West Wahkiakum residents oppose dike breaching

A recent opinion poll of west Wahkiakum residents/landowners reveals an overwhelming number are opposed to the breaching of dikes. The poll yielded 253 responses and, of the 253 responding, 242 indicated their opposition for dike breaching, while only seven indicated support. Four residents polled indicated they could go either way, depending on the particular project.

The Grays River Flood Control District was established to ensure existing dikes along the Grays River are maintained. Owners of properties within the District’s jurisdiction pay a dike fee as a part of their property taxes. This money goes to the Grays River Flood Control District fund and is used to co-fund dike repair and maintenance costs with property owners.

Based in Vancouver, the Columbia Land Trust (CLT) is a non-governmental organization designated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation which acquires land through land donations, direct purchase or conservation easements. CLT’s goal, as established in its mission statement, is to “conserve and care for the vital lands, waters, and wildlife of the Columbia River region through sound science and strong relationships.” CLT strives to achieve its goal through a number of approaches, one of which includes the acquisition of Grays River shoreline lands with the intent to breach their dikes to create wetland fish habitat.

Prompted by the acquisition of the Hallam property by the CLT and their ongoing preparatory design work for breaching its dike, the Grays River Flood Control District has adopted a resolution that requests the Board of County Commissioners to adopt a moratorium on dike breaching within the Flood Control District’s jurisdiction. Formal consideration of the moratorium request would require the County Commissioners to conduct a public hearing on the matter.

While the positions of the Flood Control District and the Columbia Land Trust are known, an important unknown was the opinion of the residents in the west end of Wahkiakum County where dike breaching has occurred and more is being planned. To that end, preparatory work on developing an opinion poll form began in November 2024. The objective was to create a form that contained unbiased instructions, outlined the main arguments both for and against the breaching of dikes and allowed individuals to indicate whether they approved or opposed dike breaching.

CLT receives favorable views on the east end of Wahkiakum County for their non-dike related projects. While west enders also hold more favorable views for CLT’s non-dike related projects in their end of the county, many see their efforts to breach dikes through the negative lens of CLT’s previous Kandoll Road project. The nearby Raistakka Road project is also reported to have the potential for damage to adjoining properties.

In 2010, an article in the Chinook Observer noted comments made by the then CLT Executive Director Glenn Lamb, who said, “The Land Trust has run into conflicts with landowners in the Grays River area of Wahkiakum County because of unexpected flooding tied to a dike breach restoration project. I think we need to have community stability [as a] component of our projects. As we're proposing breaching dikes, opening up flood plains, we need to make sure we put enough emphasis on the human impacts…We need to have public support to do this.”

CLT believes they can engineer the Raistakka Road project to avoid damage to adjacent properties once the dike is breached. The adjacent land owners feel that could be true in the short term but worry about unanticipated damage in the future. For that reason, they have requested CLT to provide a form of financial surety (escrow, bonding, etc.) sufficient to cover in perpetuity property damage related to the breach.

With the poll indicating an overwhelming majority of west Wahkiakum residents and landowners being opposed to the breaching of dikes, Lamb’s original need to have public support, now 15 years later, appears to still have a long way to go.