Whatcom County MRC Projects - Marine Restoration and Protection

Marine Creosote Log Remediation Project

Marine Creosote Log Remediation Project
Project Partner with the City of Bellingham

Birch Bay Area

The initial inventory from Birch Bay State Park to the north side of the marina in May, June and July of 2002 found approximately 1,286 cubic feet of creosote-treated wood on the beaches. About 1,246 of this was removed in August of 2002. About 258 cubic feet was found in the follow-up inventory completed in the spring of 2003. Roughly 29 cubic feet of this was removed in May of 2003. The majority of the materials consisted of pilings and pile stubs, but there were also significant numbers of timbers, and a small number of railroad ties.

The estuary at the northeast corner of Birch Bay is an area where driftwood and rogue creosote-treated wood accumulates. There were also significant amounts from the intersection of Birch Point Road and Shintafer Road north to the estuary. This is a difficult area to draw conclusions about trends in movement because of a couple different factors. There is lots of vegetation growth in the area where there are accumulations of driftwood, so there could be creosote materials underneath that aren’t easily exposed. There is also a lot of driftwood in the creek itself that probably gets moved around every winter. Some of the creosote materials removed from this area were actually almost entirely submerged in the fine-ground substrate in the creek. There are 2 drift cells on either side of the estuary that both move towards the estuary, explaining the heavy accumulations of wood there.

One point worth noting about possible sources of rogue logs and timbers in Birch Bay is that there are no docks in the bay and the railroad does not run anywhere near the shoreline. That means that the materials are either floating into the bay from elsewhere, or they are coming from some source(s) directly upland.