Re-imagining San Juan Streams

by Meghan Fenwick

From the iconic view near JB Farm on Orcas Island, tourists can catch a glimpse of grazing cattle and forests, framed by the peaks of Turtleback Mountain on the horizon. One piece of the scenery puzzle may be absent during the dryer summer months. 

Crow Valley Creek runs adjacent to the San Juan Preservation Trust’s (1) JB Farm Preserve — when there is enough water to run. The San Juan Islands have a rich history of agriculture, especially along stream corridors where the soil is fertile. Shortsighted water management practices, climate change and development pressures have degraded the brooks that once babbled year-long. 

When Carol Clark and her family first connected with the Trust, she expressed concern that JB Farm, which her family bought over 60 years ago, would be subject to development and host “McMansions,” said Dean Dougherty, director of stewardship for the Trust. 

Two Decades Ago

Nearly two decades ago, the Trust purchased a conservation easement on JB Farm, preserving its agricultural legacy in perpetuity. In 2022, Clark’s daughter donated 192 acres directly to the Trust. 

The Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving San Juan land, envisions a return of meandering, cool, abundant and healthy streams. A rebound of native plant and animal species would both follow and ensure this fate, in turn creating healthy and vibrant farms. 

“We’re hoping that these streams become these slower-running creeks where a lot more water is being held back, which is going to help the water table and help the areas outside that creek area hold moisture through the summer,” Dougherty said. “They will all be shaded over with trees eventually, which will keep the temperatures lower and is good for all the fish. Then, as they get filled in with plants, the beaver will come back in, and it will be home for lots of birds, insects, and amphibians.”

Preserving the island’s supply of groundwater is also a public health priority: precipitation is the only way to recharge island lakes. The majority of San Juan residents receive their drinking water from groundwater. 

“The thing that’s different about the San Juan Islands than the mainland is that we don’t have the snowpack to maintain our water,” said Campbell Mishel, member of the San Juan Island Conservation District’s (SJICD) (2) Island Conservation Corps. “This source needs to be managed really  intentionally because if it gets as hot and dry as some are predicting, then this water could disappear very quickly.”

To jumpstart these chain reactions, the Trust is collaborating with the SJIDC, the San Juan County Conservation Land Bank (3), the county, and private landowners to plant trees and install livestock exclusion fences along stream corridors. 

Historical Accounts

Many residents remember these streams aligning with Dougherty’s vision and have witnessed the degradation over time. Lived experiences like these help inform conservation efforts through historical accounts like beaver and salmon presence. Nineteenth-century maps and 20th century aerial imagery tell tales of ditching streams for drainage. Islanders are also active in the current restoration movement, donating their time and land to organizations like the Trust and SJICD. 

“People who have lived here for a long time see these streams that, in their childhood, they frolicked in and now no longer would consider safe doing so because of algal blooms or there’s just not enough water. I think these concerns were originally brought up by residents a long time ago. Over time, we’ve been slowly chipping away and there’s been land acquisition on behalf of the land bank or the preservation trust that offers opportunities to really get in there and do some work,” said Tyler Davis, program manager of San Juan County’s environmental stewardship department.

A 2018 water quality assessment from the Washington State Department of Ecology further highlighted the state of San Juan streams, reigniting the efforts to bring life back to the island’s riparian habitats (4). False Bay Creek on San Juan Island is one of the few perennial streams, and recent studies revealing salmon presence has cemented its prospect status for ecological restoration. The assessment deemed the creek a category 5, or an impaired body of water that requires improvement projects.

High Bacterial Levels

In 2021, the Department of Ecology awarded San Juan County over $100,000 towards a riparian restoration at Red Mill Farm, another Trust-owned property along False Bay Creek. Several hundred cattle had unrestricted access to the creek, contributing to high bacterial levels. The grant enabled county, Trust and SJIDC staff to install 3,500 feet of fencing, create a 100-foot buffer zone throughout the corridor by planting native trees and shrubs, and install an alternative water system for the cattle. 

False Bay Creek runs roughly two miles, varying based on seasonality. The entire watershed, the largest on the island, drains into the False Bay inlet which homes eelgrass and kelp and provides feeding grounds for Chinook salmon. A variety of land uses intertwine with these ecosystems, including the San Juan County Conservation Land Bank’s Lake Zylstra Lake Preserve.

