Sticks of Poison

Colin McDonald is an environmental journalism major at Western Washington University.

In an effort to protect salmon and the forage fish they feed on, the city of Bellingham is removing all creosote drift logs from the saltwater beaches of Whatcom County. The project, which started last year, was made possible by a grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology, funding from the Whatcom County Marine Resources Committee and help from several community groups.

Joni Cameron is the coordinator for the project and has become a professional beachcomber. Her plan is to have all the logs removed by November of this year. With felt-soled boots for walking on slippery logs and a notepad, she methodically moves along the high-tide line noting the size and location of every chemical treated log she finds. She then catalogs the information and figures out a way to remove the log. The logs range from football-sized chunks to 40-foot-long broken pilings weighing several tons.

Cameron knows every shade that a creosote log can come in. She knows the smell, the texture and just where to look on the beach. She also knows you don’t want to touch them. “I touched one up at the Lummi ferry dock and the skin on my finger tips started to peel,” said Cameron.

The creosote log that burned Cameron was several years old, but the creosote that was leaching out was still potent enough to cause a reaction with her skin. These same chemicals are leaching out from hundreds of creosote logs on the beaches of Whatcom County.

“It just makes sense,” said Barry Wenger, environmental planner and shoreline specialist for the Department of Ecology. “Get this poison off the beaches. We can do it right away. We don’t have to study it for years. We really can’t go wrong as I see it.”

Cameron has already overseen the removal of 100 pieces from Bellingham Bay and has cataloged another 300 between Sandy Point and Birch Bay. Still on the to do list are the beaches of the Lummi Reservation, Lummi Island, and the beaches north of Birch Bay.

The project is receiving help from the Bellingham Power Squadron, RE Sources, Bellingham’s Parks, Planning and Public Works departments, and the Port of Bellingham.

Known as “rogue” logs, the creosote logs are what remain of pilings, docks, railroad ties and bulkheads that have been tossed in Puget Sound or simply allowed to wash away. Designed to last, the logs eventually end up in the upper tidal zone, the highest area of the beach, where they sit and leach their toxic goo.

The upper tidal zone is the spawning ground for surf smelt and sand lance; a major food source for salmon.

“It is in the city’s best interest because of the salmon,” said Joy Monjure environmental educator for the city of Bellingham. “We want to do everything we can to make sure we are not affecting the salmon habitat.”

During an above average high tide, forage fish will swim in and lay their eggs as far up on the beach as they can. About a month later the eggs will hatch during another high tide and swim into the sound. When they are first hatched, the fish are the most susceptible to toxins. With the creosote logs literally in their nursery, the newborns are not off to an easy start.

“They (surf smelt and sand lance) spawn right by the drift logs,” said Wenger. “That’s where all the creosote logs show up, so the creosote logs are right on top of where they are spawning.”

As Wenger explained, an exposure time of two hours is enough to have cancerous and/or lethal effects on the fish larvae. If a sheen is visible on the water, the concentration levels are already over a thousand times past the lethal level. A recent study by the Department of Ecology showed that when Pacific herring were exposed to creosote, only nine percent of the free-floating eggs hatched and none of the eggs that attached to creosote-treated wood hatched. Of those eggs that survived all embryos were abnormal.

“It’s nasty stuff,” said Wenger. “Creosote is a composition, kind of a witch’s brew of 160 some odd chemicals, very similar to what’s in crude oil.”

A marine grade piling is pressure-treated so that creosote works its way two to four inches into the wood. As the piling ages, the creosote will continually seep out, renewing the creosote on the surface of the piling. This process of renewal protects the wood and deters any kind of growth on the wood. It also releases some of the most carcinogenic chemicals known.

A new marine grade piling that is 20 feet long with a diameter of 16 inches will have 80 gallons of creosote within its wood. This allows the piling to have a life span between 60 and 80 years. During this time, the piling will leach 20 percent or more of its creosote.

This leaching rate is accelerated when the logs are on the beach fully exposed to the weather, especially sunlight, and wave action.

“The weathered stuff really is nasty,” said Wenger. “It’s going to be kicking out the toxics at fairly high levels. You go out there and it’s dripping into the sand. It’s killing everything—surf smelt, sand lance—big time.”

Some of the logs will be carried out by hand and loaded into trucks; others will be rolled off the beaches and towed by boats to more accessible areas. All the logs will be taken to a warehouse at the Bellingham shipping terminal where they will dry out. When enough logs are gathered they will be sent by rail car to the Roosevelt landfill in Eastern Washington.

If the project is a success it is hoped that other counties will be able to start similar programs. Both San Juan County and Island County have expressed interest.

“The whole idea was to start a pilot project, and try to figure out what the pitfalls were, what the costs were, spend as little money as possible, and get as much cooperation from as many agencies for the whole thing” said Wenger. “I think it’s really going to take off.”