February 3, 2004
Sound
Waters proves people care
By Jim Larsen
Literally hundreds of Whidbey Islanders
cared enough about their environment to give up an entire Saturday
for learning about everything from seaweed to Native American history.
The Jan. 31 turnout for the annual Sound Waters "one-day university"
focusing on the natural world of Puget Sound astounded even Don
Meehan, who as WSU/Island County Extension Director helped found
the event 10 years ago, and has been organizing education seminars
for more than two decades.
"It's a stunning show of interest by the public," said Meehan. "In
all my 22 years doing these kinds of programs I've never seen such
a rush to enroll." He was pleased last year when 266 people enrolled,
but elated when about 400 people paid $20 each for this year's event.
The performance center at Coupeville Middle School was packed for
the opening speech by Russel Barsh, research director for the Samish
Nation. A Harvard-educated human ecologist and human rights lawyer,
Barsh immediately took the crowd back some 150 years before Europeans
settled the Puget Sound region.
Barsh told his listeners to banish from their minds any idea that
the first white settlers found an entirely natural environment when
they arrived on Whidbey Island. The Penn Cove area particularly
was already settled by Coast Salish people, including the Snohomish,
Kikialos and Skagits.
Barsh said the Native American population in the Puget Sound area
was around 30,000 inhabitants, with 1,500 or more of them living
around Penn Cove in houses made of wood.
"The ecosystems of the Northwest were creations of people's activities
before the Europeans arrived," Barsh said. But all that soon ended
with the new arrivals. "It was like a garden people weren't taking
care of any more," he said. "Take the people out of it and the ecosystem
dies. Change the people's culture and the ecosystem dies."
Barsh painted in his listeners' minds a picture of the Puget Sound
area ecosystem as it was in the 1800s, and thousands of years before
that. Research suggests that the ecosystem in this region had been
stable for thousands of years, since the pyramids were built. "Consider
how many civilizations rose and fell in Europe and Africa in those
4,500 years," he said. "Now in just 150 years we've got some real
trouble."
Penn Cove residents in those days cultivated both Ebey's prairie
and the beaches, using hoes to grow the camas plant, which was a
dietary staple, and to keep the beaches in prime condition for shellfish
growth. Every few years they would burn the camas fields, which
fed nutrients into the water. Barsh estimates as much land was under
cultivation then as there is now.
"They were living very happily," Barsh said of the native peoples.
"They shared resources and didn't fish down to the last fish." Whidbey
Island residents would visit relatives on the Skagit River to help
with the salmon harvest, and hosted them as summer visitors when
shellfish, camas, smelt and herring were gathered. There were also
great natural reefs of native oysters, which the people maintained.
"That all disappeared very quickly with the Europeans," Barsh said.
Wendy Sundquist, a Langley resident, described Barsh's presentation
as "terrific . it made me wonder how we can achieve that equilibrium,
and give back," she said. She was hoping to give back by learning
how to make an addition to her house with eco-friendly materials.
Barsh took obvious pleasure in seeing so many people interested
in improving the environment. "I'm absolutely awed by the turnout,"
he said. "The tribal leaders appreciate your commitment."
After the keynote address, the crowd broke up to attend a variety
of classes taught by some 30 volunteers, many from the Island County
Beach Watchers program. Mary
Jo Adams' class on "Look what just washed in," was well attended,
as was Matt Klope's "Mammals of Puget Sound." A sampling of other
offerings includes "Puget Sound's Massive Tides," "World of the
Dungeness Crab," "Become a Shore Steward," "Water Catchment Systems,"
"Butterflies," "Clean Boating" and "Eelgrass."
There were also a variety of educational displays to peruse. The
Shell Oil Refinery in Anacortes sent Brian Rhodes, who told about
a new $90 million facility that just opened there to remove sulphur
from gasoline, which will help keep the environment cleaner. He
too was impressed by the turnout, and the interest in making this
a better place to live. "It's a great way to get local people physically
involved," he said.
All classes were held at the school, except for "The Total Shellfish
Experience," which was held at the Oystercatcher restaurant in Coupeville.
Duane Fagergren from Taylor Seafarms taught about oyster and mussel
rearing, while restaurant owner Susan Vanderbeek demonstrated oyster
shucking. Back at the school, seminar attendees lunched on cold
sandwiches and chips, while the Oystercatcher crowd enjoyed fresh
oysters. As in any university, some classes are more popular than
others.
At the end, Meehan saw the Sound Waters success as proof that Whidbey
Islanders are becoming more interested in learning about and helping
to improve their surroundings.
"People are really getting interested in where they live," Meehan
said. "They care about this place and want to understand and protect
it."
The event was sponsored by Beach Watchers
with help from the Marine Resources Committee, Island
County Public Works, the Puget Sound Action Team, Town of Coupeville
and Washington Dept. of Ecology.
© Copyright 2003 Whidbey News Times
Reproduced with permission