[Tweeters] Thank you Michael Scuderi and Jim Betz for raising questions about the Wiley Slough project

[Ed Newbold]

Hi all,


I’d like to thank Michael Scuderi and Jim Betz for raising questionsabout the Wiley Slough project, particularly the treecutting.

I have no expertise on the subject and don’t want to be seenas posing as someone who does.

But there’s reason to be worried. For one thing, Wiley hadbecome a major stronghold for Tree Swallows and I guess this project will bethe end of that at a time when most Hirundine populations are under stress orcollapsing or have already collapsed in the Westside lowlands.

While I can’t add to the debate I have noticed a tendency ofbureaucracies to want to cut down trees regardless of whether it is justified. 

The public wants to know what are the costs and what are thebenefits of a project. For a bureaucracy-- in a purely economic sense--the costis the benefit.

One of the starkest examples was Seattle Public Utilities’original plan for Deadhorse Canyon in South Seattle. That original preferred planinvolved a major removal of old-growth trees in the heart of the Canyonincluding very large Western Red Cedar and Douglas Fir.

SPU has backed off on that apparently, but the whole idea ofremoving old-growth trees along a stream corridor in an effort to “improve” itgot me curious.  I happen to have astream scientist brother, J. Denis Newbold, PhD from Berkeley, 40 years asenior scientist with the Stroud Water Research Foundation in SE Pennsylvania,author of many papers, has been involved with the Clean Water Act etc. He toldme no, there would never be a scientific basis for removing trees for thepurpose of reducing stream sedimentation. “If it does involve taking trees Iwould get up in arms to try to fight it. Whatever they are proposing they can’tprove that it is better than leaving the trees.” 

That reminded me of the paper Michael Scuderi’s cited that apparently could not find a scientific justification for removing trees from a dike.



In case anyone is interested in looking into this further, here is the link Michael originallyprovided for that research in his post to Tweeters:
 

https://www.spk.usace.army.mil/Portals/12/documents/civil_works/levee_safety/USACE%20Levee%20Vegetation%20Study%20Report%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

 

Thanks all,

 

Ed Newbold

Beacon Hill, where, thankfully Buty Creek is up and running and serving many customers afterbeing down with its first mainstem leak in 20 years, and where our darlingWhite-throated Sparrow continues. 

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