Four the Future - October 15

River issues, including building dams, removing dams, discharging into the river, and cleaning up earlier discharges.

• Beavers just too dam busy
  Source: Spokesman-Review; October 15, 2010
  See Also:Four the Future - December 20
  Summary: The Lands Council is actively seeking beaver families to relocate around the region. They received a permit from Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to trap beavers so that family groups could start building dams in areas where beavers had been eradicated. The new colonies will build dams which retain water and release it more slowly during the summer months.
  Opinion: I posted this video 10 months ago, and it was very popular. Just have to post it again:
  
  
  
• Wash. state approves permit to remove Condit Dam
  Source: Bloomberg Businessweek; October 13, 2010
  Summary: A critical water quality permit was issued for the removal of Condit Dam from the White Salmon River. The purpose is to restore chinook and steelhead habitat. More permitting is necessary. Removal is slated for 2020.
  
  
  
  Opinion: There was a time in the past when the rivers ran lousy with salmon. Prior to European contact, there was a vigorous trade in dried salmon meat. When they didn’t have enough money to purchase food during the Great Depression, people would go to the river to catch their fill. Salmon were so common that people in the northwest began to think of salmon as poor people’s food. Of course, that seems ridiculous today.
  
  This has been a long running issue, starting back in 1999, as documented by this 2002 High Country News article ( Condit Dam removal hits snags). You can get the governmental project information from Ecology.
  
• Wetland project a boon for birds along Coeur d'Alene River
  Source: Spokesman-Review; September 30, 2010
  Summary: $3 million has made 400 acres of wetlands along the lower Coeur d’Alene River safe for migratory birds by removing sources of lead. Lead levels at hot spots in the basin are 10 times the safe level for waterfowl. The land is now protected by an $875,000 conservation easement. There are 18,000 acres remaining to be remedied along this one river.
  Opinion: This is the legacy of the mining that occurred in this region. Lots of money was made. Now the costs are coming to us all. This is why it’s important for businesses to pay their full share of the costs of environmental mitigation rather than burden the taxpayers now or in the future.
  
• Public to review water quality permits for Spokane River dischargers in Washington
  Source: Washington Department of Ecology; October 4, 2010
  Summary: The State of Washington is proposing new limits for pollutants dumped into the Spokane River by the City of Spokane’s Riverside Park Water Reclamation Facility, Inland Empire Paper, Kaiser Aluminum, and Liberty Lake Sewer and Water District. New limits will be established for phosphorus, ammonia, and carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand. The permits are available for review at the Department of Ecology's Spokane Office, 4601 N. Monroe St., Spokane, Wash., 99205. Call 509-329-4004 for an appointment. The deadline for submitting comments is 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010. Submit comments to the Permit Coordinator at stra461@ecy.wa.gov or by mail at 4601 N. Monroe St., Spokane, WA 99205.
  Opinion: Just like the mining interests, the costs belong to the ones to discharge. There has been debate over the technical ability to achieve certain limits, but working on this issue for the last decade, I've been convinced that it's doable.
  

Four the future - December 20

For this Monday: Wastewater editorial, Cd'A conservation easement, transportation visioning, and beavers!

• Cleaner river worth the cost
  Source: Spokesman, 091220
  Summary: In this op-ed, Rachael Paschal Osborn lists all the good things going on with regards to the protection of the Spokane River, and why embracing higher utility rates now translates into better water quality and a better economy. Here are her five reasons: good for the economy, the Spokane River is too small in the summer to handle all the waste, we're lucky it isn't more expensive, we have a responsibility to those downriver, and others are doing their fair share, too.
  Opinion: While there was considerable distress that the City of Spokane withdrew their support to the region's Septic Tank Elimination program (STEP), there is considerable value in fixing the city's combined sewer-stormwater system which allows untreated sewage to wash directly into the Spokane River during rainstorms. Also, the City's commitment to testing new tertiary wastewater treatment systems is commendable, as they prepare for more stringent standards to come. All-in-all, there is great progress in this area, even as emitters and environmentalists vie over what the final standards will be.
• Preserving views, family traditions
  Source: Spokesman, 091221
  Summary: 500 acres along Lake Coeur d'Alene and the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes has been permanently preserved by a conservation easement.
  Opinion: An important tool, conservation easements can keep property in the ownership of a person or family. It allows them to continue to use the property in its current form, while preventing inappropriate conversation of rural properties to urban uses. It can reduce property taxes (as properties are judged by their highest and best use; eliminating certain development opportunities lowers it), provides cash or federal tax deductions to the property owner, and reduces or eliminates estate and gift taxes. Its use can't be more highly recommended.
• Yearlong study will create 'vision' for regional transit
  Source: Spokesman, 091221
  Summary: The Spokane Regional Transportation Council (SRTC) is launching a year-long study of the regional transportation system.
  Opinion: SRTC is Spokane's Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), and is, actually, continually studying and planning transportation in the region--that is its sole purpose. This is an important effort, and it is important that people get involved (or hold your peace for the next 30 to 50 years). More details are at http://www.srtc.org/Visioning RFP.html
• The Beaver Solution
  Source: The Lands Council
  Summary: The State Department of Ecology has been proposing damming a canyon somewhere in eastern Washington for water storage, holding it from the high water times of the spring until low water summer. The Lands Council proposed an alternative: The Beaver Solution. Reintroduce the beavers that were driven from eastern Washington so they can build dams themselves, not only reestablishing a natural system of ecologically powerful wetlands, but also helping water quality and releasing water downstream as was intended: slowly over beaver dams.
  Opinion: A must see video! Thanks to my friends at Hamilton Studio for the wonderful animation for an important topic.