County to hire consultant for dike fix concepts

Local governmental agencies have agreed to engage a consulting engineer to look for solutions to the erosion of the Steamboat Slough dike.

In one area, the bank is sluffing into the Columbia River, and Wahkiakum County has closed the outside traffic lane in the county road that lies upon the dike.

The dike protects the Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge, and a breach of the dike would cut the county road and lead to flooding on the refuge.

Local entities have been looking for money to fianance solutions. The dike no longer is part of the US Army Corps of Engineers system and that agency has said it has no funding for repair. The US Fish and Wildlife Service and one private land owner are the diking district, and they've said the district doesn't have money for the repair. County officials have said they would participate in a project to repair the dike, as they did in the 1990's when erosion threatened a nearby stretch of dike, but they aren't responsible for the whole project.

The three have agreed to hire the firm Coast and Harbor Engineering to examine the situation and suggest possible solutions. The firm handled engineering for the previous project.

The initial work will cost $9,100, said county Public Works Director Pete Ringen. The county and diking district will pay $3,370, and the USFWS, which has a limited budget, will pay $2,400.

Ringen said the firm should have its analysis ready for a meeting September 28 that will include the three agencies, representatives of federal representatives, and the state Department of Transportation.

Commissioner Blair Brady expressed dissatisfaction about the situation on Tuesday.

"I have a problem spending money on their work," he said. "The Corps of Engineers caused all the problem with their dredging and channel deepening."

Brady ended up abstaining from voting on the motion to authorize Ringen to contract for the consultaion.

"We will move ahead," said Commissioner Dan Cothren. He added that he was unhappy that the county could be "fixing somebody else's problem."

"Somebody needs to get it going," said commission Chair Lisa Marsyla. "I made it clear to the federal agencies that it's their wildlife refuge.

"If it can't be fixed, we'll close the road."