Storms Take Toll On Fish, Birds

The series of storms that blanketed Washington state with snow and then swamped it with drenching rain after Christmas will have effects that could last for years.

And most of the consequences will be bad.

Concerns include a possible bark-beetle infestation, more problems for salmon runs, closed oyster beds and fewer game birds.

On the plus side: full reservoirs.

The state Department of Health has closed about a dozen shellfish beaches because of pollution caused by the storms. Several other beaches were shut down because storm water had overwhelmed sewage-treatment plants.

Storm water also has caused some septic-tank drain fields to fail. That effluent, manure, parking lot oil and debris of all kinds were swept into streams as well as Puget Sound.

People collecting their own shellfish during the next two weeks are advised to check with the state Department of Health or county health agencies.

After being hard-hit by two “100-year storms” last winter, salmon and steelhead spawning beds have sustained another blow.

The survival rate of young sockeye salmon in the Cedar River, which feeds Lake Washington, was only about 10 percent of normal last winter.

“What we really want is a wet summer and a moderate winter,” said Dave Seiler, a state fish biologist.

The state Department of Natural Resources said trees knocked down by this year’s storms’ high winds may lead to an explosion of Douglas fir bark beetles next year.

The tree-eating beetles may attack the downed trees from April to June, feast and multiply for a year and then emerge in such numbers that they “build into epidemics,” said Karen Ripley, a forest entomologist. She added: “They usually last at least three years after a big storm.”

San Juan County was hit by a beetle infestation after the 1993 Inauguration Day storm.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife said chukar, quail and wild turkeys will be hurt by the storms.

Some endangered Columbia white-tailed deer along the lower Columbia River starved to death when they were trapped by rising waters last February.

The recent storms brought some good effects, too, although they were far outweighed by the problems. The snowpack that provides hydropower, irrigation water and drinking water is averaging more than twice as much as normal for this time of year in Washington.

The excess ranges from 245 percent of normal in the Walla Walla basin to 139 percent of normal in the Nooksack basin near Bellingham.

The Cedar River area east of Seattle is at 238 percent of normal.

Last year was the second-wettest year on record in Seattle.