I am deeply distressed to learn that the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge apparently is being sacrificed to develop a commercial oyster farm.
I will sorely miss this pristine nature spot in Sequim.
It seems incomprehensible that this, supposedly protected, refuge is being handed over to a profit-seeking corporation, who plan to eventually embed 20,000 to 80,000 large black plastic bags along 34 acres of the Dungeness Spit.
Common sense dictates that in time the plastic will disintegrate, contributing to the micro-plastic pollution crisis threatening aquatic life.
What about the endangered wild birds that forage here, pecking through the toxic plastic and ingesting bits?
Shouldn’t we protect these last remaining pristine areas for future generations, and for the health of our Puget Sound ecosystem, which already suffers from the onslaught of human activities?
Why would such a pristine area be permitted to accommodate industry?
Sequim’s precious jewel will no longer be a refuge, neither for the wildlife nor for the humans who value it.
I grieve the loss.
And I feel outraged.
What a sacrilege.
Please contact the commissioner of our public lands, Hilary Franz, requesting she rescind the permits for this industrial oyster farm.
A wildlife refuge is simply not the right location for such an enterprise.
Commissioner Franz’s email is cpl@dnr.wa.gov.
Office of the Commissioner of Public Lands, MS 47001, Olympia, WA 98504-7001.
The phone number is 360-902-1000.
Deborah Harrison
Sequim