Proposed salmon habitat legislation honors the late Lorraine Loomis

Lorraine Loomis made her name as a tireless advocate for Northwest salmon.

Now, four months after her passing, new legislation designed to enhance salmon recovery and protect and restore key habitat areas, bears the name of the late Swinomish Tribal Community leader and Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission chair.

Gov. Jay Inslee announced major salmon strategy proposals, including the Lorraine Loomis Act, during a visit to Swinomish Dec. 14.

Inslee delivered remarks while under cover of one of the large Swinomish cedar hat pavilions, addressing an audience that included members of several tribal communities, state lawmakers and staff of state agencies that work on salmon, water, and habitat issues.

Inslee outlined a $187 million multi-tiered legislative agenda, calling for action in Olympia on measures ranging from increased investments in clean water to aligning harvest, hatcheries, and hydropower with salmon recovery to building climate resiliency.

“We are grateful to Gov. Inslee for his bold leadership to honor treaty rights by introducing the Lorraine Loomis Act to restore the riparian habitat necessary for salmon recovery,” said Swinomish Tribal Senate Chair Steve Edwards.

Riparian habitat are the green corridors along rivers and streams essential for clean, cold water during critical periods of a salmon’s lifecycle.

“We applaud the governor’s strong commitment to create climate resiliency in our salmon streams,” Edwards added, “and we look forward to working with him on it during the legislative process to ensure salmon recovery for tribal nations, killer whales and all Washingtonians.”

Edwards was joined by other tribal leaders urging state lawmakers to move without hesitation to pass Inslee’s ambitious salmon recovery package, including the Loomis Act, which honors the legacy of the longtime Swinomish and NWIFC icon.

“Naming it the Lorraine Loomis Act is appropriate,” said Tulalip Tribes Vice-Chair Glen Gobin, “because Lorraine did more than just talk, she fought for salmon for 40 years.”

Nisqually Chairman Willie Frank, III also stressed the importance of passing the Lorraine Loomis Act in the next legislative session.

“Today,” he said, “we are past the point of emergency.”

The proposed act, NWIFC spokesperson Kari Neumeyer said, follows the recommendations of a state-tribal workgroup created after the 2019 Centennial Accord meeting when Inslee directed state agencies to develop a uniform, science-based management approach to make sure salmon have the cool, clean water they need to survive.

“This is the first time we have seen legislation that would require landowners to protect riparian habitat,” said NWIFC Commissioner Dave Herrera, a Skokomish Tribe policy representative. “It is also groundbreaking because it includes incentives for landowners to create and maintain riparian zones, as well as regulatory backstops when compliance isn’t voluntary.”

Frank said time is of the essence to protect the region’s salmon resources.

“We were running out of time in 2019,” he stressed, adding that “we know the vision that our elders laid out for us, and we have to make sure the next generation has salmon to harvest. We can’t wait another year to pass the Lorraine Loomis Act, because salmon continue to be threatened by ongoing population growth and the impacts of climate change.”

Inslee said he shares that sense of urgency.

“There is no time to waste,” he said while at Swinomish. “We have a choice between a future with salmon or a future without them. Salmon need immediate and urgent action to ensure their survival. That’s why, for the 2022 legislative session, salmon recovery is a top priority.”

Swinomish and La Conner have a long history when it comes to salmon advocacy.

Late La Conner civic leader Milo Moore served as the state’s fisheries director and was also enlisted to take charge of Greek fisheries for the Economic Cooperation Administration, a U.S. government agency established in 1948 to administer the Marshall Plan in Europe following World War II.

“He utilized all hatcheries and even made one at Bowman Bay,” La Conner native and retired U.S. Coast Guardsman David Byrn, now of Mount Vernon, said of Moore. “He was the state director of fisheries and was world-renowned for his knowledge of salmon.

“He knew that to utilize hatcheries was of the utmost importance,” said Byrn. “You cannot rely on natural reproduction of salmon due to floods, predators, and ocean food supply. Hatcheries are not running at optimum capacity. Some are shut down due to cost.”

In recent years, salmon have lost more natural habitat than has been gained. An estimated 70 per cent or more of endangered or threatened salmon and steelhead populations are not keeping pace with recovery goals, remain in crisis or require immediate action.

Thus, the impetus for the Lorraine Loomis Act, which sets a measurement standard on the height of trees that grow in interface areas between land and rivers and streams. The standard is intended to create the right size of riparian zone, thus protecting those corridors from development while incorporating the standard in local land use plans and providing landowners with financial assistance to help them meet the new requirement.

“We need swift action to implement this law as soon as possible,” Gobin said. “The tribes are here to help in every way – to educate and to tell our stories about why it’s important to recover salmon for everyone, not just us, on behalf of the values passed down from leaders like Lorraine.”