The striped nudibranch: Don’t mess with this ferocious sea slug!

Eyes Under Puget Sound’s Critter of the Month



A striped nudibranch, Armina californica,
collected from Nisqually Reach,
Washington, March 2019.

July’s critter may be cute as a button, but don’t let the squishy sea slug face fool you. This voracious hunter strikes fear into the hearts of tiny invertebrates everywhere!

Slug of the sea

Nudibranchs, or sea slugs, are the more elegant, marine-dwelling cousins of the slimy brown slugs you find in your garden. The striped nudibranch can get fairly large (up to 8 cm) and should be easy to spot. You won’t find one on a beach walk or tidepooling session though. They prefer the sandy or muddy seafloor anywhere from the low intertidal zone to 80 meters deep. We collect them in our Puget Sound sediment samples from Nisqually Reach, Everett, and Sinclair Inlet … often co-occurring with their favorite food, sea pens.

The pen is NOT mightier than the slug

Striped nudibranchs feed primarily on colonial animals called sea pens. In Puget Sound, their two main prey species are the orange sea pen, Ptilosarcus gurneyi and the slender sea pen, Stylatula elongata. 

In the southern part of their range (California to Panama), they also feed on the sea pansy, Renilla koellikeri. These species can bioluminesce, or give off light, when disturbed, so munching by sea slugs can set off a tiny underwater fireworks display!

Night terrors

Striped nudibranchs swarm and consume an orange sea pen until
only the white skeletal rod remains (visible in upper right corner).
Photo by Neil McDaniel.* 

Striped nudibranchs cleverly let the routine of their prey determine their activity schedule. Instead of wasting time crawling around during the day when sea pens are buried in the sand, they stay buried too, with only their rhinophores, or sensory structures, protruding. 

The rhinophores help the nudibranchs “smell” chemicals in the water that indicate food is nearby, and they can detect changes in light with a pair of tiny eyes. When night falls they emerge, searching for fleshy victims to devour. The nudibranchs use suction to ingest pieces of the sea pen’s tender polyps, pulling the tissue off and leaving only the hard white rachis, or skeleton, behind.

Pretty with poison

You would think plenty of animals would be happy to give the striped nudibranch a taste of its own medicine in the predation department, but even the ravenous sun star, which eats pretty much everything in its path, gives this little nudibranch a wide berth. In fact, the striped nudibranch has very few natural predators. So, what makes this slow-moving nudibranch so unappetizing? It can incorporate chemicals from the tissue of its sea pen prey into its own body, making it toxic to consume.

This lateral (side) view shows the groove on the right side of
the animal, with the anus to the left (posterior) and the gonopore
(reproductive opening) to the right (anterior). Image courtesy of
Dave Cowles, wallawalla.edu.

In the groove

While the striped nudibranch may be the stuff of nightmares to a sea pen, it’s a daydream for a mollusk taxonomist. Most nudibranchs are difficult to identify, but the distinct long white ridges and dark background of this species are very distinct. It has no appendages on its top surface except for the rhinophores, which project out of a notch on its head; everything else is tucked away in a groove running down the side of the animal’s body. Hidden away in these folds are flap-like gills, the anus, and the reproductive opening.

Doing it all

Like other sea slugs, striped nudibranchs are hermaphroditic (possessing both male and female sex organs). Any two individuals can mate by connecting the reproductive “ports” on the right sides of their bodies. Eggs are laid in brownish spirals, and larvae hatch out into the water column to eventually settle and become tiny striped terrors in their own right!

By: Dany Burgess & Angela Eagleston, Environmental Assessment Program

Critter of the Month

Our benthic taxonomists, Dany and Angela, are scientists who identify and count the benthic (sediment-dwelling) organisms in our samples as part of the Marine Sediment Monitoring Program. We track the numbers and types of species we see in order to understand the health of Puget Sound and detect changes over time.

Dany and Angela share their discoveries by bringing us a Benthic Critter of the Month. These posts will give you a peek into the life of Puget Sound’s least-known inhabitants. We’ll share details on identification, habitat, life history, and the role each critter plays in the sediment community. Can't get enough benthos? See photos from our Eyes Under Puget Sound collection on Flickr.

