Swinomish Oil Spill Preparedness Project Jon Boe Swinomish Environmental Management Specialist Swinomish Indian Tribal Community La Conner, Washington

Where is the Swinomish Reservation?

Why should the Swinomish be concerned with oil spills on or near their Reservation? 27 Miles of shoreline 2900 Acres Intertidal area Several hundred acres of estuarine salmonid rearing habitat Fish and shellfish consumption rates many times that of the general population

2 Large refineries on March Point Railroad crossing Reservation intertidal area 3 major petroleum pipelines crossing the Reservation and the Swinomish Channel Commercial and recreational shipping and boating traffic around the circumference of the Reservation

Project Scope and Objectives During a regional spill scenario, provide trained personnel to assess and provide timely and accurate information to the incident commander on affected habitat on the Reservation, in order to facilitate effective response actions Train and provide personnel to respond to certain spill scenarios using local resources

Current GRP locations On the Swinomish Reservation

Additional high quality fish and wildlife habitat on the Reservation vulnerable to oil spill contamination

How we plan to accomplish this project Conduct Reservation habitat assessments on potentially vulnerable areas Make recommendations to update the Geographical Response Plans that affect the Reservation Determine what we can do locally and develop procedures to accomplish that Develop effective spill response command, control and communication procedures Recruit, organize, equip and train volunteers to accomplish project objectives Conduct drills to verify capability Maintain the capability within the Brownfields Tribal Response Program

Swinomish Habitat

Pocket Estuary Restoration Areas

Swinomish agricultural land Estuarine Restoration Areas Self-regulating tidegates

Estuarine habitat inside the Swinomish Channel sea dike

Self-regulating tidegate

Questions?