By Diana Zimmerman
Wah. Co. Eagle
Update: Dike breached along refuge
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October 9, 2014
Courtesy of Corps of Engineers.
The Columbia River rushed through the gap in the old dike.
The US Army Corps of Engineers is nearing the end of their project on Steamboat Slough after breaching the dike in two places less than a month ago.
A contractor has been bringing in topsoil to cover the north side of the new setback levee and will seed it soon. Gravel will be added to the top of the levee to create a one lane, twelve foot wide road that will be closed to regular traffic and gated at both ends. Willows will be planted later in the year. And according to Ed Saldana who works as an inspector on the site, the Corps will be working with Pete Ringen and the Wahkiakum County Road Department to determine what kind of repairs they will be making to the existing refuge road which has been bisected by the breach.
As for the space between the old and new dikes, water filled the area as soon as the Corps began excavating, rising up from the water table.
"Last year," Saldana said, "we basically created a bathtub in here. We had to pump the water out. A meter at the pump showed that we had about 80 million gallons of water in here."
He figures that 80 million gallons of water now come in and out of the new fish habitat with every tidal cycle.
Courtesy of Corps of Engineers.
A contractor working for the US Army Corps of Engineers opens Steamboat Slough Dike and allows the Columbia River to enter what will be come a new wetland on the Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge.
In order to breach the dike, the Corps equalized the water, waiting for the tide to be the same elevation, if not just a little higher, than the water inside the old dike before they began to re-move the final section of earth.
"The breach of the dike was uneventful," Saldana said, "which is what we wanted. There was no big bang, no big whoosh, but there was just a little wave of water coming into the fish habitat."
"Our intent in the design was to allow the whole area to drain on the low tide," he said, "so that no fish would remain trapped."
"Nature will take it's course too," Project Manager Gail Saldana said. "Restoring historic fish habitat is our concern."
According to the Saldanas, it was the money for the fish habitat that made the new levee possible.
"It was a win win for everyone," she finished. "Save the refuge, save the fish."
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