Port 1, town hear of wetland mitigation for sewer lagoons

The February 13 meeting of the Port District 1 Board of Commissioners took place on the third floor of the courthouse to accommodate a larger group and a presentation from Francis Naglich of Ecological Land Services.

Port Commissioner Larry Bonds attended the meeting via conference call. Cathlamet Mayor Dale Jacobson, town Public Works Superintendent Duncan Cruickshank, Cathlamet Council Member David Goodroe and county Commissioner Mike Backman were on hand.

Naglich had been asked by Port Manager Jackie Lea to present the idea of using the city land housing the former sewer ponds as a mitigation bank after the land had been redeveloped.

The group discussed options for the redevelopment including a beach approach and a park, a boat basin, a bandstand, an amphitheater, storage for kayaks, improved pedestrian access and a natural area or an upland disposal site for dredge spoils.

“We need to find out what we can and can’t do,” Commissioner Gary Quigley said.

Naglich went on to explain the concept of mitigation banking.

“Basically the goal is realizing that you have industrial clients or industrial developers or residential developers or agencies that want to do things on the river—boat ramps, docks, maintenance activities, pipeline projects--anything that goes in the water, is going to be faced with fish mitigation requirements. Now some of that mitigation they can do as part of their project. A lot of times they’d be happy to write a check to someone to do it somewhere else. They don’t want to be obligated for the 10 years of monitoring and all that kind of stuff.

“Sort of like carbon credits,” Commissioner Bob Kizziar said.

“Exactly,” Naglich replied. “At the end of it you come out with a commodity, which is credits you can sell on the open market to someone who needs mitigation. It’s kind of the new trend that the Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency have pushed nationwide.”

In other business, Jana LeAnne Jacob, the new Assistant Manager of Port District 1, was officially welcomed.

Just one bid was received for electrical repair to the E dock at the marina. The commissioners voted to accept the bid from Renaud Electric Heating and Cooling for $3,967 plus tax.