* This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Boots on the ground: WCC as a stepping-stone to disaster management career

A decade ago, Nina Rubenstein was swinging a pick-mattock on a Washington Conservation Corps restoration crew. Today she serves as the emergency manager for Providence St. Joseph Health’s Oregon region. It all started with saying “yes” to some exciting – and challenging – opportunities as an AmeriCorps member.

Nina grew up in the world of land conservation. Her father’s experience in the legal arena exposed her to the environmental field, and Nina joined our WCC in 2009 to gain hands-on experience. But she was further enticed by a new angle: the prospect of disaster response deployments.

Nina served on a restoration crew during her
WCC AmeriCorps member days. Photo
contributed by Nina Rubenstein.

During her first year as a WCC AmeriCorps member, Nina deployed to Mississippi to assist communities after devastating tornadoes. The deployment call arrived just before a major stand-up comedy show she was set to open, in front of an audience that included Bill Gates. “I had five minutes to decide whether to deploy, and I weighed what I would have to miss back home,” she said. “I decided to pass up the show, and disaster response turned out to be a calling. That’s pretty cool.”

A formative first - and second - deployment

She removed debris from land where homes had once stood, and led weekly safety meetings. Survivors who owned a crawfish business hosted a full crawfish boil for members at the camp where members were staying during deployment.

“I remember it being my first immersive experience in the South,” she said. Its lasting impact made her want to continue serving on disaster responses. “I decided I would not only do a second year in the WCC, but I would deploy again at any opportunity,” she said.

That opportunity arose when 360 confirmed tornadoes tore across the Southern, Midwestern, and Northeastern regions of the United States in just three days. Nina and WCC’s disaster response teams arrived in northern Alabama a month later, charged with managing a volunteer resource center.

The disaster response teams also needed a logistics coordinator. Already serving as an assistant supervisor and ready for more responsibility, Nina jumped at the chance. Leading the administrative and logistical side of the deployment meant making many phone calls to match field projects with the skill level of the volunteers.

“It was really gratifying to spend time on the phone with people who felt like they had been forgotten,” she said.

Disaster response in a new setting: a classroom

The second deployment to Alabama helped solidify her calling to disaster response. “I saw that the logistical side of things could be a much broader path, and I realized ‘I want to know what path that is,’” she said.

After returning from Alabama, Nina researched options for finishing her undergraduate degree and landed on the Homeland Security Studies program at Tulane University in New Orleans. A few months later, she finished her second service term in the WCC and headed off to Tulane University.

Nina poses at Department of Homeland Security's Center
for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Ala. She has visited
the training facility for healthcare emergency management
twice for different courses. Photo contributed by Nina Rubenstein.

After a deep dive into emergency management curriculum—including an in-depth study of the effects of Hurricane Katrina—Nina moved back to the West Coast and secured an emergency management coordinator position with PeaceHealth, a hospital system based in Vancouver, Wash.

She put her experience and new degree to use, building an emergency management program for the two hospitals in southwest Washington. A year and a half later, a colleague from the hospital emergency management field contacted her about a management position at Providence Health & Services in Portland. She hopped on the phone to learn more, and a month later, started her emergency manager position.

Expanding her skills, with a nod to AmeriCorps service

Nina’s team at Providence St. Joseph Health is in charge of emergency management plans for six hospitals and more than 100 clinics and acute care centers. Typical projects include developing full-scale exercises to demonstrate preparedness, including staff training, and building a disaster equipment cache for the region she serves.

She also develops protocols regarding how hospitals manage medical and trauma surge capacity—when patients occupy all beds and services might need to be scaled up to meet the demand. To prepare for mass casualty incidents, Nina designs and leads exercises like “15 ‘till 50,” where the hospital has 15 minutes to prepare to receive 50 incoming patients.

Looking back, the days of waking up at 6 a.m. to meet her WCC restoration crew in Renton provided pivotal experience along her vocational journey.

