On a blustery and wet evening in December 2003, nearly 5,000 gallons of oil came ashore on the natural beachfront known as Doe Kag Wats to the Suquamish people.
Now that a decade of healing has passed, the 400-acre area is recovering better than the tribe had hoped.
The initial spill response and cleanup took several months during the winter of 2004. A resource damage assessment led to the development of the Point Wells Oil Spill Restoration Plan, named for the pier where the spill started.
“We’ve done just a few restoration projects to help the area, but basically through self-restoration, it’s at pre-spill conditions now,” said Tom Ostrom, the tribe’s environmental planner.
When 4,800 gallons of oil overflowed from a barge across Puget Sound near Edmonds, winds and tides quickly pushed the oil spill into the 5 acres of estuary near Indianola, on the Port Madison Indian Reservation.
“Around the time of the spill, there were no rules requiring booms to be deployed during fuel transfer,” Ostrom said. “Since then, the Legislature has moved to require them.”
Projects related to the restoration plan included removing invasive species such as spartina, and restoring a small estuary at the nearby Indianola Waterfront Preserve. The preserve was historically restricted by an undersized culvert and past dredge spoil deposits.
A major project in 2011 at Doe Kag Wats removed tons of creosote-treated debris left over from decades of projects around Puget Sound where treated pilings were used to construct docks, piers, bulkheads and other structures.
“Regardless of the spill, the projects we’ve done have benefited the estuary overall,” Ostrom said. “Removing the 300 tons of creosote logs from the marsh meant removing a constant source of contamination.”
Meaning “place of deer,” Doe Kag Wats has been used by members for harvesting and ceremonies. The oil spill polluted important nearshore habitat used by forage fish and salmon, and damaged shellfish beds.
The tribe is developing a monitoring plan and expects to remove more contaminated wood from portions of the estuary this fall.
