— from Tony Simpson for Orcas Airport —
In an effort to maintain the safety of the flying public and airport, tree removal has begun on Port of Orcas property located South of Mt Baker Road, East of Lover’s Lane, North of the Saw Shop and Enchanted Forest Road and West of the Main Fire Station.
The Port takes the requirement for environmental stewardship of the Eastsound swale in balance with our obligation to protect the safety of pilots, passengers and the public near the airport. We know the swale is a sensitive environmental ecosystem. The environmental and engineering analysis, as well as permitting for this project has been a multi-year effort to comply with Federal, State and Local law as well as honor a conservation easement on the Southern portion of the property. As required by law, that permitting process was publicly announced and invited public participation.
In the southern portion of the property where the conservation easement prevails, the trees and foliage will be removed without the use of heavy equipment, the stumps will be left in place, mulch placed and native grasses replanted. The requirement is to minimize disturbance of soils and minimize the introduction of silt into the stream flow. In the Northern portion of the property, the stumps will be grubbed, native grasses replanted and mulched. Stormwater controls will be in place
during work.
During construction, the path to town will be closed, beginning September 23rd. The contract allows 45 calendar days for completion during which the path will remain closed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
If you would like to see relevant documents, they have been re-posted to the Airport Website at http://www.portoforcas.com
When you say tree removal, do you mean all of them?
Christopher Evans – Please see the Port website…there are links to the complete Specs. — In the picture above, it is the trees mostly to the left of the visible trail to just beyond the near edge of the picture. Portions of that are covered by a conservation easement where the stumps will be left in place. The mitigation requires replanting of native shrubs in the area within 25′ of stream channel. A depiction of which is visible in the plans.
The article above stated that the southern portion of the removal would be done without the use of heavy equipment, however that is not what i have witnessed. At this time it appears that the work has only been one day, but it is fairly radical removal . What gives? This is one of our few trails we have in town and it means walking along main road in places and plan to do this and ask that others slow down, again the amount of growth being taken and the method by which it is being done does not match up to what is being done, why?