Spring 2000 Table of Contents

Earth Day is good time to take stock of growth

With the 30th observance of Earth Day on April 22, 2000, we have more than 5.7 million reasons to focus attention on environmental issues in Washington state.

Those reasons? They’re all people.

Washington’s human population has grown almost 40 percent, or over 2.2 million people, since Earth Day was first celebrated three decades ago. That makes our state one of the most densely populated in the West.

With this population growth has come tremendous pressures on the state’s natural resources, including fish and wildlife and their habitat. Today, at least 30,000 acres, and perhaps as much as 80,000 acres, of fish and wildlife habitat are destroyed or negatively altered annually.

“Since the first Earth Day, Washington state has undergone tremendous population growth,” WDFW Director Jeff Koenings says. “This growth has fundamentally altered many of our state’s terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and contributed to the critical decline or elimination of many of our native fish and wildlife species.”

For example:

• There are 49 fish and wildlife species in Washington state listed as endangered or threatened by the federal government or the state; 75 others are of concern and could be added to those lists. The primary reason for decline of most species was habitat loss or degradation.
• An estimated 700 state rivers and streams fail to meet federal Clean Water Act standards. About 3,000 miles of streams are blocked to salmon passage by road culverts. Only 22 percent of juvenile wild chinook survive to reach the ocean.
• An estimated 90 percent of the wetlands in urban areas have been lost to development. Of all of the state’s wetlands left, only 35 percent presently are considered to have good water quality. About 43 percent of threatened and endangered species rely on wetlands for survival.
• Thirty years ago, there were 23.1 million acres of forestland in Washington; today there are about 20 million . Old-growth forests have declined from near 9 million acres to just 2.6 million acres.
• Since the ‘70s, native grasslands and shrub-steppe habitat has been reduced to only a few intact areas, causing the deline of 17 wildlife species, including sage and sharp-tailed grouse, golden eagles, burrowing owls, pygmy rabbits, ferruginous hawks, Washington ground squirrels and even the formerly ubiquitous black-tailed and white-tailed jackrabbits.

“If our jackrabbits are in trouble, Koenings says, “we know our ecosystems are in big trouble. We must focus research, protection and restoration efforts in these and other habitats that are part of our natural heritage.”

Looking back at losses over the last 30 years and working to offset them is one thing. Looking ahead is quite another, since our state population is estimated to double by the middle of this new century. That would add the equivalent of 29 cities the size of Tacoma or Spokane!

“The really hard work to protect and recover our wildlife and fish in the 21st century will not occur in Washington, D.C. or Olympia,” Koenings says. “It will occur in the many cities and counties across the state, carried out by partnerships between government and citizen groups and individuals. Whether it’s salmon recovery or Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary management, the best conservation efforts come from the bottom up, not the top down.”

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