Viewpoint - Why Wetlands Matter

Dear Editor at South Whidbey Record,
Island County Planning and the Planning Commission met Dec 11th to consider comments submitted from the public by Nov 30th on draft Wetlands Regulations that is a part of a Critical Area Ordnance -CAO. Their goal is to submit for approval to the County Commissioners the final draft on December 18th. I hope that the goal is to incorporate the extensive, valid and professional comments received, into the final regulations that as written lack adequate protections for Wetlands.
The draft Comprehensive Plan says: “No regulation will make any parcel of land unusable.” This is representative of the draft regulations, to make Island County a developer’s dream come true, rather than protecting Critical Areas, Wetlands and Puget Sound. We need a CAO that is legal, understandable and protects these vital areas.
Why it should matter that this draft is not adopted as written is a very probable future where wells fail, the sole source aquifer is depleted, saving Puget Sound is defeated and life here becomes impossible. Because we have no rivers our water comes from rain recharging our ground water through Critical Areas. Wetlands and forests are necessary for this to happen. Oak Harbor doesn’t have enough ground water for its population so their water is piped in from the Skagit River. Central, South Whidbey and Camano Island will not have access to that resource if population development exceeds shrinking Critical Areas and Wetland systems capability to recharge our vital ground water systems.
We have paved over, filled in and eliminated a large percentage of the Wetlands that were here 200 years ago. No one knows what the tipping point passed which our ground water resources will fail to meet the growing human demands. The draft regulations are so complicated and the need to address and incorporate the comments submitted so important that the goal should be changed from adoption by year’s end to next year to allow time to write a CAO where there is no Net Loss. An advocate for preserving Wetlands should be a part of the process of formulating the regulations as that goal is not apparent in the draft or from the staff in the Planning Department. As written it favors those landowners (i.e. developers) who can pay a lawyer to get exactly all that they want.
Experience says that our Planning Department and Commissioners believe that development at any cost is beneficial. This is not so, as value of a wetland and infrastructure costs among other factors are not considered. It can take over a hundred years, if ever, to restore a wetland once it is destroyed or compromised.
The proposed regulations are similar to the County’s Plan to Preserve and Protect Salmon. The responsibility to achieve this is given to land owners. There is no system in place to inform the landowner of neither this great responsibility nor the budget to educate as to how specifically it can be achieved. The Salmon Plan is set up to fail as are the draft wetlands regulations.
A native of Washington State, as the wife of a relative of Mahatma Gandhi, I spent the 1980s meeting internationally with world leaders discussing Global Survival. I have been an advocate for healthy salmon habitat, pure drinking water and the long view in planning for decades. This was why I worked so hard for five years to get the use of herbicides on our roadsides eliminated in the County and reduced in the State. Major corporations are buying up water resources and systems worldwide because of the importance of this vital resource. With major portions of the U.S. in severe drought we are blessed with rain. In the past we too have seen drought years and need to preserve with adequate regulations our aquifer recharge systems. The draft regulations fall far short of this goal.
There are too many benefits from viable Wetlands to list them all in this letter. My comments on Wetlands and Salmon are posted on my blog on my web page, www.tmgandhi.com. Please communicate to the Planning Department Jefft@co.island.wa.us; for the Planning Commissioners via Paulab@co.island.wa.us and your County Commissioners Phil Bakke District1@co.island.wa.us; Mac McDowell District2@co.island.wa.us; and John Dean District3@co.island.wa.us –who will have final say; how very important it is to rewrite the Critical Areas Wetlands Regulations with the County’s resident citizen experts at the table working to incorporate their extensive comments submitted so that the CAO would protect and preserve our Critical Areas and Wetlands that are vital parts of our Commons.
Speaking Common Sense for Our Seventh Generation,
Theresa Marie K. Gandhi
Who am I?
I am a northwest native Activist Poet who speaks with a drumbeat at Rockhoppers in Clinton on occasion. The formulation of public policy effecting forests, salmon, Puget Sound and its Critical Areas has been a major focus in my life since 1975 when a co-written grant funded Town Hall Meetings throughout Washington State discussing “Should women have proportional power in public policy formulation”.
Web page with blog: www.tmgandhi.com turtle8@whidbey.net.
Theresa Marie Kothari Gandhi