SEATTLE — A federal judge’s ruling may open thousands of miles of Washington streams to salmon heading out to sea or returning to spawn.
Hundreds of those miles are on the North Olympic Peninsula, tribal fisheries officials say.
Judge Ricardo Martinez ordered the state Wednesday to “refrain from building or operating culverts under state-maintained roads that hinder fish passage.”
Opening the tunnels, say the Native American tribes who started their lawsuit in 2001, could boost fish populations by 200.000 a year.
The ruling in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington is an extension of the state’s obligations under treaties signed by Territorial Gov. Isaac Stevens in the 1850s.
Federal Judge George Boldt, in a 1974 landmark decision, ruled that the tribes were entitled to half the harvest of salmon, shellfish and other food species in their “usual and accustomed grounds and stations.”
All four tribes of the North Peninsula were among the 20 that, along with the federal government, sued the state over troublesome culverts owned by the state departments of Transportation, Parks, and Natural Resources.
“No amount of restoration [of habitat] is going to do any good if the fish can’t get upstream or downstream,” Doug Morrill, fisheries manager for the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, said Thursday in Port Angeles.
Morrill cited the culvert that carries U.S. Highway 101 over Ennis Creek as an example, although not one of the worst.
“It’s what we refer to as a partial barrier,” he said. “It’s not as good as it could be.”
Among the dozens of problem culverts on the North Peninsula, it won’t top the list, Morrill said.
“My guess is that there are a heck of a lot of higher priorities to be done before Ennis Creek.”
Culverts rank high, however, among the restoration projects of the Quileute tribe, based in LaPush.
The Quileute worked out a list of about 50 priority projects a year ago, working jointly with public and private landowners that included timber companies and the U.S. Forest Service, said Katie Krueger, environmental attorney for Quileute Natural Resources.
Three of the top eight projects are culverts on the Sol Duc, Dickey and Bogachiel rivers and Maxfield, May, Coal and Dry creeks.
Martinez’s ruling, Krueger said, would hasten the process.
“We’re very happy that this case is winding down and getting close to being final because I think it’s going to speed up some repairs.”
At the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe in Blyn, Scott Chitwood, natural resources director, said Martinez ruled “that the habitat that supports the fish the tribes have a treaty right to also is deserving of protection.”
He said “quite a few” culverts block migrating fish in the tribe’s usual and accustomed territory.
One of the worst — Jimmycomelately Creek — was replaced by a bridge in 2005 by a $6 million salmon habitat restoration project.
“You could just go right down Highway 101,” Chitwood said.
“Every one of those stream crossings that is a culvert should be a bridge.”
In Neah Bay, Makah Tribal Chairman Ben Johnson Jr. called the decision “real good for us.
“That’s our treaty. That’s a big plus for us.”
Makah councilman Micah McCarty said the ruling wasn’t just a tribal victory.
“It’s a valuable resource for the whole state,” he said.
“An icon for the Pacific Northwest is salmon. It’s probably good for the Pike Place Market, too.”
McCarty referred to the bazaar that is a magnet for Seattle residents and tourists alike.
Key to replacing the culverts is prioritizing them, spokespeople for all four tribes agreed.
Cost will be a factor, they said, but so will benefits.
“It’s a process of rating how much habitat you buy by opening a specific culvert,” said Morrill, “how much habitat are you making available to the fish.”
Said Krueger, “Every culvert should be fixed, but you have to decide which ones first.”
The state — which stipulated many of the tribes’ claims — has replaced some of the worst culverts, Chitwood said.
“The state deserves some credit for the work it’s done for working together with tribes to fix some of the larger, more important stream crossings.”
Martinez’s ruling obviated a full trial that had been set for Sept. 24, but he left that date on the docket to determine “an appropriate remedy in this matter.”
“The trial now will be about the remedies,” said Chitwood.
“The trial will focus on how much can we do and how soon can we do it.
“There’s a huge question about funding, and everybody knows that.”
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Reporter Jim Casey can be reached at 360-417-3538 or at jim.casey@peninsuladailynews.com.
