I have made a motion at the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council to send a letter to the state requesting a tideland inventory, but I need your vote.

Instead of a cesspooland garbage dump, Quartermaster Harbor is be-coming a healthy ecosys-tem. Some are still polluting, but it is now a requirement that all septic systems be tested. Since sewage runs downhill, pollution uphill is also being addressed.

Once certified, our aquaculture tidelands around the harbor will become very sought after. There are already tideland owners who smell an easy profit from leasing their tidelands to shellfish corporations or other investors. When our best tidelands are certified and these organizations get the tideland leases before us, we are locked out.

Some think they can easily put a stop to the leases, but it may not be possible because of the marine recovery area (MRA). During the Glacier fight, concern for our tidelands, fish, shellfish and habitat were a major reason why our tidelands received the designation of Marine Recover Areas. Shellfish farming is not only allowed in MRAs but encouraged because shellfish are filter feeders and each oyster, clam and mussel cleans 50 to 65 gallons of water per day — so farming enhances recovery.

The economic and jobs potential is enormous. If Islanders farm the tidelands, we will have a lot more interest in keeping the homeowners overlooking the tidelands happy, where outsiders may not care about noise, lights and corporate employees working all hours.

Vote for my letter at the next VMICC meeting — for a well-paid carrier in shellfish farming for our children or grandchildren or yourself, to help develop our college, improve our economy or keep our tidelands from outsiders. Please come out and support this motion.

— Bill Rowling, VMICC Clerk