The effort to determine whether or not a dam would be effective in reducing flooding while not having a drastically negative effect on aquatic species is a long and arduous one.
On Wednesday, officials announced positive news for those who think water retention is part of the answer.
Site surveys conducted earlier this year show the foundation for the proposed dam on the upper reaches of the Chehalis River near Pe Ell is solid. In addition, possible building materials are abundant in the area.
“This is very good rock, and it doesn’t have that many fracture zones,” said Bob Montgomery, principal engineer with Anchor QEA, which is working with the Flood Authority and Governor’s Work Group.
There is still much work to be done as Ecology leads a look into potential effects on aquatic species and a combination of other projects to tackle the issue of flooding.
It’s worth noting, though, that despite opposition to the idea of a dam from the get-go in 2009, there have been no fatal flaws in the plan.
We’ll watch the issue closely as further research is conducted and data is made available.
See the full story on page Main 9.
Congress is being urged to act on wildfire legislation, specifically to existing policies and providing a funding mechanism to combat the growing threat.
The 3rd Congressional District’s Jaime Herrera Beutler was sent a letter on the topic from 12 counties, including Lewis, this week.
“The yearly summer trend of ‘fire budget borrowing,’ lives lost to firefighting and immense catastrophic fires will not end until Congress takes swift action on solutions that restore the health of our federal forests and reform our approach to funding wildfire suppression,” the letter says.
Wildfires may have waned for the season, but they’re unlikely to go away as an annual threat.
We saw more acres burned across the state this year than ever before, even in Lewis County where such fires had been rarities up until the past two years.
The U.S. Forest Service must allow additional logging on the 8 million acres it manages in Washington. The removal of undergrowth and dead trees is important to taking fuel away from future fires.
Money is an equally large issue. “Fire budget borrowing” is unfortunately the status quo for funding wildfire battles.
It’s important that states have federal assistance in approaching an issue that will only grow more dire.
Congress needs to act.
