Whatcom Parched
Climate change starts a new chapter in Whatcom County’s century-old water shortage issue.
Story by Sam Fletcher | Photo by Christa Yaranon
Bee Bluff Farm, just north of Bellingham, could be the setting of a fairytale. Eleven acres hold orchards, gardens, beehives and chicken coops. Trees of all types shade the long road leading in, where travelers will pass a big, red barn alongside Squalicum Creek, which trickles through the center of the property.
Marcia Hoelzen opened the farm in 2015. As a former Community Supported Agriculture member, she wanted to start her own farm and do it her own way.
It is balmy at Bee Bluff’s storybook gardens, and Hoelzen seems to embody why farmers develop, maintain and live on one piece of land. It’s a labor of love.
On this Sunday morning, she is tending to Rusty, Frog, Sweetie and Chow, just a few of her 35 chickens. It is a rare day of sun in February, and her grass has somehow remained lush and green through the winter.
This farm is not unlike those Dr. Gigi Berardi visits with her Western Washington University agroecology students. Demands for water are highest in the summer when it’s most scarce, Berardi says, and it is only getting worse with the changing climate. It is interesting — and vital — to look at the different methods farmers use to practice sustainable agriculture, she says.
Today, Squalicum Creek is gushing and full, but not nearly as much as years past, Hoelzen says. When she bought the property, it was listed as a flood zone. She says the floorboards in the red barn across the road were soaked through several seasons ago, but it’s hard to imagine that now.
In the past, the creek has been home to otters, ducks and even a heron who took quite a liking to a decoy goose planted on the bank.
“We thought it was [the heron’s] girlfriend for a while, but I think he figured it out,” Hoelzen says.
She hasn’t seen the romantic heron in quite some time. The creek has dwindled during the warmer months since she moved in, and over the last three years, the summer heat has dried it out completely.
The property is no longer considered a flood risk.
According to extensive reporting by Whatcom Watch addressing Whatcom County’s dwindling water supply, the issue has been an ongoing battle between activists and councilmembers for over a century.
With 40 to 100 inches of precipitation per year, Mount Baker’s glaciers and the large Sumas-Abbotsford aquifer, there is plenty of water in Whatcom County, environmental activist Eric Hirst said at last year’s Huxley Speaker Series at Western; the problem is an increasing demand — and a lack of incentive to use the water efficiently.
“For a very positive guy, I’m awfully pessimistic,” Hirst says.
While glaciers and the resulting water supply from the Nooksack River are shrinking by 1% each year, Hirst says the county’s population is increasing at twice the rate.
“You can look at the entire watershed and see what’s happening in terms of glacier melt and precipitation, to see that we’re going to have challenges,” Berardi says. “A lot of the water that’s falling right now isn’t going to be useful to us because we have surface runoff, and we have flooding.”
Hoelzen uses a private well for her crops, but even she has noticed the depletion at her farm. During the season with the highest agricultural demand, the number of dry days has been increasing. Sometimes it’s as long as 10 weeks straight, she says.
Not only is the dry season expanding, but so is the growing season, Berardi says. Farmers are starting earlier and ending later with less water in circulation each year.
For farmers, a large part of the solution is cultivating healthy soil, Berardi says. Nutrient-rich soil absorbs moisture and fortifies crops to withstand drought for longer. Cover crops, such as ryegrass and crimson clover, help to protect the soil and retain moisture.
Not only is the dry season expanding, but so is the growing season, Berardi says. Farmers are starting earlier and ending later with less water in circulation each year.
Drought-resistant crops, such as heritage red raspberries, are an important consideration too, says Berardi.
Randy Honcoop has been farming raspberries in Lynden since 1986. He carved out a test plot on his land for breeders from Washington State University to experiment with new varieties and see what will stick against these new obstacles. They have tested up to 50 distinct varieties.
A big part of change lies in the hands of the consumer, Berardi says. Many are picky about what certain crops should look and taste like.
Consumer water management, as simple as installing timers on sprinklers, will go a long way too, Hirst says.
On a larger scale, farmers can recycle water back into streams as well as implement a drip-line sprinkler system, as opposed to an overhead model, to reduce evaporative loss and runoff, Hirst says.
Hoelzen recently introduced a drip-line watering system to her winter crops. It’s expensive to switch, so she plans on expanding little by little each year.
For her, it just made sense. Some crops, such as tomatoes, benefit from more frequent watering anyway.
Hoelzen says these measures are not because her well is running dry. It’s about more than just her farm.
“I make sure everything we do here is going to benefit the community in some way,” she says.
But the drip-line system only does so much. Most farmers dispose of excess water with a septic system, Hoelzen says, which returns water to the ground. This is opposed to a number of areas in Bellingham where water drains into the ocean, essentially wasting it.
“I make sure everything we do here is going to benefit the community in some way,” Hoelzen says.
The City of Bellingham website lists ways to conserve water, especially in the summertime, including signing a conservation pledge, actively adjusting sprinklers, watering in the morning, keeping longer grass and growing native plants, which require less water.
“I know a lot of farmers who plant cover crops and try to do the right thing,” Hoelzen says. “They don’t want to ruin the environment. That’s what they depend on.”
The whole issue is a Ping-Pong match of blame, Berardi says. In the farmer’s eyes, new residents keep moving into the area and wasting water. To the activist, the water demands of the agricultural industry directly affect the quantity and quality of water for salmon and other animals.
At this time, none of this blame is calculated, Hirst says. No organization collects holistic water data for Whatcom County, so it is difficult to directly pinpoint the most problematic areas.
It’s as easy as putting a meter on the well, Hoelzen says, but no one does it.
There is something everybody in every position can do to help, Berardi says, and that’s what it will take to create serious change.
“The only ones not to blame are the tribes because they were here first,” says Berardi, cutting her words with a chuckle. “And they will be here last.”