“In school, and more so now, I found that I knew what I was talking about because I had done it. Applying for jobs and school, I could say I had two years’ work experience in this field, in a supervisory role,” she said. “That was absolutely a leg up in the job market.”

Fast forward to 2019: WCC deploys to Iowa

On July 8, 2019, 10 WCC AmeriCorps members and three crew supervisors deployed to Fremont and Mills Counties in Iowa, to support communities after devastating flooding in spring 2019. Members are spending the month assisting homeowners and operating a disaster response center. Keeping safety a top priority in summer heat, teams are taking turns hydrating and resting, and donning protective Tyvek suits to conduct mold suppression and remove water-damaged material from affected homes.

 Five of our WCC crews are designated disaster response crews, though any crew has the potential to deploy. Our Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) provides disaster services in Washington and beyond, assisting communities after fires, floods, hurricanes, tornados, oil spills, and more.

WCC AmeriCorps members remove invasive species at Camp Murray.
Photo by Taylor Belisle.

Apply to WCC today

Do you want to gain hands-on environmental experience, build your résumé, and make a difference in your community? WCC is currently recruiting for the 2019-2020 AmeriCorps service year! Learn more and apply online: www.ecology.wa.gov/wcc.

A Little Green for the Brownfields

EPA awards $2.4 million for cleanups in Washington

Ninth Street Park, a brownfield cleanup site contaminated with arsenic
and lead from decades of pesticide use.

In June 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded nearly $2.4 million in grants to five recipients in Washington to help assess and clean up local brownfields — properties that haven’t been redeveloped due to potential contamination with hazardous substances.

The five EPA grant recipients are:

• Port of Skagit County
• Trust for Public Land
• Olympia Regional Coalition (City of Olympia, Port of Olympia, and the Olympia Metropolitan Parks District)
• City of Spokane
• Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation

We will be working in close partnership with EPA to assist the grant recipients and oversee assessment and cleanup — including making the final determination that a property is clean enough to meet state standards and be redeveloped.

Historic photo of the former Northern State Hospital in Sedro-Woolley

Recipients will use the EPA grants to assess and clean up dozens of brownfield properties, including:

• Former Northern State Hospital site at Sedro-Woolley
• Former cherry orchard land in East Wenatchee
• Blighted properties in Olympia
• Contaminated properties in Spokane’s 770-acre University District on the Spokane River
• Former ranch and wood product facilities on the Colville Reservation

To turn brownfield sites into marketable assets for the community, property owners will need to follow remedies that make sure each site meets state human health and environmental protection standards.

After meeting state cleanup requirements under the state Model Toxics Control Act, property owners can seek a “no further action” determination from us. This designation removes many barriers to redevelopment and helps property owners get financing and approvals to develop the sites.

Planning for cleanups

The EPA awarded two types of grants to Washington recipients: assessment grants and cleanup grants.

Assessment grants provide funding for identification of contaminants, evaluation, and cleanup planning.

• A “Phase I Environmental Site Assessment” is the first step in evaluating a brownfield site. Phase I assessments are a historical review to determine if contamination is likely. This sets the stage for further testing, planning, and cleanup.
• “Phase II assessments” are scientific evaluations. Soil, groundwater, surface water, and indoor air are sampled and tested to determine the exact contaminants and the extent of contamination. This information is required to plan the cleanup.

Assessment grants also help pay for public outreach and engagement so the community can be informed about the cleanup and the future of the properties.

Cleanup grants help pay for the actual work to clean up a site. Cleanup can take many forms, from removing and replacing soil, to complex treatment plans, to securing contaminants in place.

What the grants pay for



Northern State Hospital campus, a brownfield site in Sedro-Woolley that
housed mental patients in a self-contained community.

• The Port of Skagit County will use its $395,000 grant to clean up two areas of the former Northern State Hospital campus in Sedro-Wooley. The 225-acre site operated as a state mental health hospital from 1912 to 1972. The hospital campus has 600,000 square feet of buildings, a power plant, a former landfill, and several maintenance shops. The cleanup will focus on groundwater and soil contaminated with chlorinated solvents around the former laundry building, and the gymnasium field, which is contaminated with arsenic.

