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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021 11 19 Hoh River Phase I Steering Committee Meeting Summary Page 1 | 2 Hoh River Resiliency Plan PHASE I Middle Hoh Resiliency Steering Committee Meeting Summary Friday, November 19, 2021 1:03 PM – 1:40 PM Welcome/Introductions In attendance: Kim Bray (Hoh Tribe), Rebekah Brooks (Rebekah Brooks Contracting), Eric Carlsen (Citizen), Anna Geffre (North Pacific Coast Lead Entity [NPCLE] Coordinator), Julie Ann Koehlinger (Hoh Tribe), Roger Oakes (Hoh River Trust), Tami Pokorny (Jefferson County), Jill Silver (10,000 Years Institute) Agenda Changes/Additions None Approval of the October 29, 2021 Draft Meeting Summary This item was skipped. Announcements/Comments The group discussed the recent storm and high flow events. Old Business None New Business Storm/Flood Impacts Discussion Tami Pokorny played a video taken by _____ from the Hoh Boat Launch at RM 4, showing the extremely high flows and flooding from the recent storm, which was considered a ten-year flood event. Jill Silver reported that the river started out on Monday morning at 36,000 cubic feet per second, and went up to 51,000 cubic feet per second later that day. The group shared photos and comments on the damage done on Sunday and Monday, and past experience with other high flow events on the Hoh River. Most buildings have been reported to still be standing, although foundational damage was unknown. Eric Carlsen mentioned work that John Richmond is doing on his Hoh River property. Tami wondered about more erosion and change on the periphery of the main channel migration zone. Jill observed that as the bed has risen with more sediment, the mainstem looks for lower elevation flow paths, which is when it jumps into old side channels and swales. Tami said that the design team has mentioned that a high priority is to keep the mainstem away from the margins of the valley where the tributaries come in and provide such valuable side channel habitat. As the main channel bed aggrades, that is going to be harder and harder to achieve. Eric Carlsen discussed the construction of the Hoh project using dolosse to anchor engineered log jams, as opposed to rocks and cables. Past projects in the Upper Dungeness River on Forest Service lands have struggled to get approval for using dolosse because they did not look Page 2 | 2 Hoh River Resiliency Plan PHASE I natural enough; rocks with cables were used instead. Eric has observed that the dolosse will move and reposition to hold the log jam, whereas the rocks with cables do not grab and hold in the same way. The dolosse are constructed in layers that give them an advantage to attract and hold wood, and seem to be doing a much better job in the long run. He was glad dolosse were being used in the Hoh project, and hoped more documentation will allow for more dolos use. Jill added that she was intrigued by the way the dolosse rack up material, and thought planting on top of the structures may be possible in future projects. Anna Geffre asked about historic river aggradation. Jill explained that aggradation is normal for the Hoh, but the glacial retreat over the last decade has significantly increased it. The canyons that have bedrock on both sides have aggradation above them; those are the places where major erosion of riparian forests is happing. Anna added that as the river continues to aggrade, it takes smaller events to have major impacts. Jill mentioned that there is a planned project in the NPCLE Strategy to do a study on glacial retreat in the Hoh River. Resiliency Plan Update: Tami Pokorny Tami announced that the review team will have the second draft of the Resiliency Plan ready for review at the December meeting. A lot of work has been going on in the background by consultants on the review team. She has been going through her notes from the past months and years of work on this project. She added that this is a great time for everyone to add any thoughts before the next draft. She hoped for a public meeting for outreach purposes over the winter, but COVID precautions have been very limiting. Additional Projects Updates: All Tami Pokorny gave an update on what Western Federal Lands presented to the Steering Committee. There were some issues with access to the Nature Conservancy and Forest Service properties, but the landowners are now ready to talk about what sorts of mitigations would be pursued. Western Federal Lands reached out to Tami as they are interested to see what ideas the Middle Hoh group has for projects or applications that already exist, have been reviewed, or could be developed for mitigation. There are timeline constraints, as the permits only extend until 2023, so engineered projects are not possible. Jill Silver has been working with Western Federal Lands on a budget for forest thinning, replanting, and invasive species control. Other ideas that have been put forward are possible ways of improving existing rip rap, beaver analog dams, and tree nurseries. Announcements/Comments Jill Silver thanked Roger Oakes for his article on the Landry’s. Roger said that Hal Landry recently passed away. Next Agenda Friday, December 17, 1pm – 3:00 pm Remote Only; Tentative Adjourn The Meeting adjourned at 1:40 PM. Meeting summary prepared by Rebekah Brooks (Rebekah Brooks Contracting).