Lake Whatcom + Lake Samish

[racfish]

I stand corrected. Green Slime is just as bad.

[Steelheadin360]

is there a treatment for jetskiers? just drove past lake stevens and there appears to be an outbreak....


I wonder how many tickets are gonna be handed out at Samish this weekend? is the launch gated up there?

[AaronW]

It's not gated up. I have a feeling they'll just be handing out warnings if there are no notices up at Samish by then. I have a feeling they'll have a Wildlife officer out at the launch anyway, though.

[Steelheadin360]

Who wants to go picket?

[bassplayer17]

is there a treatment for jetskiers? just drove past lake stevens and there appears to be an outbreak....


I wonder how many tickets are gonna be handed out at Samish this weekend? is the launch gated up there?

Bow mounted Lazer cannon!!!

[Racer]

I've also sent a letter to the council expressing my concerns with this. I grew up in Mount Vernon and have fished Samish and Baker lake my entire life. My family has owned a cabin lot on Samish since 1940. I now live south of Seattle and this could make me not want to go there anymore. Just the thought they could do that at Baker makes me shiver. I could see 200-300 boats trying to get launched before daybreak going through that mess.

[Idstud]

Man its about time to Move Im thinking more so if this crap rolls south. My mother inlaw lives in the ham. It was nice to spend the night and go fishing without getting up way to early for morning bite. There no plastic bag in stores thing is stupid too and was on false info proven when it was done in seattle. I was stressed about leaving my boat out on the street even thought its a nice neighbor hood but now to worry about this NO Thanks. This state seems to like to screw over the sportsman and recreational type. Raising licence fees discover pass cant ride quads or bikes on FS roads unless licensed which is made hard to obtain almost impossible. Your ORV tabs pay for these special few places to go but you now have to have the discover pass too. We cant manage our funds properly so we will make you pay more. . Im so tired of getting screwed. I wouldnt have a problem spending a little extra money if it was done right. I will be writing a letter myself and pass this on. They will lose my money and just think of the loss Concrete will have. Someone is not thinking of the Big picture for use. Very upsetting.

[AaronW]

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with county councilwoman Barbara Brenner and she said they will not enforce the Lake Samish inspections this year. She is VERY much on our side on the whole issue, calling the inspections a "money grab." She'd rather go with self inspections and education on invasive species.

She also said she is going to work hard to amend some issues with the ordinance.

[Amx]

At least SOMEONE in the county council has some BALLS !

[bassplayer17]

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with county councilwoman Barbara Brenner and she said they will not enforce the Lake Samish inspections this year. She is VERY much on our side on the whole issue, calling the inspections a "money grab." She'd rather go with self inspections and education on invasive species.

She also said she is going to work hard to amend some issues with the ordinance.

Nice hope it stands!

[Mike Carey]

I got this e-mail from Barbara Brenner:

Mike,

I did not support the ordinance because of your concerns and some others. However, it is my understanding that there will not be enforcement in Lake Samish this year.

I did hear the inspection station will be open from 5 AM to 10 PM. I agree that it isn't early enough in the summer.

I have requested this ordinance be scheduled for my council committee right away so some amendments can be made. I don't know if the council majority will pass amendments but they did say at the public hearing that my amendments were valid so I hope they will.

Barbara Brenner, Whatcom County Council Member

If this e-mail is about county business, it is a public record subject to public disclosure upon request. Please send all e-mails related to county business to my official county e-mail address, bbrenner@co.whatcom.wa.us. Thank you.

In a message dated 4/25/2013 12:29:13 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, BBrenner@co.whatcom.wa.us writes

Here are the minutes to the April 17th Whatcom Council Meeting regarding the Invasive Species issue:

http://www.co.whatcom.wa.us/council/201 ... ws0417.pdf

Latest Proposal, possible closing of the Bloedel boat launch:

http://www.sportsmenvote.com/news/belli ... e-whatcom/

Note toward the end of this article, the comment about the majority of council members wanting to reduce boat traffic on lake Wahtcom:
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2013/03 ... still.html

[pips4bucks]

Here's the latest info from the local fish wrapper...

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2013/04 ... k=misearch" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AaronW]

I drove by Lake Whatcom this afternoon to check out the damage. It looked like the only boats on the lake were bass boats from the tournament (probably due to the rain). There was an inspection station set up with four people manning it. They all looked like Biology students or something haha. They said each inspection takes about 5 minutes.

[pips4bucks]

I drove by Lake Whatcom this afternoon to check out the damage. It looked like the only boats on the lake were bass boats from the tournament (probably due to the rain). There was an inspection station set up with four people manning it. They all looked like Biology students or something haha. They said each inspection takes about 5 minutes.

Most of the opening day activity occurs on the smaller lakes in the county that were planted. It's a great weekend for the bass tournament as there is no water skiers or jet skis on there this time of year. As summer approaches and the water skiers want to get out there that's when this inspection crap will really become an issue.

[pips4bucks]

Just so everyone knows what the distribution is of the suspected AIS in question, here's a map put out by the USGS. This is one reason why these inspections are a bunch of BS. It's just another money grab perpetrated by fear mongers.
http://nas.er.usgs.gov/taxgroup/mollusk ... ag_map.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Amx]

Send that map to that reporter.

[Bodofish]

Well thanks for the map, but it's not just about the mollusks/muscles. There are about a hundred plants on the list and many are native to Washington, just not the lakes. Many are designated "wetland plants". If a guy wanted to toss a spanner into the works, he could hold an identification test for all the testers. Now mind you transporting invasive species can be as little a moving one cell of the plant from point a to point b. I'll bet a guy could construct a test none of them could pass, rendering the position useless and setting the City and County up for a fine law suite ending in the demise of the Ordinances.

[AaronW]

Here's the Bellingham Herald reporters' email addresses and phone numbers
John Stark: john.stark@bellinghamherald.com, 360-715-2274
Ralph Schwartz: ralph.schwartz@bellinghamherald.com, 360-715-2289
I'd shoot them some information myself, but I work at a newspaper myself and there could be some conflict of interest issues with that. I will say that reporters love to be handed information like this because usually they aren't looking themselves. A lot of stories we write spawn from maps/data/press releases/phone calls.

[CRW]

One thing I didn't see posted, is they do want to expand this to all water craft including canoes and kayaks.

Even the boats that never leave the lake have to pay for inspections.

Also do they have the power to do this to Baker Lake?? Isn't Baker Federal water?? It is located in Federal land.

Well I plan on not abiding by it. Boat license include a $2 fee for AIS , so we all, already pay this inspection fee.

I did contact WDFW to see if the local gov even had the authority to do this, specially since Samish is a STATE boat launch. It looks like they do

[AaronW]

It's going to be a pain in the ass for anyone heading to these lakes from the south due to the bridge collapsing, yikes.