Experts, public comments on Grays River projects

Efforts to deal with the Grays River's high waters and to restore its wetlands showed their controversial aspects in Tuesday meetings with the county board of commissioners.

In the morning, two persons sought county help in stopping excavation work on gravel bars below the Covered Bridge.

Delvin Fredrickson of the Grays River Enhancement District told Commissioners George Trott, Dan Cothren and Blair Brady that the contractor was violating terms of his Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife hydraulics permit and was also trespassing.

The permit allows the contractor to remove logs and debris, which are to be used in a habitat restoration project in the Gorley Springs area.

The contractor is also excavating a channel across one gravel bar, said Fredrickson and neighboring land owner Jack Braman. That work isn't included in the hydraulics permit.

Commissioners said they would talk to Prosecuting Attorney Dan Bigelow to determine what action, if any they could take, and they would consult with Permit Coordinator Chuck Beyer.

Bigelow later told the board that most of the matter involved civil law, and the county had little if any involvement. Beyer said he would forward photos which Fredrickson furnished to fish and wildlife permit managers.

In the afternoon, about 30 valley residents, state and local officials and representatives of the Columbia Land Trust and Ducks Unlimited gathered to discuss scientific modeling of Land Trust projects and Grays River floods.

The Land Trust has purchased property known as The Kandoll Farm on Kandoll Road, and engineers from Ducks Unlimited have designed projects to return the farm to wetland habitat for juvenile salmon and waterfowl. Adjacent property owner Raven Webb and other area residents say the projects have increased flooding in the area by allowing both tide water and runoff from Grays River and Seal and other Creeks to pile up in the area.

Hydrologist John Brighthaupt of Pacific Northwest National Laboratories presented a revised computer model of flooding that he had previously presented to the group. The model showed that the projects did allow river floods and tidal surges to affect the Webb farm and other lands. The Land Trust and Ducks Unlimited had constructed a dike last year to keep the surges off the Webb property, he said, but the freshet of December 3, 2007, was abnormally high, in the category of a 500-year flood. Previous floods in 2005 and 2006 had been in the category of 100-year floods, he said.

Area residents peppered Brightaupt with questions. They suggested that based on their observations of flooding, that other factors, such as siltation of the river channel, might be involved and also that the Land Trust projects were changing water flow in ways the model didn't take into account.