Cherry seedlings growing in Ninth Street Park, a former cherry
orchard, next to a neighborhood in East Wenatchee.

• The Trust for Public Land will use the $500,000 federal grant to clean up the Ninth Street Park in East Wenatchee. This 2.3-acre park was a cherry orchard from the 1930s through 2008. The cherry trees were removed in 2011, but heavy metal and arsenic contamination remains in the soil from the lead arsenate used as a pesticide. Agricultural use of lead arsenate was stopped in the 1960s and the EPA banned its use entirely in 1988. The grant will also help fund community engagement activities and development of a site management plan that educates workers on the soil conditions and safe practices when working at the site.

• The Olympia Regional Coalition is receiving a $600,000 grant. The focus is on the Peninsula and West Bay neighborhoods. The coalition will use the funds to conduct 14 Phase I and 10 Phase II site assessments, create five cleanup plans, update the city brownfields inventory, and conduct community outreach.

• The City of Spokane will use its $600,000 grant for the 770-acre University District along the Spokane River. The city will use the money to assess potential historical contamination on 14 sites (Phase I), sample for contamination on eight more (Phase II), and develop eight cleanup plans and six reuse plans.

• The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation will use its $300,000 grant to assess potential contamination on three sites (Phase I) and conduct sampling on seven others (Phase II). The focus area includes three wood products facilities, a blighted residential property, and the chemical handling area of the former Hinmans Ranch. The grant money will also help create three cleanup plans and conduct public meetings.

By Marcus Humberg, Communications Specialist, Toxics Cleanup Program.

Fecal Matters: The health of Washington beaches

There have been a number of health advisories issued for Washington beaches this year. A lot of people are wondering why and if this is typical.

This year there have been five health advisories issued due to high levels of fecal bacteria during routine testing. There have also been 11 closures to water contact at beaches affected by sewage spills. That is more than we have seen in the past few years at this point in the summer beach season.

How Washington beaches stack up

We collect data throughout the year and issue an annual health report for beaches. 

Ninety-five percent of beaches monitored received a passing grade in 2018, revealing that Washington's saltwater beaches are safe for swimming and recreational activities.

We have been monitoring water quality at beaches for 15 years. The number of monitored beaches that had less than two swimming closures or advisories improved by 19 percent over the last three years. 

Communities continue to replace old, failing septic systems and repair or improve infrastructure. Those efforts have a positive effect on water quality and can reduce high levels of bacteria in the water.

In 2018, Bay View State Park, Kayak Point County Park, and Sooes Beach had more than one sampling event in the advisory or closure range. For that reason, these three beaches were considered not passing beaches. 

BEACH partners work together to monitor water quality

From Memorial Day through Labor Day, our scientists and county and local BEACH partners collect water samples from 201 sites at 67 of Washington's most popular saltwater beaches. 

The water samples are tested for bacterial contamination. This information helps health officials issue swimming advisories to keep the public safe!

Water is tested for fecal bacteria

Local health departments, counties, tribes and volunteers collect water quality samples weekly or bi-weekly. The samples go to state accredited labs to be tested for enterococcus, a type of fecal bacteria. 

The fecal indicator enterococci is used, because this indicator better correlates with swimming-related illness than other fecal indicators, like fecal coliform or E.coli.

Issuing no-contact advisories

Water samples in a Quanti-Tray.

Like most states in the U.S., our BEACH Program makes decisions about water quality based on EPA's National Beach Guidance. Because we are part of a federal grant program to fund beach monitoring, we also use grant performance criteria as part of our decision-making process. 

When fecal bacteria levels exceed the EPA and grant performance criteria, we work with local health departments to issue a health advisory at the beach. Follow-up water samples are taken and if bacterial levels had dropped into the safe swimming range the advisory is lifted.

