For years some have been calling for shade buffers of at least 35 feet on the drainage ditches in the Skagit delta. As Skagit dairy farmer and farm leader Jason VanderKooy explains, this would do nothing help salmon or orcas but would make farming in this area almost impossible.
Drainage ditches in this area are well over 100 years old. Without them, farmland would flood and be impossible to farm. Some are used in summer to convey irrigation water. Nearly all flow directly to Puget Sound and is summer many are dry. Requiring shade buffers to protect salmon that aren’t there and keep dry ditches cool makes no sense whatsoever. So why are some still demanding this?