“The entire stream is interconnected,” said Campbell Mishel, a master’s degree student enrolled in SJIDC’s Island Conservation Corps (ICC). “If we want to see a healthy and vibrant riparian ecosystem and a clean stream, everyone needs to work together to make sure that they’re stewarding their section of stream in an ecologically sound way.”

The ICC is a program where members can earn a certification in ecological restoration and credits towards their master’s degree. Mishel joined the crew in 2022 after receiving a degree in sustainability studies from Colorado Mountain College. His continued passion for the outdoors led him to the islands and the ICC, and his positive experience turned into a second year with the program.

Riparian Restoration Projects

Throughout the watersheds, islanders have a lot more ground to cover. In addition to grant funding and labor, riparian restoration projects are also large time investments. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which the ICC crew takes direction from in their protocols, trees and other native shrubs take around 2-5 years to be considered established, or when their regeneration rate surpasses their losses. Depending on the species, it can take half a century for a tree to reach maturity and provide streams the most benefit.

“It takes time, but you have to start somewhere,” Davis said. “The best time to plant a tree is 25 years ago, the next best time is today.”

One maintenance measure that ensures the success of the new plants is to diligently knock back reed canary grass, an invasive species brought by European settlers due to their success in wet environments. Over time, reed canary grass has proved so successful that it outcompetes other plants in the riparian habitat. Their stubborn roots are dense and heavy, making any effort to rid them of an entire habitat quite the undertaking.

“We spend all day digging hundreds of holes for the plants, and usually it’s in the winter, so it’s raining,” Mishel said. “It’s definitely not my favorite work, but we remind ourselves that it needs to be done, and hopefully we can come back in 30 years and be excited about it. When you come back and you see that the plants have survived the summer, that’s a good feeling.”

The team expects to see the fruits of their labor in around 20 years. Some measures of success will be the presence and abundance of native plants and animals, the minimizing of invasive species, and the physical structure of the stream. 

Return of the Beavers

While reconfiguring the landscape, early settlers hunted beavers, the previous ecosystem engineers. Beavers still call Orcas Island home, but not in the same abundance, and not at Crow Valley Creek. A major victory would be the return of the beavers, who would help provide fish passages, cool and slow down the water through dam building. The teams have constructed their own dams to both achieve some of these goals and entice the beavers.

The majority of land use along the creek corridor is agricultural with more residential properties concentrated towards the bay. SJIDC works for both the people and the environment, providing information, technical assistance and sometimes grant funding for projects that enable farmers to steward their land in an ecologically and economically sound way. 

“As we’ve talked to agricultural producers along that watershed, we’ve noticed that a lot of riparian concerns were coming up, and there’s been a lot of conversations within the community for several years and amongst neighbors,” said Laura Pitts, SJICD’s Riparian Natural Resource Project Manager. ”The community sort of paved the path for us to get involved.”

Pitts hosted a community meeting in November in anticipation of grant funding and to build upon their previous restoration projects in Crow Valley. The meeting was a success, with neighbors connecting on natural resource strategies, making suggestions for SJCD, and leaving eager to get involved, according to Pitts. 

Nonregulatory organizations like SJICD help bridge the gap between the people and their government, a relationship that sometimes breeds inherent distrust, Davis said.

“It takes some effort to dial things back and figure out how to put things back in balance, but most agriculturalists are in tune with the environment,” Davis said. They’re often very supportive of environmental conservation. It’s natural for those two things to go hand in hand.”

Grant Funding

The county recently received another round of grant funding from the Washington State Department of Ecology. Over $270,000 will go towards riparian planting across 3,500 feet below Lake Zylstra in False Bay.

The information and funding are set in place for the near future of the labor of love that is restoring the vital streams in the San Juan Islands. With patience and consistency, islanders from all walks of life will have access to the healthy streams that their relatives remember and their advocates are striving for.

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Meghan Fenwick is a graduate of Western Washington University who recently earned her degree in environmental journalism.

References:

1.  https://sjpt.org/
2.  https://www.sanjuanislandscd.org/
3.  https://sjclandbank.org/
4.  https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/approvedwqa/approvedpages/viewapprovedlisting.aspx?ListingId=45712