Ecology and EPA 2018 beach reports

Our 2018 health report shows how beaches performed. You'll find the top swimming beaches for water quality by county and beaches that did not meet swimming standards last year. You can read our 2018 beach water quality summary online.

EPA also prepares a national summary of beach closings and advisories that states, territories, and tribes issued during the 2018 swimming season as well as data trends from 2013 to 2018. 

Storm drains at shorelines
can be a source of bacteria.

According to EPA's report, the nation’s monitored coastal and Great Lakes beaches were open and safe for swimming 95 percent of the time during the 2018 swimming season, similar to previous years. You can read EPA’s BEACH Report: 2018 Swimming Season online. 

Sewage spills and combined sewer overflows

When counties notify the Washington BEACH Program team of a sewage spill, we work with the county to preemptively issue a closure to water contact at affected beaches because we know that sewage is in the water. Depending on the volume of the spill, these closures will usually stay in place from 3 – 7 days. 

Stay updated about water quality at your beaches by keeping up with us on our blog Fecal Matters, on Facebook, or join our listserv.


By Julianne Ruffner, BEACH program manager
Media contact: Camille St. Onge, 360-584-6501 or camille.st.onge@ecy.wa.gov
Contact Julianne at 360-407-6154 or julianne.ruffner@ecy.wa.gov for questions.

Washington goal of no spills is… on track

Changes proposed to strengthen railroads’ oil spill response efforts

Washington has one of the lowest oil spill rates of any state in the nation because we are constantly assessing spill risks and taking measures to prevent oil spills from occurring in the first place.

A train of oil tank cars passes by a Seattle beach

As more petroleum products, including crude oil, are extracted from the center of North America where there are no refineries, it has to be moved to the nation’s coastal areas where it can be processed. However, pipelines alone can’t keep up with the demand to move all the oil currently being extracted from places such as North Dakota, Montana, and Alberta. As a result, we have experienced a steady increase in the amount of crude oil transported through our state by rail. Currently, nearly 12 percent of all the oil being transported through Washington is moved by rail. Railroad lines stretch across thousands of miles in Washington, crossing many of the state’s rivers, streams, and underground aquifers. Tracks stretch along many of the state’s most pristine rivers and marine shorelines. So as the amount of oil transported by rail has increased, so too has the risk for a spill that could threaten the environment, human health, and local economies.

That’s why the Washington Legislature passed the Oil Transportation Safety Act in 2015. The measure requires railroads transporting oil to have spill contingency plans to ensure they can mount an aggressive, well-coordinated response if they do have a spill. The change means railroads must match the same preparedness requirements now in place for vessels, pipelines, refineries, and transfer facilities operating in Washington.

Railroad tracks near Bellingham

After several years of implementing the initial regulation, combined with the steady increase in oil transported by rail, lawmakers recently passed two more laws designed to protect our waters— ESHB 1136 in 2017 and E2SSB 6269 in 2018. These regulations require updates for railroad companies transporting oil products into Washington. Based on that direction, we are proposing updates that will streamline oil spill prevention and response requirements for railroad companies. Specifically, we are proposing new rules designed to:

• Enhance readiness requirements for non-floating oils – There are many types of oils moved by rail, all with different characteristics. Washington wants to address response measures for oils that may weather and sink when spilled. This type of oil is a challenge to traditional cleanup methods that are designed to respond to floating oils.
• Establish new requirements for spill and wildlife response teams – Spill Management Teams respond to oil spills. Wildlife service providers provide wildlife rehabilitation and recovery services during a spill.
• Require railroad operators to conduct new oil spill preparedness drills – Drills help companies as well as local and tribal governments, and state, and federal agencies know what to do when an oil spill occurs. Under the proposal, companies will be required to conduct drills, depending on the size of their operation and type of oil they transport.
• Streamline plans for small rail lines – Some short-line railroads haul oils, such as vegetable oil, as cargo. Even though these small railroad companies do not carry crude oil and serve small communities, all oil is an environmental toxin and these companies need to be covered by oil spill contingency plans that are effective and in line with the size and scope of their operations. 

