Editor:
The alarm bells are ringing loudly and Edmonds City Council, the Mayor and city staff are some of the first responders, through their allocation, last month, of $1.3 million to commit to the process of restoration of the Edmonds Marsh. The Marsh may eventually be used to raise salmon, as it used to do, which may help feed starving orcas. But, it will take awhile to get the job done.
Meanwhile, we had more bad news recently of the two starving Orcas in our Puget Sound.
Dying orcas are not the only alarm bell we can hear in Edmonds. Three populations of Chinook Salmon are “at high risk of extinction,” according to an extensive Ecological Restoration Report on the Edmonds Marsh researched by faculty and staff from Western Washington University as a part of their Sustainable Communities Partnership with the City of Edmonds.
Thank you City of Edmonds for hearing the alarms and having the leadership to take action in our own small patch on the planet. It is a civic duty and responsibility we all share.
Extinction is forever. Does this mean that people of conscience will want to stop eating Puget Sound Chinook salmon for awhile, until our marsh and other habitats can catch up with our voracious, human appetites? It will be several years before we can even begin to restore the damage we have done. What can we do now for our orcas, when they are starving? Are we too late?
This is our opportunity as a people to do the right thing for the environment. If you would like to help out, you can also send a tax deductible contribution to:
Edmonds Marsh Restoration and Preservation Fund
Edmonds Parks Department, City of Edmonds
700 Main Street
Edmonds, WA 98020
Laurie Sorensen
Edmonds
This I think is an urgent matter, we want to keep the fish and orcas…alive. please help restore the marsh.
Thank you Laurie for this thoughtful and accurate depictions of timing and “exposure”. The funding for Salmon Recovery, Orca Recovery and cleaning up Puget Sound is plentiful. Furthermore, there are very few instances of the restoration of pocket estuaries because BNSF built along the coastline. Not only will we be restoring our pocket estuary known as the Edmonds Marsh, but through the daylighting of Willow Creek we will be encouraging Chinook Salmon Recovery and by extension then – assist in Orca Recovery. #edmondsmarshmadness