The people who want to ban protective bulkheads, including COBI staff, justify their position by saying that bulkheads damage fish habitat by preventing sediment from eroding naturally. They justify their positions by citing “best available science.”
Here’s an analysis of some of the science they rely on by Donald Flora, PhD. He’s an island resident, shoreline property owner, and a distinguished scientist with a considerable background in riparian research management. Flora Letter to COBI on Marine Critical Areas
Update: Dr. Flora was formerly employed by the United States Forest Service, where he headed watershed studies research, including stream biology, riparian ecology and related subjects. He has an MS and Doctorate from Yale.
Riparian > Relating to or living or located on the bank of a natural watercourse (as a river) or sometimes of a lake or a tidewater.
And here’s another analysis by Dr. Flora, of a 2005 report on the negative effects, if any, of bulkheads on beach sediment with a one-page summary by islander Gary Tripp. Flora Review of Thurston County Sediment Study
The problem with “best available science” is that it may or may not have anything to do with the case at hand, it may not have been peer reviewed, and it may have been undertaken by consulting firms in studies sponsored by one political action group or another. That’s not “best available science,” it’s not even science.
Dr. Flora has a lively and imaginative writing style. I especially enjoyed “Ballads are no doubt being written about the wonders of marine riparian habitat. In fact these upland sites cater mostly to upland critters, and ‘critters’ doesn’t rhyme with much. A wider swath may bring some more predatory birds anesting; it will surely see our perennial favorites – rats, coyotes, crows, opossums, voles, maybe mountain beavers.”
However, his missive reads a lot like opinion, not science. May we have more information on Dr. Flora’s background, credentials, and area of professional expertise, please? I could find internet reference only to a Dec, 2004 letter written to Gary Tripp regarding trees on slopes. Thank you.
Hmmm. A friend in the science world tells me Dr. Flora was in Forestry – Forest Management, to be specific.
So when you write “We don’t expect our City…to be marine scientists, but we encourage them to listen to city residents who are”, you’re referring to…whom, exactly ?
Please don’t mislead people who come here looking for valid information. The topic deserves responsible scrutiny.
Ms. Wright,
I must admit that the last sentence of the original post was editorial on my part. It said, “We don’t expect our City Council, our Mayor or even City staff to be marine scientists, but we encourage them to listen to city residents who are.”
I had heard Dr. Flora speak participate during a recent gathering of shoreline property owners and assumed his PhD was in one of the marine science specialties based on his depth of knowledge of the topic. I may have been wrong, so I will research your question and post the answer here.
You said, “his missive reads a lot like opinion, not science.” Fair enough, that’s exactly what it was… a missive expressing the opinion of a island neighbor who happens to be a scientist.
Ken Sethney
South Beach
Ms. Wright,
Thanks again for asking about our island neighbor and shoreline property owner Dr. Flora.
Dr. Flora was formerly employed by the United States Forest Service, where he headed watershed studies research, including stream biology, riparian ecology and related subjects. He has a Master of Science and Doctorate from Yale
University.
Ken Sethney
South Beach