County limits spoils site

Wahkiakum County officials decided this week not to try to expand the target site for deposit of dredge spoils at the lower end of Puget Island.

In February, two Ostervold Road residents asked the county board of commissioners to lengthen the disposal site upstream in front of their residences, which are experiencing erosion.

On Tuesday, Public Works Director Pete Ringen recommended against trying to expand the disposal site because the permitting process is too far advanced.

Ringen said he consulted with the county’s consulting engineer from Coast and Harbor Engineering before making the recommendation.

“I initially said it might be possible to amend the permit,” Ringen said. However, the engineer pointed out that the permit has received support from the US Army Corps of Engineers and other permitting agencies because of its emergency nature. The project was initially designed to fill the county sand pit and fill in front of two nearby upstream residences which have severe erosion problems.

If more upstream property were added, the scope of the project would change and require additional engineering design and agency review, Ringen said.

The county also has a permit to have sand spoils be deposited along the shoreline in the Pancake Point area on East Sunny Sands.

“We have the permit and a commitment from the Corps of Engineers to come back in the summer for that project,” Ringen said.

Ringen and Commissioner George Trott had a meeting Monday with officials from the Corps and up river ports. They report that environmental agencies are changing how they view dredge spoils, and that may open the door to much more beach nourishment.

Based on a small amount of scientific research in the early 1980’s, agencies wanted to limit the amount of sand dumped in water along beaches because it smothered benthic organisms which are an important source of food for juvenile salmonids. More recent research has contradicted that earlier held view, and now the agencies are looking favorably at beach nourishment, they said.