Train cars parked in Spokane

Fortunately, Washington has not experienced any large-scale accidents or related spills from railroad operations. But, we do observe and learn from incidents across North America so that they don’t occur here. Even though Washington has seen an increase in rail traffic carrying oil products which increases the chance of accidents, updating our state’s spill preparedness and response requirements will protect people, wildlife and the environment.

Ecology invites the public to weigh in on these changes through July 26, 2019. For more information, including how to comment, please visit our rulemaking page.

Fecal Matters: Fort Worden State Park is open for water contact recreation, Jefferson County

BEACH Program Update

Good News! Jefferson County Health Department has lifted the no-contact advisory at Fort Worden State Park. Analysis of water samples collected recently found bacteria levels were low and safe for water contact.

Contact with fecal contaminated waters can result in gastroenteritis, skin rashes, upper respiratory infections, and other illnesses. Children and the elderly may be more vulnerable to waterborne illnesses.

Stay updated about water quality at your beaches by keeping up with us on our blog Fecal Matters, on Facebook, or join our listserv.

Julianne Ruffner, our BEACH program manager, is available at 360-407-6154 or julianne.ruffner@ecy.wa.gov for questions.

Use caution if your local lake has a colorful coating

Reports of toxic blue-green algae blooms are beginning to surface east of the Cascades.

Blue-green algae can appear throughout the year in many Washington lakes and rivers, but it most often develops in summer and early fall when there's a wealth of warm, calm water and sunlight. While many blue-green blooms are non-toxic, some produce nerve or liver toxins.

Blue-green algae blooms typically resemble a thick mat of

bright green or blue-green paint. Testing can reveal toxicity.

(Photo: Potholes Reservoir, Grant County, 2018)

“Blue-green algae is very common, found in every lake in this state,” said Amanda Richardson, watershed implementation lead at the Department of Ecology’s eastern region office. “Certain types of blue-green algae can produce toxins under specific conditions, but those conditions are hard to pinpoint.”

The only way to determine whether toxins exist in the algae is through testing, conducted in Washington at the King County Environmental Lab.

Last week, the lab tested samples from Moses Lake and found microcystin toxin levels of 26 micrograms per liter, exceeding the Washington state recreational guidelines of six micrograms per liter. The Grant County Health District has since issued warnings that the lake is unsafe for people and pets.

Let’s get technical

Toxic blue-green algae is more formally known as cyanobacteria, as cyan means “blue-green.” It’s a type of bacteria that shares some of the same characteristics of plants and is found in waterbodies across the world.

As cyanobacteria cells die, toxins are released into surrounding waters. Some toxins, called microcystins, are very stable and can remain in the water for several days after the bloom has disappeared. Microcystin is found most often in the scum floating on top of the water.

While there’s no clear consensus on how to get rid of blue-green algae blooms, dumping vegetation – including grass clippings and uprooted plants – into waterbodies has been known to exacerbate growth. Heaps of vegetation also stop wind and water currents from mixing the water and breaking up algae blooms.

What to look for

Blue-green blooms typically sit on the surface and can often resemble a thick floating mat of bright green or blue-green paint. Wind can churn cyanobacteria into something resembling pea soup, and what’s near your beach one day can be carried across the lake the next.

Although blue-green blooms can create nuisance conditions and nasty water quality, most are not toxic. But as the adage cautions, “when in doubt, stay out.” If you see anything resembling the above, steer clear and keep children and animals away. People can develop skin rashes or become very ill after being in the water, and the toxins can kill pets and livestock, even if they’re exposed for a limited time.

Ingesting contaminated water is the easiest way to get sick, but exposure may also occur during recreational activities such as swimming and waterskiing, or by drinking or eating food contaminated with the toxin – including fish that hasn’t been cleaned well.

See something? Say something.

County health districts and state agencies like the Department of Ecology rely on the public to report when they see blue-green algae blooms in local waterbodies. If sampling results reveal toxins above the Washington Department of Health’s Recreational Guidance Levels, health districts will post signs at public access areas such as swim beaches and boat launches. They may also notify the public

The Grant County Health District is advising people to avoid

contact with Moses Lake, including recreational water

activities, due to a toxic blue-green algae bloom in the lake.

through press releases and social media.

