Washington, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Brian Baird successfully secured $700,000 in the FY 2004 Interior Appropriations Bill to eradicate Spartina alterniflora from Willapa Bay.  The funding will continue ongoing efforts of a six-year plan to rid the Willapa region of Spartina, a noxious weed that has taken over waterways in the area.  This will be the second year of eradication efforts in Willapa.  Baird secured funding for Spartina eradication in FY 2003 as well.

“We must continue to fight Spartina infestation in the Willapa Bay,” said Baird.  “By eradicating Spartina we save jobs, protect our environment and keep our waterways pristine and beautiful.  Willapa Bay is a treasure that we must preserve for future generations.”

The Willapa Bay’s intertidal mudflats support an annual $20 million oyster and hard-shell clam aquiculture industry in a rural area with chronically higher-than-average unemployment rates.  Uncontrolled, Spartina infestation will destroy this industry.  Additionally, the Bay’s mudflats are highly productive, critical habitat for migratory wildfowl.  Spartina grass invades and aggressively displaces the native shoreline plant species that make Willapa Bay one of the most important wintering and fueling areas of the Pacific Flyway.  Furthermore, the Bay's estuaries are critical habitat for endangered salmon populations making their transition from freshwater to saltwater and their return to freshwater spawning grounds.

In 1995, the Washington State Legislature declared the Spartina infestation an environmental emergency, and directed state environmental agencies to assign a high priority to its control. In the past two years, state agencies estimate that a total of 500 acres of Spartina grass have been successfully killed. 

The effort to contain Spartina in Willapa Bay has reached a critical juncture. In 1991, there were approximately 2,500 acres of Spartina in Willapa Bay.  The infestation is currently estimated to cover between 11,000 and 15,000 acres of tidelands and it is projected to occupy 56,000 out of the 80,000 acres of Willapa Bay if left uncontrolled.  If the rate of expansion of Spartina is not controlled immediately, it may be unrealistic to expect that control and eradication will ever be possible.

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