Dorie Belisle and her husband John moved from Florida to a 40-acre farm in Whatcom County, Washington almost a decade ago to grow Jonagold apples. Dorie acknowledges, “We actually were looking for a quieter lifestyle – just growing apples.” It hasn’t quite worked out that way. As manager of Tenmile Creek Watershed Restoration, Dorie now spends much of her time talking with neighbors and planning projects to benefit the creek that runs through their farm. While it is not a quiet job, Dorie’s unflappable demeanor and positive attitude seem well suited for it.

Dorie and John are passionate about farming and farmland preservation. They grow their apples using integrated pest management and are certified as sustainable by Food Alliance. Dorie says, “After we had been farming for about three years, we got very frustrated about all of the regulations affecting agriculture – a lot of things that just didn’t make sense.” John serves on the board of the Whatcom Agriculture Preservation Committee, which works to keep farming viable. Dorie remembers, “A few of us from that committee got together and said, ‘If we wanted to bring solutions instead of regulation to environmental issues, how would we do it? How can we protect the salmon and also protect agriculture?’”

They came up with a pilot program on the Tenmile Creek Watershed based on talking with and educating neighbors. Says Dorie, “The main thing is listening to your neighbor and understanding how they use their land, how they farm it, work on it, play in it, why they purchased the property, and what role the creek plays in their long- and short-term goals for their land.” Dorie contends that once you understand where a landowner is coming from, you are in a better position to supply that landowner with information about what the salmon and creek need and you can start finding solutions that work for everyone. With support from the county and the state Department of Ecology, Dorie became the project manager and the pilot restoration project was off and running.

The Tenmile Creek Watershed drains approximately 35 square miles between Bellingham and Canada. It is home to spawning runs of coho, chinook and chum salmon, as well as steelhead and coastal cutthroat trout. “Historically there used to be so many salmon in the creek that the farmers would pitch them out and use them for fertilizer,” exclaims Dorie. In recent years, the fish counts have dwindled severely. Dorie says, “I think people are realizing that if we lose farming, and in its place have housing developments, we are going to lose fish. We have the land base for the fish, and with a little tweaking we can make it a very healthy environment for them.”

In 2002, Dorie sent a survey to 481 landowners who live on or close to one of the streams in the Tenmile Watershed. With the information she received in the surveys, Dorie had the input she needed to get started. For example, eighty-three percent of respondents agreed that improving stream water quality was important. The survey allowed space for comments that ranged from enthusiastic: “Landowners, let’s all get together and do it!” – to irate: “Government should mind their own business” – to flippant: “Kill more seals.” Concern was expressed about pollution in the creeks and some people noted that kids were getting rashes from playing in them. Respondents noted that a new golf course had adversely impacted water quality and flow. People openly expressed their views, asked questions, and requested more information.

Dorie compiled the survey results and sent them out to all of the landowners. She says, “I went back to them and said, ‘Okay this is what you wanted.’” Because landowners said they did not want to go to meetings and conferences, but did want someone to walk their land with them, Dorie arranged outings with small groups of neighbors to walk each other’s land and talk about issues and goals. Because survey respondents said they wanted to know more about the history of the Tenmile, Dorie organized a berries and ice cream social down by the stream where old timers shared their stories of the creek.

Within two years, Dorie made 250 visits to get to know people. She explains, “I might start with a cup of coffee at their kitchen table, just listening to what a family’s goals are for the land. The next visit I might bring them information that they ask for on the fish, on the creek, on how the county can help them put in a bridge or remove a fish barrier. The next visit we might start putting a project together.” Dorie continues, “The whole thing has to be based on relationships. My goal is to build a community around the Tenmile Creek Watershed so that we start identifying with the area that we live in, because if you don’t identify with it, you can’t protect it.” She also believes that if you remove the regulatory focus and give people incentives, applause and the financial help, they will do what is right.

Dorie has coordinated projects across ownerships on four different stretches of creek, involving 37 families. Most of the effort has focused on voluntary planting of native trees and shrubs along the creeks and in buffer zones. These plantings are site-specific and designed to meet creek and farmer needs. Dorie notes, “We have to get away from thinking in terms of buffer feet and think in terms of what is going to meet the needs of that creek as it meanders through each piece of property.”

Dorie offers a cautionary tale about a farmer who had seen three attempts to plant along his stream fail. She explains, “He said to me, ‘They have planted doug fir in this peat soil and I could have told them they wouldn’t grow there, so what are you going to plant? I said, ‘Okay, what will grow here?’ The farmer said, ‘In the peat soils you are going to need the native shrubs; this site is facing the northeasters that come down out of the Fraser Valley and any big tree is going to blow over by the time it is 15 years old.’” Dorie remarks, “We’ve got to do what makes sense, and that means talking to the landowner because they know type of soil and how the wind blows.”

Besides listening to landowners, Dorie works hard to help people understand the dynamics of the watershed. She says, “I realize that people don’t always understand the connectedness. They don’t always understand that what they do in their backyard impacts the Portage Bay, and that there are tribes down there that are trying to harvest shellfish, and that they too are farmers and what we do impacts their farming down below.” She continues, “Our goal is to connect all these farmers, whether you are farming shellfish or you are farming with a dairy up here, we are all connected.”
In the time Dorie has been working on this project, four miles of creekside have been planted with native trees and shrubs, over 42,000 seedlings have been planted by farmers in the county, upstream farmers and downstream farmers have broken bread together, and a greater sense of community has been built in the watershed. While the fish runs have yet to bounce back, there are some encouraging signs. “For the first time we have opened up both shellfish beds in Drayton Harbor and Portage Bay after they had been closed for 15 years,” reports Dorie. “We are not out of the woods yet, but the dairy industry has stepped up to the plate over the last ten years.”

Dorie hopes that this approach to watershed restoration will spread. She believes having a local coordinator who is a good listener makes a big difference. She says, “It has definitely helped that I avidly support agriculture, that I am a farmer, and that I am these people’s neighbor.” It also helps that Dorie clearly enjoys getting to know her neighbors and she is not easily ruffled.

Dorie tells a final story: “I was out planting trees in the rain with a farmer and he said something about those darn environmentalists. I was wet and cold and I said, ‘Look at you, you are planting trees along a stream in the rain with 15 high school kids. If that doesn’t make you an environmentalist, I don’t know what does.’” She exclaims, “We need to take that term back!”

Contact
Tenmile Creek Watershed Restoration Project
Dorie Belisle, Project Manger
231 Ten Mile Rd.
Lynden, WA 98264
Tel: 360-398-9187
doriebelisle@yahoo.com
www.bellewoodapples.com
www.whatcomcd.org