Local jurisdictions, lake managers and Washington residents can report an algae bloom and sample it to test for potential toxins produced by algae. Visit the Washington State Toxic Algae website to learn how, and to access a database showing recent test results from across the state.

The Grant County Health District is now recruiting volunteers to help conduct the water testing this summer. Contact them at 509-766-7960 to learn more.

And wherever you live, consider participating in a nation-wide program called BloomWatch, which tracks cyanobacteria blooms using a smartphone with the help of the public.

Find even more information on blue-green algae at the Washington State Department of Health.

Fecal Matters: Closures for multiple beaches and others lifted

There are several beach closures that were caused by the estimated 3 million gallon sewage release in King County. Unrelated no-contact advisories are also going into effect and one beach advisory is being lifted. 

Ecology details about the spill are in our news release.

Updates will be made to this blog if additional closures or openings occur. Beach closures are also available on our beach map at ecology.wa.gov/beaches.

Contact with fecal contaminated waters can result in gastroenteritis, skin rashes, upper respiratory infections and other illnesses. Children and the elderly may be more vulnerable to waterborne illnesses.

Jefferson County: Multiple beach updates

Oak Bay County Park now open
Jefferson County Health Department has lifted the no-contact advisory at Oak Bay County Park. Analysis of water samples collected found bacteria levels were low and safe for water contact.

Fort Worden State Park under health advisory
Jefferson County Department of Heath issued a no-contact advisory to water recreation at Fort Worden State Park beach. This advisory is due to high levels of fecal bacteria in the water. 

Signs have been posted at the beach to warn the public. This beach is being re-sampled and the advisory will stay in effect until bacterial levels have dropped to safe levels.

King County: Multiple beaches closed to water contact

An estimated 3 million gallons of sewage was released by a King County wastewater treatment plant. This release has prompted several beaches to be closed to water contact until further notice.

Update at 2:47 p.m., July 22

King County reopens Discovery Park: News release 

Update at 3:30 p.m., July 19
King County has revised their list of beach closures to:

• Discovery Park: North and South Beach

We previously reported the following beach closures nine beach closures which is listed below.

Previously reported beaches were not closed with the exception of Discovery Park:  

• Alki Beach Park
• Carkeek Park
• Discovery Park: North and South Beach
• Elliott Bay Marina
• Golden Gardens Park
• Myrtle Edwards Park
• Pocket Park at 32^nd Ave. W. (also known as Magnolia Tidelands Park)
• Port of Seattle Terminal 91 
• Seacrest Park

Kitsap County: Multiple beaches closed to water contact

Update July 22: All Kitsap County beaches are open

Kitsap County Health has closed beaches to water contact because of the King County sewage release. Modeling conducted by the Washington Department of Health shows that sewage from the King County incident will reach Kitsap beaches. 

The following beaches are closed from July 19 - July 22:

• Fay Bainbridge Park
• Indianola Dock
• Joel Pritchard Park

Stay updated about water quality at your beaches by keeping up with us on Facebook, Twitter or join our listserv.

Media can contact Camille St. Onge, communications, at 360-584-6501 or camille.st.onge@ecy.wa.gov for questions. 

Fecal Matters: No-contact advisory issued for a portion of Port Washington Narrows, Kitsap County

BEACH program update

Kitsap Public Health District issued a no-contact health advisory for the east shore of the Port Washington Narrows, between the Warren Avenue Bridge and Manette Bridge. This is due to a 1,500 to 2,000 gallon sewage spill from Seaglass Village Apartments. Signs have been posted at public access points and the public is advised to avoid contact with the water in those areas. This advisory will remain in effect through Sunday, July 21. 

Contact with fecal contaminated waters can result in gastroenteritis, skin rashes, upper respiratory infections, and other illnesses. Children and the elderly may be more vulnerable to waterborne illnesses.

