Commercial Geoduck Farming to Move Forward in Burley Lagoon

Friends of Burley Lagoon and Taylor Shellfish Co. reached an agreement on a geoduck cultivation proposal for Burley Lagoon in April. After 10 years of study, litigation, and appeals, both parties agreed to mediation through the Washington Environmental and Land Use Hearings Office Shorelines Hearings Board.

Taylor will move forward with its plan, but has changed the original permit to accommodate residents who live around the lagoon.

“We focused on common goals,” said Bruce Morse, a member of FOBL. “We both wanted to protect the lagoon and Puget Sound.”

“Mediation took the temperature down, established relationships, and established a real commitment to work together,” said Bill Dewey, director of public affairs for Taylor. “It feels good to resolve through a settlement. When it goes through a final appeal process, there are winners and losers. Let this be a lesson. It does not always have to be polarized.”

A positive outcome was not guaranteed. In November 2024, the Pierce County Hearing Examiner approved the Taylor proposal to convert 25.5 acres of clam and oyster beds to geoducks. (“Pierce County Approves Geoduck Harvest in Burley Lagoon,” January 2025). FOBL appealed that decision to the Washington State Department of Ecology and lost in mid-January.

“Our first reaction was to step back after the Ecology decision,” said FBOL board member Janie Aiken. “We were exhausted, and a final appeal to the hearings board would be expensive.” Another group initially offered to manage the appeal but withdrew when it realized how much work was involved.

FOBL decided to appeal in February. With 70 days to file all the required documents, the group held nightly Zoom meetings, doing most of the work with advice from their attorney as needed.

When they met with the hearings board judge to go over the time frame for the proceedings, the judge asked if they were interested in mediation. “I’m a middle child,” Morse said. “I am comfortable with mediation.” The hearings board financed the mediation — it is much cheaper than litigation for all parties — and their lawyer warned them that they were unlikely to win the appeal. They opted for mediation.

Taylor was also willing. “I’ve worked for the company for over 30 years in this position,” Dewey said. “We pride ourselves on working collaboratively with the communities where we farm.”

Five members of FOBL (Claudia Casebolt, Wendy Ferrell, Lorrie Petersen, Aiken, and Morse) participated with their attorney, David Bricklin.

Erin Ewald, Bill Taylor, Nyle Taylor, and attorney Billy Plauché represented Taylor Shellfish. Representatives from Ecology and Pierce County also participated.

The process lasted two days. Participants were told they could walk away at any time, and that the discussion was confidential and could not be used if they wound up in litigation.

“I felt optimistic when I saw Bill Taylor there,” Morse said.

FOBL submitted a document that served as a starting point. Some of their suggestions were non-negotiable for FOBL. Some were unacceptable to Taylor Shellfish. Others provided avenues for discussion.

“There was mutual respect,” Morse said. “And it helped that the lawyers knew each other and had done this before.”

The final agreement included three general areas of consideration: operational logistics, preservation and conservation, and collaboration and cooperation.

Logistical agreements included limiting the hours and days for dive operations and notification to FOBL if the company ever planned to harvest clams mechanically.

They will not use pesticides or herbicides in the lagoon or within 200 feet of the Purdy Spit.

What pleased the FOBL representatives most were the agreements concerning conservation and cooperation.

Two acres of native Olympia oysters will remain untouched. Eighteen acres of subtidal lands will remain fallow. No shellfish operations will take place in the two streamway channels that flow from the creek at the head of the lagoon into Henderson Bay. Taylor will contribute $15,000 towards the purchase or establishment of a conservation easement of a small island in the lagoon. Taylor and FOBL will co-sponsor a clean-up day each year.

One of the Burley residents’ concerns is that the cumulative effects of geoduck farming are not fully appreciated. The agreement will allow FOBL to evaluate the impacts of the geoduck farm within seven to 10 years to see if they are greater than predicted by the environmental impact statement. They will submit the report to Ecology, and Taylor will have the opportunity to respond.

What excited FOBL most was an agreement to form a nongovernmental conservation organization. Taylor and FOBL will contribute $15,000 and $3,000, respectively, toward the project.

“This could be a model, an ecologically managed estuary,” Lorrie Peterson said.