Community Environment
Green crabs, blackberries and knotweed not invited to State of the Watershed address
Editors note: This story has been updated since it was first posted. Meghan Whidden discussed Minterbrook Oyster Company. An earlier version of this story attributed the presentation to the wrong person.
Green crabs, and blackberries, and suspicious septic tanks — oh, my!
OK, OK — no one actually said the above verbatim, and this writer will admit that the last bit doesn’t roll off the tongue so well. But invasive species and improperly installed septic tanks (and how to access septic financial assistance) were among the topics discussed at the 2024 State of the Watershed meeting on Oct. 23.
Put on by Pierce County’s Key Peninsula-Gig Harbor-Islands (KGI) Watershed Council, the open-to-the-public meeting featured speakers who brought different kinds of expertise in the realm of conservation.
An invading crab
For her talk, Stena Troyer, the science director at Harbor WildWatch, passed around “props … because I think that’s pretty fun.”
These props were crab carapaces, or shells — one of which belonged to the European green crab. Those carapaces are not so fun. Troyer and Molt Search volunteers look for them on a regular basis.
European green crabs originally hail from Europe and North Africa. These tiny, five-spined critters wreak havoc on native species.
They have few predators, aggressively hunt prey, and destroy eelgrass, an important aquatic plant who provides shelter and foraging areas for marine life.
Pay attention to those five spines: “The way you tell them apart [from other crab species] is they have five spines … on the wide side of the carapace,” Troyer told listeners.
“The European green crab, while it’s been detected in … some of the San Juan Islands, and then one spot in the Hood Canal, hasn’t made it south yet,” Troyer said. “But we like to remind people that zeroes [zero detections] are important, too. … In order to tell the story of the potential invasion of this non-native crab species, it’s important to have those zeros.”
People who are interested in learning how to spot the European green crab can find more information here.
Septic stories
Attendees also learned how important it is to have a well-functioning septic system, via a story about Minterbrook Oyster Company. Officials from the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department (TPCHD) accidentally discovered that not only was Minterbrook Oyster Company’s septic system installed incorrectly sometime in the 1960s, it was incorrectly installed without a permit. (Spoiler alert: This story has a happy ending, and the oyster farm now has a well-working, well-installed septic system. The surrounding waters report that they are very happy about this, too.)
Health officials did not go looking for problems, Meghan Whidden from the health department’s surface water quality team explained. Pierce County is one of several counties across the state that participate in what are known as Shellfish Protection Districts (SPDs), which are areas of water the state and local partners monitor to protect and improve shellfish habitats. In Pierce County, this encompasses Minter Bay, Vaughn Bay, Burley Lagoon and Filucy Bay.
“We know that failing septic systems can directly (lead to) human illness and leaking sewage can become nutrients for toxic algae,” Whidden said. “Consuming shellfish that have been living in water with high bacterial levels can lead to illness.”
Water quality had declined noticeably since 2020, Whidden said. Because public education is key to improving water quality, the health department reached out to Minterbrook Oyster to ask whether they could host a “Septic Social” on their property.
“But we wanted to make sure that they had a properly functioning septic system,” Whidden said. Officials discovered that the septic system did not match the health department’s records, which meant someone relocated and installed the system without a permit. “At the same time we discovered this, we also started getting high bacteria counts from the drainages around Minterbrook Oyster.”
This was important to know, Whidden said, because “there’s a pretty high chance of your bacteria making it back to those oysters.” People could be eating contaminated shellfish.
A complex, multi-team site investigation ultimately discovered that a back-up in the improperly installed septic system was problem.
Minterbrook partnered on project
Fixing the issue was difficult, and involved closing the bay to commercial shellfishing for 21 days. Minterbrook Oyster Company temporarily shut down its retail operations. The repairs took four months. In the meantime, the company temporarily converted its septic system into a watertight holding tank, which they agreed to have pumped regularly.
Despite the hurdles, Minterbrook was not at all opposed to fixing the problem, Whidden said.
“The Minterbrook Oyster Company has been one of our biggest champions, since we’ve done this,” Whidden said. “And they’re just a great example of how we can work together to achieve a big goal, because ultimately, it was in Minterbrook’s best interest to get that growing area back open again. So, they knew that they needed to do what they had to do to help, and to work with us to get this done.”
While Minterbrook paid for the repairs and pumping, Whidden said that the state’s Department of Ecology recently expanded the income eligibility criteria of who may receive financial assistance for septic inspection, installation, pumping and repair.
Interested readers can find that application here.
A ‘naturalist spy’
Audience members also heard from Chris Rurik, a local naturalist and writer who gives monthly nature walks. Rurik spoke about his many years as a naturalist.
Rurik told listeners that when he started writing for the Key Pen News five years ago, one of the first things he did was to put out feelers to the local community to ask what people were observing in the environment around them, which turned him into what he termed a “naturalist spy.”
“I just see my role as gathering information about the species that are around us and celebrating them. And that vision of having a network of spies has really come into being,” Rurik said. “I just get to spend time all the time with the private landowners who’ve lived on the Key Peninsula for ages — learn from them, hear their stories, and try and collect all that information. And it’s been so rewarding, because I have a lot of history and a strong sense of stewardship from growing up (in the area).”
Land conservation
Dr. Michael Behrens updated listeners on land conservation in the watershed. Behrens is a founding member of the Gig Harbor Land Conservation Fund, which recently joined forces with the Great Peninsula Conservancy (GPC), an organization that works in different ways to protect land in and around the Great Peninsula.
Behrens, a professor at Pacific Lutheran University, serves on the GPC’s board. He highlighted the GPC’s recent work on successfully conserving a little more than 50 acres of land within Gig Harbor, known as the txʷaalqəł Conservation Area.
“It’s a really neat gem right within the city,” Behrens said of the conservation area. “And hopefully, eventually, we’ll open to the public when we deal with some infrastructure issues.”
Knotweed and blackberries
Bruce Murray of Wauna dove into how much coordination and planning has gone into removing invasive species, such as Japanese knotweed and Himalayan blackberry, from the Purdy Spit. It is an entirely volunteer-driven effort, relying on people who care about the health of the environment they share with native plant and animal species.
“The work has taken about 200 volunteer hours,” Murray said of the effort, which began earlier this year, and which is projected to take several years. “There have been no costs, other than those born by the volunteers and [the Washington State Department of Transportation]. I’m very encouraged by the support for this project, and I look forward to continuing progress towards greater public enjoyment in future years.”
“The fruits of our labor are highly visible at this special place,” he continued. “It’s a mini scenic highway, and the ‘welcome mat’ for the Key Peninsula.”