Stay updated on water quality at your beaches by following our Fecal Matters blog posts, connecting on Facebook, or joining our listserv.

Julianne Ruffner, our BEACH Program Manager, is available at 360-407-6154 or julianne.ruffner@ecy.wa.gov for questions.

Chip, chip, hooray!

A lot of people have their eyes on the skies right now, keeping a sharp lookout for wildfire smoke. Although cooler weather has meant that the 2019 wildfire season has gotten off to a thankfully slow start, the widespread drought in Washington and climbing temperatures mean that a major blaze could come at any time.

Despite the best efforts of firefighters, we can’t always control the amount of smoke we get from summer blazes. With that in mind, it makes a ton of sense to limit all of the other sources of smoke that we are exposed to. In winter, that may mean burn bans, or encouraging people to use either low-emission, modern woodstoves or switch to other forms of heating. In the spring and summer, limiting smoke means reducing the amount of green waste and slash being burned, and providing other ways for communities to dispose of this material.

What’s wrong with burning green waste? Although burning green waste – tree limbs, bushes, yard trimmings and similar material – is illegal in urban areas throughout Washington, it is legal and fairly common in many rural areas. The advantage of burning is that it’s cheap and simple. The disadvantage? One, it’s dangerous – “controlled” fires that get out of control are the number one cause of wildfires in Washington. And, two, burning waste produces lots of smoke – often in the very communities that are already being hit the hardest by wildfire smoke.

“Burning is thought of as a cheap and easy way out, but it’s risky and it means putting more smoke into the air and into people’s lungs,” said Sean Hopkins, Ecology’s smoke management lead for Central Washington. “Our communities are already exposed to far too much smoke – we need to do everything we can to protect air quality.”

For years, the Department of Ecology’s Air Quality program has been working with local communities to make safer alternatives to burning more affordable and more accessible.

Over the past four years, Ecology has provided communities in North Central Washington – the part of our state that experiences the most wildfire smoke – with more than $200,000 to collect green waste and chip it, allowing the material to be composted or disposed of in other ways.

Lake Wenatchee Fire and Rescue chipping wood waste
near Lake Wenatchee and Plain.

A recent Ecology-funded project with the Lake Wenatchee Fire and Rescue District is a good example of how this works. Ecology provided Lake Wenatchee with a $50,000 grant to buy a commercial-sized wood chipper and then hold a series of free chipping events in the Lake Wenatchee and Plain communities.

Residents only needed to stack up their brush and limbs next to the road – up to 10 cubic yards per household. Fire district crews towed the chipper along the road and chipped as they went.
By the end of June, the fire district collected and chipped more than 14 dump truck loads of brush.

Burning that material would have put nearly a ton of particulate pollution into the air. Thankfully, with the chipper in hand, the fire district will be able to hold more chipping events in the future.

In the past year, Ecology has also been working closely with Okanogan County’s Solid Waste Department. Okanogan faces a special challenge in getting rid of tree limbs and other green waste: The apple maggot.

The apple maggot threatens Washington’s famous apple orchards, and officials have put in strict limits on transporting homegrown fruit or tree limbs to prevent the spread of the pest. Because Okanogan County includes areas in both the quarantine zone and the pest-free area, that makes collecting green waste a challenge. With $85,000 in grants from Ecology, however, Okanogan was able to not only buy a wood chipper, but also build its own steam treatment unit.

A new wood chipper Okanogan County purchased with an Ecology grant.

Steaming the wood chips at high heat is the required method to kill any apple maggot larvae that might be present. This then allows the treated wood chips to be moved into pest-free areas for disposal. Steam treatment was one of the methods suggested in a 2018 report on managing waste disposal and the apple maggot problem by Ecology and the Washington State Department of Agriculture.

Okanogan County has purchased the chipper and just finished building the steam treatment unit. The county plans to put the new equipment to use later this year.

No matter what we do, smoke will always be with us in Washington. These projects in North Central Washington show us that there’s still a lot we can do to reduce smoke when we can and help our communities breathe easier.

- Andrew Wineke, Air Quality Program