HomeMy WebLinkAbout243.Triggs, R. 5-6_JeffCo Shoreline Master Plan Comments May 6 2010
Michelle McConnell
From:littlestoneflyfisher@mail.com
Sent:Thursday, May 06, 2010 11:07 AM
To:Stewart, Jeff R. (ECY)
Subject:Jefferson County Shoreline Master Plan Comments May 6, 2010
Categories:LASMP Public Comment
Dear Mr Stewart
Please accept this message as my Public Testiomony and Comments on the Jefferson County Shoreline Master Plan.
I have lived in Jefferson County for the past ten years. Previous to cominghere I have had an opportunity to live in
shoreline and riparian areas in the Northeastern, Southeastern and Southwestern quadrants of the United States. In
nearly every case of my having revisited the favorite outdoors places of my childhood, later as an adult, I found those
places filled, paved and developed. The old beach near Larchmont NY, that was the only little local (free) place that we
had access as kids to Long Island Sound, where we launched all manner of craft and fished, swam etc, had been fenced
off, filled in and paved for parking. The pavement led directly to the waters edg. Local residents lamented the loss of
access, the diminished quality of habitat, and the disappearance of annual forage species and fin fish species, and the
loss of shellfishing opportunity. In Inverness Florida I saw a once vast swampland and lake, a place that had supported
huge numbers of migratory waterfowl, alligators, bass and baitfish, indigenous birds, cypress trees etc, all developed into
a complex of shoulder to shoulder luxury homes, with "exclusive private access" to what was left of the original lake, now
a tenth of its original size, and bordered completey by lawns and a golfcourse. I did not see a single boat. They told me
that the bass, ducks and alligators were gone. I can relate countless experiences of this in my 56 years lifetime- instances
where development interests took control of critical habitats and destroyed the once functional ecology of those places.
One only has to walk the bulkheaded and barricaded shorelines of Puget Sound, especially South Sound, to see the
impacts here.
If we have l;earned anything it is that the farther away from the water's edge that we develop or disturb soils and
groundwater, the less that we interrupt natural sediment transport in waterways, and the less we change critical fish and
wildlife habitats; the healthier the ecology of those places remains. This protects our own health. The lack of foresight and
the absence of science based planning that allowed nearly unchecked development of our shorelines has lead to tragic
losses in fisheries, wildlive and habitat quality. All of this has landed on the human residents as well, and as each
generation has passed on the known first hand history of a once healthy and abundant world has become nothing but a
distant reference in the back books.
I support the Jefferson County Shoreline Master Plan in entirety. My only qualificatiopn to this support would be that I
believe that the 150 foot setbacks are not enough- I feel that the buffers should be set well beyond that distance. I came
here for the wilderness and the fish and the beauty of this place. I have worked as a volunteer in the WSU Water
programs here, and I support a number of WDFW Regional Fisheries Enhancement Group efforts here as a field
volunteer. I see what w ehave here and I want to take a role in supporting and conserving and even preserving it. Having
seen the losses as a consequence of ignoring this, I learned the lesson.
Sincerely,
Robert L. Triggs
PO Box 261
Port Townsend, WA 98368
360-385-9618
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