The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Dikes along Seal Slough in western Wahkiakum County are eroding faster than thought and need immediate attention, officials from the Grays River Habitat Enhancement District said Tuesday.

According to Delvin Fredrickson, a member of the enhancement district board of commissioners, a large chunk of the private dike at the residence of Poul Toftemark, also a member of the enhancement district board, slid away over the past weekend.

Fredrickson and Toftemark asked the Wahkiakum County board of commissioners to declare an emergency and take steps to alleviate the situation.

County commissioners, enhancement district commissioners, and staff of Columbia Land Trust and Ducks Unlimited, who have done tideland restoration work in the area on land known as the Kandoll Farm, recently met and had agreed on a plan of action to address the situation.

However, the erosion and sloughing is much worse than thought at that meeting and needs immediate attention, Fredrickson said.

In response, commission Chair Blair Brady said he would contact the land trust and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife as soon as possible to see what could be done.

In his request, Fredrickson asked the county board to "have the Kandoll Farm project removed and restored to pre-project conditions."

"Prior to the project, landowners did not experience tidal flooding, dike erosion and dike failure, floodwaters overtopping dikes along Seal Slough, nor floodwater retention on their land," he said.

Kandoll farm habitat restoration work included breaching dikes in a few places, raising the Kandoll Road bed to become a dike, and removing two tidegates feeding water from farmland drain ditches into a branch of Seal Slough and installing two 13-foot diameter culverts in their place.

Critics of the project claim the culverts have increased currents in Seal Slough, causing the erosion, and the other dike work has created conditions that exacerbate flooding in winter flood events.

At the August 24 meeting, the group agreed it would be worth trying to ease the current by removing certain trees which are channeling the water.

Fredrickson also argued then that a dike crossing the property needs to be removed to ease the pressure of floodwaters crossing the area in freshets. The parties agreed to survey the area to obtain elevations which could indicate whether or not changing the dike's elevation might have the desired effect.

On Tuesday, Brady suggested that large rocks could be placed downstream of the culverts to break up the currents coming out of them.

"The object of removing the trees was to get Poul Toftemark through the winter," Brady said. "Since we talked, his bank has sloughed off more; his dock is now sitting on the mud.

"It appears the situation has deteriorated since our last meeting."

He called for a motion to place the large rocks, but colleagues Dan Cothren and Lisa Marsyla wanted more information.

Cothren said he wanted "to sit down with all sides" to go over plans so that they don't create another problem.

Toftemark added that the enhancement district could supply the rock at no charge if the group proceeds with that plan.

Also Tuesday, county Public Works Director Pete Ringen announced that a consulting firm working for the US Army Corps of Engineers will survey dikes in the lower Grays River Valley.

The surveyors will place monuments showing elevations, Toftemark added.

The surveyors will make a report to the Corps around the end of the year, and that report will be forwarded to the county and other interested parties, Ringen said.