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For the last century, as Chehalis River Basin fish runs declined and flooding got worse, people argued and fought while no progress was made on either flooding or fish recovery.
In the last decade, that has changed with the Office of Chehalis Basin Board working together with the Chehalis and Quinault tribes at the table, along with representatives from Lewis, Thurston and Grays Harbor counties and agriculture and environmental representatives.
People who complain “all they do is study” aren’t correct.
Almost 150 fish habitat and local flood projects have been done on time and within budget with no fighting.
This very newspaper did an in-depth series of articles over the past two years highlighting dozens of these local projects. These projects are in place, reducing flood risk to key infrastructure in every community in the Chehalis Basin while the fish habitat projects are being put in place to restore a declining fishery.
Funding from the Washington state Legislature has gone to the diverse Office of Chehalis Basin Board, which has prioritized the projects, and then, working with local governments, the Flood Authority and the aquatic species teams, have gotten the work done on the ground.
Because of the Chehalis Basin Board, a basinwide fish habitat plan is in place called the Aquatic Species Restoration Plan. It is being implemented where willing landowners participate.
Completing that plan is the best hope to maintain a viable basin fishery for future generations.
The flood projects are already working to reduce flood damage in the kind of moderate floods we’ve just experienced.
Meanwhile, the question of a basinwide flood solution, the proposed flow-through dam for flood control, is under environmental review by state and federal agencies.
You should share your thoughts.
The tribes have legitimate concerns about environmental and other impacts. Those issues are on the table, and the Lewis County Flood Zone District, with support of national experts, is working to prove this project can avoid and mitigate negative impacts.
The science will tell us if this can be achieved.
This editorial board has supported the flow-through dam for flood control proposed above Pe Ell for more than a decade.
We strongly support it as the most effective single measure that can reduce catastrophic flood damage from Pe Ell all the way down the river to Cosmopolis near Aberdeen.
The latest hydrology shows that the flow-through dam alone would protect more than 1,400 homes, schools and businesses from catastrophic flooding while another 950 structures would have their flood levels lowered to a foot or less.
The chart included along with this editorial shows in green the level of flood reduction that would be achieved along the Chehalis main stem with the flow-through dam in place in a giant flood similar to what we experienced in 2007 as well as predictable flood storage at the Skookumchuck Dam. Almost all of the areas along the Chehalis River are green, meaning less flood water. You see green all the way from Pe Ell, Adna, through Chehalis and Centralia, southern Thurston County, Oakville, Elma, Montesano, Cosmopolis and Aberdeen.
Sometimes, people ask “why build this flow-through dam on the Chehalis main stem and not the Newaukum or Skookumchuck?” The answer is because the main stem of the Chehalis River, with flood water flowing out of the Willapa Hills, is by far the biggest contributor to the flood damage harming our communities in huge flood events. During a flood, the Chehalis main stem alone carries twice the flood water of the Newaukum and Skookumchuck combined.
This innovative flow-through dam is not a traditional river-blocking dam. This facility will be open at the bottom, allowing fish to pass up and downstream. The gates will be open and the river unblocked for years at a time. The only time the structure will act temporarily like a dam is when one of the giant storms hits our area at the level of a 1990, 1996 or 2007 flood, and then it will provide enormous flood protection for families and communities as well as Interstate 5.
Are we going to sit here forever and hope that the next atmospheric river, and the next, and the next, doesn’t center on our communities the way it has before and the way it did over Skagit County last month? Or can we act together and agree on a basinwide fish and flood plan?
Now is the time for public input.
Give your public input to the Department of Ecology regarding the draft environmental impact statement. Comments must be received before Feb. 4. Comments can be submitted online at https://tinyurl.com/4n6kstj7 or via mail to SEPA Revised Draft EIS for Chehalis Flood Damage Reduction Project, c/o Bobbak Talebi, Southwest Region Office, P.O. Box 47775, Olympia, WA, 98504-7775.
