access to the site for research was changed to simply allowing the owner/applicant to "consider" requests and to grant such requests if they do not disrupt farming activities.

Condition 8, which required all tubes and netting to be removed from the site within 2 years, was extended to allow for them to remain for 2.5 years.

The shellfish industry is actively involved in continuing to weaken the regulatory oversight of their activities and expansion. The Shoreline Management Act continues to be weakened by their political involvement in the local creation of county Shoreline Master Programs and in the SEPA process. Most recently the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association has become involved in weakening the Wilderness Act's ability to protect wilderness areas from commercial development through preventing Drakes Estero from becoming wilderness. Are they really the canary in the coal mine or have they have become the strip miners of Puget Sound's tidelands?

SEPA Decision on New Geoduck Farm in Eld Inlet - Were Adjacent Farms Considered?

Were impacts adequately considered?

Comments Due By: 4PM, May 30, 2013

CONTACT: Scott McCormick, Associate Planner

(360) 754-3355 x6372 or mccorms@co.thurston.wa.us

Northwest Shellfish Co. has applied for permits for a new geoduck farm in Eld Inlet on a tideland parcel owned by William and Marie Staley. Thurston County has issued a tentative "Mitigated Determination of Non-significance" (MDNS) SEPA determination. Comments on this decision are due by May 30. Decision documents are available by request from the county. A general overview is available here, but it does not appear adjacent operations were considered.

Was accurate information provided by the applicant?

Were existing farms considered in the determination? Aerial photos from 2006 to 2012 from Thurston County's GIS site show clearly that aquaculture was occurring on the adjacent tideland parcels south of the proposed farm. Surveys done for Taylor Shellfish show geoducks apparently encroaching on the Staley property. It does not appear the application or determination considered the adjacent farms.  Could the county have made a meaningful determination?

 

Aerial view of proposed farm.

(see below for higher resolution)

Existing shellfish farms
The proposed site is adjacent to where existing shellfish farms were located, one apparently in front of a parcel owned by the Hittmeier family and another seemingly in front of a parcel owned by Thurston  County (Frye Cove County Park). It is unclear who owns the tidelands in front of the Thurston County parcel and who the shellfish operation there belongs to.

2006 Aerial photo of farm adjacent
to Thurston County parcel.

 

Taylor Shellfish Survey

The only indication of operators is found in a survey done for Taylor Shellfish of the tidelands in front of the Hittmeier family. That survey shows geoducks planted on the tidelands adjacent to the Hittmeier's upland parcel had encroached onto the Staley parcel by 2'. The survey does not indicate ownership or location of the farm appearing to be adjacent to Thurston County's parcel.

  

2009 Survey for Taylor Shellfish

of tideland parcel adjacent

to Hittmeier parcel, between

Staley and Thurston County.

 

 

Expansion of farming in front of the Hittmeier's parcel.

Comparing the 2006 aerial photos above to the 2009 aerial photos shows aquaculture activity on the parcels, one having expanded. The tideland parcel appearing to be in front of Frye Cove County Park also shows activity having occurred, possibly harvesting.

 

2009 aerial photo showing the farm

in front of the Hittmeier parcel

had expanded.

 

Expansion of activity in front of Hittmeier parcel.

From the 2012 aerial photo below it is unclear whether farming on either of the tideland parcels continued. What is clear is there is a continued need for surveying before any permits should be approved, both to ensure private property is protected and to help show how the incremental approval of shellfish farms creates further the need for cumulative impacts to be considered in permitting. What is also clear is the SEPA determination does not indicate consideration of any past or present farming in the area was considered. Would it matter if all farms were harvesting at the same time, some when the tide is out and some when the tide is in, or on a schedule of perpetual cycles? Would it matter if the density of shellfish planted in Eld Inlet reached a scale where native species no longer had the resources necessary to survive? It would matter if the Shoreline Management Act and Thurston County's Shoreline Master Program were to be considered as they should be.

 

2012 Aerial photo

A larger picture of existing farms.

(click to enlarge)

 

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