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

Wahkiakum County commissioners on Tuesday declined to endorse a plan to address the eroding Steamboat Slough Dike on the Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge for the Columbian White-tailed Deer.

The Columbia is cutting into the bank and undermining the asphalt of the county road on top. Geotechnical engineers have warned that a large piece of earth could slide away at any time, carrying the dike and road with it and flooding the refuge.

The dike isn't part of the US Army Corps of Engineers' dike maintenance program, and neither the Corps, Diking District 1, which owns the dike, the county, which owns the road on top of the dike, nor the US Fish and Wildlife Service have funds to construct a revetment that would protect the dike.

In December, the Corps proposed construction of a new dike set back from the shoreline and the breaching of the old dike to create 200 acres of wetland habitat that would benefit juvenile salmon. The project would be financed by federal funding dedicated to salmon enhancement.

Also in December, Corps officials asked the county and diking district to endorse the plan quickly, for there are other projects competing for the salmon restoration funding.

On Tuesday, commissioners declined to endorse the plan because Corps and USFWS officials said they couldn't guarantee they all that the commission and diking district were seeking.

Commission Chair Blair Brady said he preferred the new dike be built to the same standards as the current dike so that it could be used as a detour if SR 4 were closed in the area. He favored keeping as much of the old dike intact as possible to provide public access to the river. He also said he would prefer only one breach in the dike, not three, as the plan proposes.

Commissioner Dan Cothren said he was unwilling to turn over the existing dike.

"My constituents' concern is giving something to the refuge and not getting anything in return," he said.

County Public Works Director Pete Ringen said erosion will likely continue to occur for the next 50 years or more, so setting the dike back from the shoreline makes sense. Maintaining the dike and shoreline will continue to be a public expense, he said, and he added the USFWS should guarantee that the setback dike would have a usable roadway for an emergency route in case SR 4 were closed.

Maurice Mooers, the only private land owner on the diking district board of commissioners, said the structure of the new dike should be as equal as possible to that of the existing dike.

Mooers acknowledges the erosion is serious.

"If you take a look at aerial photos, not that I'm changing my mind, but there's no way we're going to stop the erosion," he said. "It's causing conditions that I don't think the Fish and Wildlife Service can do anything about. So, what to do?

"I don't want us to come out with anything less than what we have. We need access all the time, and it needs to be wide enough to allow for travel. What they're suggesting doesn't allow that."

Puget Island resident Philip Vik, a member of the board of commissioners of Consolidated Diking District No. 1, said he agreed with Mooers. The Corps alters the flow of the river with its channel maintenance programs, and those altered flows and effects of shipping cause problems on many shorelines.

"They're well aware it's their responsibility, but if they can get someone else to pay for it, they will," he said. "If I were a county commissioner, I would not give breaching my blessing."

Officials from the USFWS and Corps said they had done what they could given the funding situation.

Engineers have estimated it would cost $3-$5 million to repair the existing dike, and "none of us have funds," said Jackie Ferrier, project leader for the USFWS.

"We have worked for two years to find a solution to fix the dike in place," she said. "The Corps of Engineers is willing to put in a setback dike. It's the only solution we've found that we can fund.

If the dike breaches without the setback dike in place, there will be adverse impacts on refuge wildlife, refuge infrastructure, and on SR 4, she added.

"The erosion has undercut the asphalt of the road," she said. This is going to happen. We need to move forward with this solution. It's the only funded solution and the only one that maintains access to the river."

If the USFWS were to build a setback dike, it would only be piled dirt, not matching the quality of what the Corps would build, she said.

She added that the county currently has a right of way for the current county road, it would likely have another for the new dike. "I just can't legally say it until we go through the process," Ferrier said.

Amy Gibbons of the Corps said the agency could analyze the minimum size of breaching to create wetlands. "We have to achieve certain standards to maintain fish habitat," she said.

She asked if the county would reject the plan if it had two breaches. "Yep," responded Brady, adding they would want the road graveled, at the least, for emergency traffic.

"I don't think you should breach it," added new Commissioner Mike Backman.

In the end, commissioners took no action but said the Corps and USFWS could return for more discussion if they address the county concerns.

(Editor's note: See USFWS letter in response to Mooers about project plans elsewhere on this site.)