By Susan Berta and Howard Garrett

Orca Network is pleased to learn of the proposed feasibility study to assess the possibility of restoring the Greenbank Pocket Estuary, located off North Bluff Road. This is one of those win-win-win situations, and Orca Network fully supports and endorses this effort, and encourages residents of Island County to join in supporting this project that is good for salmon, orcas and people!

The importance of small, “pocket” estuaries such as the Greenbank Estuary in the Whidbey Basin are known to be of utmost importance for nearshore rearing of chinook and other salmon species during their early out-migration from the Skagit, Stilliguamish, and Snohomish rivers. Island County doesn’t have any large, salmon-bearing rivers, but instead is an important nursery area for salmon, providing nutrition and protection as they make their way from the rivers to the ocean, and again when the salmon return.

Island County’s contribution to salmon restoration lies in protecting these nearshore areas, and restoring the small estuaries so important for survival of the salmon, and the Greenbank Estuary provides a perfect restoration opportunity.

But this project isn’t just good for salmon. The objectives of this feasibility assessment are to not only restore 23.5 acres of historic salmon habitat and restore the beach face for forage fish spawning, but to also protect residents on the spit from flooding, providing wave energy dispersion and ensuring adequate sediment resources to maintain the spit, to maintain boat ramp access for the Greenbank Beach & Boat Club, and to maintain the Greenbank Farm holding pond for fire suppression and drought year irrigation.

So this project is good for those who live here as well — especially those of us who like to eat salmon, speaking of which, the main reason Orca Network supports this project is because anything that is good for salmon, is good for our endangered Southern Resident orcas!

In the fall and winter months, the Southern Resident orca pods pass through Puget Sound following the salmon runs, and through our Whale Sighting Network we have tracked the pods coming up Saratoga Passage and feeding in the Greenbank area often. In the spring and summer, the Southern Residents have historically relied upon chinook salmon to sustain them — they are larger, more oil and fat-filled, and by far the preferred meal for resident orcas. Scientists have determined a direct link between the timing of steep declines in Southern Resident orca population to the declines in chinook salmon. When the orcas don’t get enough to eat, they suffer more from the toxins in their systems that are locked into their fatty cells, and unleashed when they are forced to draw upon their blubber reserves for energy. In times when the salmon runs are healthy enough to sustain the orcas, they are able to handle the toxins and other stresses upon their population. But when there aren’t enough salmon, the whales begin dying, few new calves are born, and this small and precarious population faces extinction. For more information on the link between orcas and salmon, go to: www.orcanetwork.org/habitat/habitat.html.

We cannot imagine the great Pacific Northwest without salmon or orcas, and we need to all work together to do whatever we can to restore the habitat we’ve destroyed in our haste to live in and develop this place we all love so much. Each little project that can restore a nursery for salmon and forage fish, improve the natural estuarine processes that protect uplands from flooding, and return a little bit of nature back to what it used to be, is something we should all be proud to be a part of.

We ask you to join us in supporting the Greenbank Estuary Project, for our salmon, for our orcas, and for future generations who deserve to feel the joy of seeing salmon jumping and orcas breaching.

Susan Berta and Howard Garrett operate the Orca Network in Greenbank.