Another delay for setback levee

Representatives of the US Army Corps of Engineers and US Fish and Wildlife Service met with Wahkiakum County commissioners Tuesday to go over plans for a new levee on the Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge for the Columbian White-tailed Deer.

The Columbia River is undercutting the existing Steamboat Slough dike, and the agencies have reached agreement with the county and Diking District No. 4 to use federal salmon enhancement funds to build a new dike set back from the shoreline, breach the old dike, and create tidal wetland between the new setback levee and the shoreline. The agencies have no funding for combatting the erosion in the river.

Corps Project Manager Amy Gibbons said Tuesday's meeting was intended to go over issues such as traffic control and other concerns that the county and diking district might have for the construction project.

The Corps is working "at breakneck speed" to have the project ready to go to bid in time for construction to be completed by mid-October, Gibbons said.

However, Diking Commissioner Maurice Mooers applied a brake to the process by requesting an easement from the Fish and Wildlife Service stating exactly what management activities the diking district would have on the setback dike.

Mooers said he would withhold permission to breach the existing dike until he had the easement.

Gibbons and Fish and Wildlife Service Willapa Complex Manager Jackie Ferrier said they believed the agreement the parties reached in March adequately stated that authority.

It said Fish and Wildlife and the Diking District would share maintenance and operation activities on the new dike, Ferrier said.

Mooers responded that the operations weren't spelled out, and his history with the agencies leads him to want specific wording, not a general statement that could be interpreted in different ways by different parties.

"So we're back to the same place we were two months ago," Ferrier said.

She doesn't have authority to create such an agreement, she said, and it would have to be approved by superiors in a process that could cause delays. She added that she thought the existing agreement was clearer than a legal document would be. It states there will be cooperative management, that the parties will inform each other of plans, and that the Fish and Wildlife Service will pay an assessment to the diking district for maintenance and operations.

Doris Cook, Corps real estate specialist, said she would work on the easement and look into other possibilities that might satisfy Mooers.

Gibbons said the easements need to be in place before the Corps can call for bids on the project. So far, the Corps has spent almost $500,000 putting the project together.

"We are committed to constructing a levee that is far better than what you have out there now," she said.

County officials said their concerns focused on access and impacts during construction.

Commissioner Dan Cothren emphasized that county residents fish the shoreline and will need access during summer months.

County officials also asked that the Corps and its future contractors be careful with hauling heavy loads for rock and soil. They said the road shouldn't be damaged during hauling, and hauling should be arranged to have minor impact on Skamokawa residents and businesses.