Dredging disturbing Columbia wildlife

To The Eagle:

On September 14, I took a boat out to Miller Sands, across the channel from Altoona. This was the site of the only White Pelican nesting colony west of the Cascade range. When I arrived the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were working at the site. They had bulldozed all the vegetation and were pumping dredge spoils on the nesting area. Now that the site is steep and free of cover, it will not be usable for the pelicans next year. I contacted Bird Research Northwest and a biologist from the Lewis & Clark National Wildlife Refuge, who had cooperated to band 71 chicks there last July. Neither had known that the Corps had buried the site.

I understand that the dredging is essential for maintaining the shipping channel, but it would have been easy for the Corps to deposit spoils nearby without disturbing the nesting area. The pelicans used only the last 30 yards or so of the Miller Sands north spit, and the island spoils area extends for over a mile up river. The nesting area had some features that made it a good site, including a shallow approach with a short walk to a relatively flat area with shrub cover for the chicks. Most local islands are unsuitable either because they are tidal marsh, are diked, are too steep, lack cover, or have too much human disturbance. The pelicans may or may not be able to find another nesting site in the area next year.

Numerous studies have found that White Pelicans have very little impact on salmon smolts. They are a big bird, weighing up to 16 pounds with a 9-foot wingspan, and they specialize on shad and other similar-sized fish.

The Corps has the power to do good work on the Columbia, for wildlife as well as for shipping. Unfortunately, they have a history of doing what they want here without taking the concerns of other river users or the needs of wildlife into account, such as the damage they did to the Dungeness crab industry. Since they did their recent work at the pelican site without even contacting the researchers who worked there, I thought I could at least shine some light on their actions. Anyone interested in giving their opinion may contact Matt Rabe of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Portland District Public Affairs Office at 503-808-4511.

Andrew Emlen

Skamokawa