Washington State Parks maintains 259 mooring buoys at 40 parks across Puget Sound, Hood Canal, Kitsap Co., Olympic Peninsula, and the San Juans. Saltwater takes its toll on buoy anchoring systems, which eventually causes these systems to corrode and break. Washington Parks has identified 35 buoy systems in 16 parks that are at risk of breaking. Buoys with systems at risk are being removed and are scheduled to be replaced in the winter of 2024-25.
In a November Press Release, Washington Parks announced their plan to remove existing anchors and replace them with modern helical screw-type anchors. Helical screw-type systems are more environmentally friendly, limiting impacts on eelgrass. When visiting marine state parks during the 2024 boating season, boaters will likely find fewer buoys available than the number documented for each marine park, probably 10% fewer. If the 2024 winter storms are severe, additional buoys may be put out of commission. Washington State Marine Parks that are affected by the removal of buoys are as follows:
- Blake Island – 5 out of 26
- Clark Island – 1 of 9
- Cutts Island – 1 of 8
- Fort Flagler – 4 of 5
- Fort Townsend – 1 of 3
- Fort Worden – 1 of 8
- Illahee – 2 of 4
- Jones Island – 1 of 6
- Kopachuck – 1 of 1
- Mystery Bay – 4 of 6
- Potlach, Hood Canal – 3 of 5
- Sequim Bay – 2 of 6
- Stuart Is. Prevost Harbor – 1 of 7
- Stuart Is. Reid Harbor – 3 of 11
- Sucia Is. Fox Cove – 1 of 3
- Twanoh – 3 of 7
