Commissioners OK chum channel work

After a long discussion, the Wahkiakum County Board of Commissioners agreed to support a state sponsored salmon recovery project in Skamokawa's Middle Valley.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) wants to purchase a three-acre parcel as part of a chum salmon spawning channel.

WDFW's Bryce Glaser explained that the agency has applied to the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board for a grant to fund the project. The channel is a filled in swale fed by a spring. It crosses two properties; owners of one have granted a conservation easement; owners of the others want to sell. Funding for the grant is coming from an eastern Washington irrigator that needs to mitigate for new reservoir.

The agency would let a contract to excavate the channel and install gravel for spawning beds.

When the board invited comments on the request, gillnetter Kent Martin urged the commission to push back against WDFW policies that don't benefit residents of Wahkiakum County.

Martin said he had no problem with the restoration project, but the department has acted with a heavy hand in withdrawing gillnetters' access to the chum runs.

Thus, the project benefits eastern Washington interests and has no benefit for local residents, he said.

"What does this county get out of the holy grail of salmon restoration?" Martin asked. "What I see over and over again is that there's very little in it for the people of our county.

"I'm all in favor of salmon recovery. It has to mean something to this county besides salmon derbies two times a year."

J.B. Robinson of Puget Island asked if the project could cause flooding; he pointed out that other habitat restoration projects have caused severe flooding problems in the past in the county.

Glaser said the project would involve lowering an existing channel and shouldn't cause flooding.

Martin suggested the commissioners condition their approval with a condition to their approval stating the department would be responsible for downstream erosion the project might cause.

Commissioner Mike Backman asked if the department would place any weirs that would block access to the creek. Glaser said the only weir would be a small weir at the mouth of the channel to monitor fish passage; it wouldn't stop fish passage, he said.

Commissioners liked Martin's recommendation and included the condition in their motion to write a letter of support of the project.