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Dear Editor,
Recently the Snohomish County Council voted 3-2 to reduce the buffer for wetlands from 100 to 50 feet, plus a fence, using the need to house the projected population increase of 100,000 over the next 10 years as justification.
Unfortunately, wildlife-used wetlands are under-protected already and this will make it worse. The Washington Department of Ecology recommends buffers of a minimum of 100 feet. Reducing this to 50 feet would severely limit wildlife habitat. The need for more housing is a serious problem, but so is reducing critical habitat for salmon, wading birds, amphibians, aquatic mammals and others. Essentially, Snohomish County is relegating all wetlands in the county to a category III, as defined by the State of Washington, opening up the possibility of declaring the wetlands as non-functioning and removing wildlife protection completely. A fence is not habitat.
We need to responsibly plan for future population increases, but trading our wildlife and the reputation of our county as an environmentally responsible entity is a very bad bargain. Once habitats are gone, it is difficult, time consuming, and expensive to restore them, and impossible to restore to their original state. Additionally, this would be a backward step in the state goal of restoring Puget Sound, including salmon runs.
The purpose of government is to both help the citizens and protect the environment so that life is worth living in the governed area. We must make the world we leave our children better, not worse, then the one we inherited.
David B. Richman
Edmonds
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