Third Runway Salmon

11/20/2008

Today (Thursday) marks the official opening of Seatac airport's third runway. The billion dollar project added a retaining wall 130 feet high. It's the tallest of its kind in North America. It also involved moving a stream while preserving its salmon run. As KUOW's Joshua McNichols reports, the results so far are mixed.

MILLER CREEK RUNS THROUGH SEATAC AIRPORT PROPERTY. TO GET HERE, YOU HAVE TO WALK THROUGH A QUARTER MILE OF MUDDY WETLAND THAT SUCKS THE SHOES OFF YOUR FEET.

WORKERS HAD TO RELOCATE PART THE STREAM TO MAKE ROOM FOR THE NEW THIRD RUNWAY.

JOSH FEIGIN IS A WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST FOR THE PORT OF SEATTLE. HE THINKS THE STREAM IS MUCH HEALTHIER NOW THAN IT WAS BEFORE CONSTRUCTION.

FEIGIN: "We are standing in an area that used to be just homemade bridges and houses and yards. Now it's an extensive forest that you have to wind your way through, and push trees out of your way."

FEIGIN IS FOLLOWED BY SEVERAL LOCAL T.V. CREWS. THEY'VE BEEN INVITED HERE TO SEE SALMON SPAWNING IN THIS CREEK. THE AIRPORT'S MEDIA PERSON CAUGHT ONE ON VIDEO AFTER THE RECENT STORMS. IT WAS THE FIRST SALMON SEEN THIS FAR UPSTREAM IN YEARS. FEIGIN SAYS THAT SHOWS THE STREAM IS RETURNING TO HEALTH.

BUT THERE'S A PROBLEM. WE CAN'T FIND THE SALMON.

FEIGIN: "We have not seen anything down here."

NOT EVERYONE GOES HOME EMPTY–HANDED. ONE OF THE T.V. CREWS BORROWS THE PORT'S VIDEOTAPE OF THE CELEBRITY SALMON.

A COUPLE MILES DOWNSTREAM I VISIT BRETT FISH. HE WAS BORN IN THIS HOUSE AND HE'S LIVED HERE MOST OF HIS LIFE. FISH SAYS THE STREAM'S HEALTH HAS DECLINED OVER THAT TIME. HE REMEMBERS MILLER CREEK RUNNING THICK WITH SALMON. IN RECENT YEARS, HE'S SEEN ONLY ABOUT A HUNDRED COME BACK EACH SEASON. THEN THIS YEAR, THE FISH NEARLY STOPPED. HE COUNTED ONLY FOUR.

FISH: "Every year, with the exception of this year, the bald eagles come and start flying around and talking to us and telling us 'the fish are coming, the fish are coming.' The kingfishers start flying up the stream and they announce who's turf this is. All of this is missing this year. And the reason is, I am positive, is what happened three years ago."

THREE YEARS AGO, MAJOR CONSTRUCTION WAS UNDERWAY ON THE THIRD RUNWAY. THE STATE'S DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY STARTED FINING THE AIRPORT FOR WHAT IT CALLED "MAJOR VIOLATIONS." CONTRACTORS ACCIDENTALLY DUMPED MILLIONS OF GALLONS OF CONTAMINATED WATER INTO MILLER CREEK.

WITH THE WETLANDS GONE, WINTER STORMS COMBINED WITH THE POLLUTED WATER TO SCOUR THE CREEK BOTTOM. ALL THE SPAWNING GRAVEL WASHED INTO PUGET SOUND.

BRETT FISH THINKS THOSE EVENTS KILLED THE JUVENILE SALMON. HE SAYS ADULT COHO CAN'T BUILD NESTS IN THE LARGE ROCKS THAT REMAIN.

FROM BRETT FISH'S PROPERTY, THE STREAM FLOWS THROUGH NORMANDY PARK. IT RUNS CLOSE TO CITY HALL, WHERE CLARKE BRANT SITS ON THE NORMANDY PARK CITY COUNCIL. BRANT'S A RETIRED PILOT. HE SAYS DESPITE WHAT THE PORT SAYS, IT DOESN'T WANT SALMON IN MILLER CREEK. THAT'S BECAUSE FISH CARCASSES ATTRACT BIRDS. AND BIRDS CAN CAUSE AIRPLANES TO CRASH.

BRANT: "Airports don't like birds. They don't like wildlife. So all the plantings that they have done around the airport, it looks great when you drive by it. All these young trees, and plantings and shrubberies coming up. None of it produces fruit or anything that birds or wildlife would be attracted to."

A SPOKESMAN FOR THE AIRPORT CONFIRMED BRANT'S COMMENTS. HE SAYS THE PORT WOULDN'T MIND A SMALL SALMON RUN IN THE LOWER PART OF MILLER CREEK. BUT IT WON'T REMOVE A SALMON BARRIER THAT WOULD OPEN UP ITS HEADWATERS.

WILDLIFE BIOLOGISTS DISAGREE ON WHETHER THE SALMON RUN CAN RETURN TO FULL HEALTH WITHOUT THE REST OF THE ECOSYSTEM, INCLUDING ITS BIRDS.

BUT BRETT FISH DOES SEE REASON FOR OPTIMISM. HE SAYS SIGNS OF LIFE ARE STARTING TO REAPPEAR IN MILLER CREEK. HE PULLS A BASEBALL–SIZED ROCK OUT OF THE WATER. IT'S SPOTTED WITH BUGS AND SNAILS.

FISH: "Here's another good rock here that's probably got a lot of... Yeah, it's covered. A periwinkle building a house. And here's evidence of other little babies. And you can see another little critter crawling right there? It's a good sign. It's evidence that the water is being cleaned up."

BRETT FISH SHRUGS AS HE TOSSES THE ROCK BACK INTO THE STREAM. HE SAYS MAYBE THE PORT IS DOING SOMETHING RIGHT.

FOR KUOW, I'M JOSHUA MCNICHOLS.

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