Background Information

Inspired by recent events in Jefferson County involving the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), this project was created to raise awareness of the delicate nature of watersheds and their ecosystems. In an attempt to rid Crocker Lake of a dangerous outcropping of pike, a predatory fish that is not indigenous to Washington and will kill salmon, the WDFW made a quick decision to poison the lake hoping to wipe out the pike while doing minor damage to the other species.

The WDFW took precautions by moving some bass and bluegil to a nearby lake to be returned to Crocker at a later date and they used a "very low concentrate" of the poison. The poison itself is a naturally occurring root from a South American plant and is known as rotenone, widely used as a garden pesticide. For more information, visit the WDFW news release. The damage to other species of fish in Crocker lake and nearby areas was to be minimal. Wild Olympic Salmon even went public in a letter to the Editor supporting the WDFW's decision. Some other fish were killed according to the WDFW in the Lake kill filters to salmon story. The WDFW in another story in Port Townsend's Leader, reassured the public that the coho salmon and steelhead trout were going to be okay even though some did die.

The fact that someone or some persons had planted the northern pike in Crocker Lake was very irresponsible. Officials of the WDFW think that maybe someone did that years ago because pike are supposedly good fishing. The pike, which started to thrive would have wiped out all the indigenous fish of the area, including the salmon that end their runs there to spawn.

The residents of the Crocker Lake area do not agree with the WDFW's decision and believe that the WDFW's actions did more damage than they are letting on. Here are some articles from Port Townsend's Leader with some residents' reactions:

Due to the complex nature of the Crocker Lake and Snow Creek as part of the greater Andrews Creek watershed, the poison was not confined to the small area originally intended by the WDFW. Currents and stream flows moved the poison and hurt a fragile ecosystem. What else could they have done? Did they make the right decision? What happens now?

These are some of the questions we will be looking at in this project.