Putting a Watershed Back Together
The Skokomish Indians' first contact with Europeans was in 1792. The result was a devastating smallpox epidemic. Since then, the Skokomish (meaning “big river people”) have experienced flooding and staggering declines in the fish they depend on, due in large part to government-sponsored damming, logging, and other upstream activities.
 Now the U.S. Forest Service, local governments and businesses, The Wilderness Society, and others have teamed up with the Skokomish to start curing the problems that have damaged the Skokomish watershed, located on Washington's Olympic Peninsula.
“The Wilderness Society has been an invaluable leader in this collaboration,” says Jack Turner, the tribe's hydrologist. “They were instrumental in getting people with different views to the table and in helping make sure that everyone was treated with respect.”
Over the summer, heavy equipment moved into the Olympic National Forest to remove a road built years ago along a steep hillside to enable logging trucks to reach remote areas. “Today’s problems stem from many things, including the construction of such roads and their decades-long presence, which caused tremendous runoff into the river system, severely damaging fisheries,” explains Mike Anderson, who represents The Wilderness Society in the collaboration. “The Chinook salmon and bull trout populations took particularly serious hits.”
The road removal, which will be completed in the spring when the weather improves, is one of several projects devised to restore the Skokomish watershed. Kathy O'Halloran, who is the resources director for the Olympic National Forest, says she is very encouraged by the progress made on the watershed so far and sees a bright future for such work. “There are lots of opportunities to restore hillsides on our national forests,” she adds.
Restoration of damaged ecosystems is emerging as a major Wilderness Society goal. “We remain dedicated to protecting lands while they are still in their natural condition,” observes Anderson. “But there are also many places like the Skokomish that have suffered and could really benefit from a helping hand. We want to apply the latest science and build collaborative relationships to bring some of these places back to ecological health.”
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