The following editorial originally appeared in The Seattle Times:
Drive most any Washington highway these days and chances are good you’ll roll up on a construction zone where contractors are restoring fish habitat. With $3.8 billion in funds from the Legislature, the Washington State Department of Transportation’s court-ordered removal of salmon-blocking culverts will fulfill all but 10 percent of the habitat of its 2030 goal.
The trouble is that last 10 percent will cost about $4 billion more — a fraction of the salmon habitat for around the same price as the entirety of the program to date. WSDOT will need another $725 million in 2024 to remain on target — all at a time when costs for transportation needs, including highway projects and ferry construction, are also ballooning.
Gov. Jay Inslee and state lawmakers acknowledged the daunting challenge of those increased costs recently at a preview of the 2024 legislative session. While there are competing demands, they must keep the culvert work atop the priorities list.
For one, they are bound by a federal court injunction to uphold tribal treaty fishing rights that date back to 1855. And the work is critical. As a so-called keystone species, the region’s environmental health depends on salmon. Destruction of habitat has landed this cultural symbol and source of sustenance for tribes since time immemorial on the federal Endangered Species List.
Three strategies will help the state complete its culvert obligations. First, the funding: The Legislature can seek solutions outside of traditional transportation funding sources. Auctions for carbon allowances under the Climate Commitment Act’s cap-and-trade system, for example, have raised more than $1.8 billion. Those funds, which could be at risk of repeal by voters this fall, were tailor-made for projects including those that improve Washington’s natural environment and that make the state’s infrastructure more climate resilient.
The federal government can help, too: the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law alone has $1 billion set aside for culvert replacement.
Second, science and accountability must be part of this bold investment. Right now, WSDOT performs incremental inspections to ensure the changes in reopening waterways were successful, post-project. Kim Rydholm, WSDOT’s Fish Passage Delivery Manager, says agency staff members have spotted spawning at roughly half of the restored sites. Additional monitoring by the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, local tribes and others will help quantify the impact.
And third, WSDOT’s plan must be malleable to ensure the rivers and streams they’ve prioritized for unblocking fish passage yield the best ecological results — new, quality habitat that restores the natural environment.
The course is not cheap, but it is clear: The state must fix the culverts, using the best science possible.
