Whatcom considers this tubing ban for all of Nooksack’s south fork
AUG. 5 UPDATE: A public hearing on the Nooksack tubing ban is at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9, in council chambers in the courthouse at 311 Grand Ave, or in a hybrid online format. Click this link to watch and participate in the public hearing online, or find out how to attend in person or send your own comments.
Because of an alarming decline in the chinook salmon run, the Whatcom County Council will consider an ordinance that bans the popular pastime of inner-tubing on the south fork of the Nooksack River.
A vote to consider the ban at the council’s Aug. 9 meeting and hold a public hearing on the matter was approved 5-1 on Tuesday, July 26.
Councilman Ben Elenbaas dissented and Councilman Tyler Byrd was absent.
The ban was sought because of concerns for the river’s chinook salmon run, according to the text of the ordinance.
Spring chinook are listed as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act and both Lummi Nation and the Nooksack Indian Tribe have expressed concern about the health of salmon in the river.
In summer 2021, more than 2,500 migrating adult chinook died on the south fork before they could spawn because of a disease outbreak made worse by high temperatures, low river flows and a lack of adequate habitat.
More than $10 million has been invested in salmon recovery and habitat restoration efforts, but native salmon spawning remains critically low, according to the text of the ordinance.
Coast Salish people revere the salmon spiritually and rely on them for food, according to the Lummi Nation website.
“Salmon play an important role in the lives of the Lummi people; ceremonial practices, subsistence, and economic well-being of tribal members are major factors to promote and protect salmon populations in the area of the Lummi Nation,” the website said.
As written, the ordinance would ban flotation devices on the entire south fork of the Nooksack River, which starts in the foothills below the Twin Sisters and flows north through the communities of Acme and Van Zandt toward the river’s main channel near Deming.
Banned devices include paddleboards, innertubes, inflatable and foam flotation devices, limb-propelled flotation devices, or rubber rafts intended for limb use.
Currently, such flotation devices are banned already from June 1 to Oct. 31 on the south fork of the Nooksack River between Edfro Creek and the Acme Bridge.
As written, the measure allows devices “engaged principally in commercial operations constituting an act of interstate or foreign commerce or bona fide scientific research,” along with Department of Natural Resources and Whatcom County vessels, and watercraft being used by law enforcement agencies or for emergency rescues.
This story was originally published July 28, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: The existing ban on flotation devices between Edfro Creek and the Acme Bridge was corrected July 28, 2022.
