« Plastic bags aren’t the problem – UPDATE
COBI Shoreline Mitigation Manual – dream or nightmare? »

What’s wrong with Ecology’s buffer advice?

Published February 24, 2012 Bainbridge SMP Update , Best Available Science , Buffers & Setbacks , Real Science 2 Comments

The Department of Ecology recently updated Chapter 11 of its Shoreline Master Program (SMP) Update Handbook. The handbook is intended to assist planners in local jurisdictions as they work to complete their state mandated SPM Updates. Sounds like a good idea, right? But what happens when a Ph.D. with a lengthy career in forestry takes a long, hard look at the science they’re using to justify the wholesale seizure of your property to create shoreline buffers, aka “native vegetation zones”? 

—————————————-

Are buffers a bad idea? No. Are the DOE guidelines based on real science? Apparently not. At the end of the day, planners and regulators win and we lose. Are our sacrifices good for the environment? Maybe, a little. Are they overkill? Apparently so.

2 Responses to “What’s wrong with Ecology’s buffer advice?”

Feed for this Entry
  1. 1 Mudhen February 26, 2012 at 1:15 pm

    Watch out for retaliation. No one is allowed to question the Ecology oracle.

    Reply
  2. 2 BSHadmin February 29, 2012 at 9:55 am

    If you would like to take a look at Chapter 11 of Ecology’s SMP Handbook, you can download a PDF copy here…

    http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/shorelines/smp/handbook/Chapter11.pdf

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

« Plastic bags aren’t the problem – UPDATE
COBI Shoreline Mitigation Manual – dream or nightmare? »

We have over 1,000 signatures. If you haven't signed already, please click the button above. If you have, thanks!

Click to view Carl's presentation.

Click image to view.

News by Category

Speak Out

To reply to one of the articles on this website, click on its headline then scroll down to the reply box.
“Some people will do anything to save the earth … except take a science course.” PJ O’Rourke, “Greenhouse Affect,” Rolling Stone
“Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty,” John Adams
Ours is one of many groups that are working to promote an ethic which recognizes that human beings do use resources and virtue lies in avoiding unnecessary harm to the environment.