While it sits midway between Lewis County’s eastern and western borders, Mossyrock Dam powers the City of Tacoma.
When the Cowlitz River Hydro Project began in the 1960s, in exchange for powering its city, Tacoma offered Lewis County lakes for swimming, boating, fishing and camping. Since, the utility has churned water through the dam to produce the most power while keeping water levels up to the structures around it — namely, boat launches.
Until 2017, Riffe Lake was kept at around 745 feet above sea level in the winter. On Wednesday, the lake was at 690.87 feet and boat launches were closed, according to Tacoma Public Utilities spokesperson Monika Sundbaum. She added the launches would likely be closed through mid-January.
The drastic change came after a new factor entered the electricity versus recreation equation. Updated concerns around the Cascadia fault line’s potential to produce a magnitude 9.0 earthquake at any time created questions on the dam’s stability.
If the structure — the tallest dam in Washington at 606 feet — were to break, downstream communities would be unlikely to survive. According to previous reporting by The Chronicle, this prompted officials to lower the lake to heights where, even if the structure completely failed, the amount of water added to the Cowlitz River wouldn’t be enough to turn Toledo into Atlantis.
Years of low water levels since 2017 have meant the exposure of stumps and debris, along with boat ramps stretching hundreds of yards between the lakeshore and parking lots. The move to lower the lake levels caused a feud between recreationalists and the utility, which was as strong as ever this week.
Mike Driscoll, a former welding professor at Centralia College who lives in Chehalis, said he is a member of a Facebook group focused on Riffe Lake where multiple residents reported selling their boats because they can’t access the lake regularly anymore.
Now that he’s retired, Driscoll said, “It would be nice to be able to put my boat in and go fishing.”
He reported seeing a waterfall between Swofford Pond and the lake that was previously covered and estimated the boat launch at Mossyrock Park was stretching 400 yards before it touched the lake.
“There’s no access to anyone who’s handicapped or even old,” Driscoll said, later adding, “It’s been all these years and they haven’t done a thing. … They’re making record profits. It would be just a smittance to improve the boat launch.”
While the boat ramps were closed, Sundbaum argued the utility had taken steps to increase accessibility despite low water levels. She blamed dry weather for the closures.
“Even with a low reservoir, we are responsible for maintaining downstream flows for fish, power production for our customers, and helping to contribute to a stable power grid. And when our region experiences extreme heat and cold, which it has this year, that results in even higher demands for electricity,” wrote Sundbaum in an email to The Chronicle.
She continued that since 1995, the lake had only dipped below 700 feet in December one other time, in 2000. Once the lake returns to 708 feet, the Mossyrock Park launch will be reopened and she said the launch at Taidnapam Park could be reopened when the lake hit 719 feet.
“We are eager to reopen the launches as soon as the weather cooperates,” Sundbaum said, later adding, “We also draft the reservoir during the winter months to be able to accommodate for large rain events in order to help limit any potential downstream flooding impacts to the communities on the Cowlitz River.”
The second lane of the Mossyrock Park boat launch has recently been rebuilt to be used when the lake hits 708 feet above sea level, Sundbaum added. While that does not bring the parking lot closer, she said it allows vehicles at least to drive down to the lake.
She said the utility had recently solicited feedback from local officials in Lewis County and was moving forward with two ideas to increase access to the lake despite low water, which were an extended anchor point at the end of the Taidnapam north boat launch and a vehicle turnaround also at the end of the launch.
“We are still exploring potential ways to make negotiating the length of the ramps easier when the lake levels are low,” Sundbaum said. “We would like to partner with the local community on this and welcome their ideas. They can email cowlitz@cityoftacoma.org.”
