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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023 11 04 Dosewallips River Collaborative DRAFT Summary Dosewallips River Collabora�ve Rocky Brook and Powerline Reaches DRAFT Mee�ng Summary Saturday, November 4, 2023 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM Hybrid Mee�ng Brinnon Community Center and Zoom Welcome and Introduc�ons Atending: Dosewallips community landowners, members of the public, Tim Abbe (Natural Systems Design (NSD)), Barb Jones (Jefferson County Public Health), Alicia Olivas (Hood Canal Coordina�ng Council), Tressa Linquist (Minutes), Tami Pokorny (Natural Resources Program Coordinator, Jefferson County). Rocky Brook and Powerlines Reach Overview ELJs as a Multi-benefit Tool for Addressing Flood Hazards and Habitat Restoration and Restoration Presenta�on by Tim Abbe, Natural Systems Design Tim Abbe, Principal Geomorphologist with NSD, began with a presenta�on outlining the goals of the Rocky Brook and Powerlines Reach area restora�on projects and the work done on each to date, a review of the natural “Large Wood Cycle” of the rivers and its importance to fish habitat and bank stability, and the basics of Engineered Logjam (ELJ) technology and its use cases. Tim stated that his goal today was to help the community understand what ELJs can do and how they are designed. The Powerlines Reach project has completed its assessment phase and is now in the design phase. This phase will focus on designing solu�ons to meet the goals of the assessment including providing channel stability to support chinook freshwater egg survival and fish rearing habitat near the powerlines on the Dosewallips river. The Rocky Brook project is s�ll in the assessment phase, looking to beter understand local river processes and condi�ons of habitat, and assessing flood and erosion risk and general risk exposure to the community. The final conceptual designs for the project will rely on the outcomes of these studies as well as input from landowners and the larger community. Tim showed an example of a LIDAR (laser imaging, detec�on, and ranging) map and described its superior usefulness in fine-scale mapping of waterways. New LIDAR data for the Dosewallips area was gathered on 10/31/23 as part of the scopes of both projects. This data will be used to improve NSD’s modeling for poten�al outcomes and risks. New climate modeling data will also be incorporated. The scope of work completed on the Rocky Brook and Powerlines Reach projects was briefly reviewed and proposed calendars for future work were displayed for each (ending October 2024). “Large wood” as a river restora�on tool was discussed. Since the early 1990s, global interest in restoring wood to the rivers has increased drama�cally. Research has shown that large pieces of wood stored within the river systems are cri�cal to aqua�c and human habitats, with some wood staying in the rivers for thousands of years. Historically, both large and small rivers were full of stored wood, but over �me hundreds of thousands of debris areas and logjams were removed from the water. Removal of the wood has had a nega�ve impact on habitat and flooding. Tim showed example images of large fallen trees in the rivers and explained that their presence slows water down, spreads water out, and creates valuable habitat for fish and other wildlife by catching gravel and triggering new channel forma�on. In the natural Large Wood Cycle, big trees fall into the rivers and create stable snags, which create stable logjams, forming stable forest islands, leading to increased channel length and thereby benefi�ng animal and human habitat. NSD’s goal is to mimic and speed up the natural wood cycle with ELJs. ELJs were first developed to help provide erosion protec�on to a private landowner in Washington state, through the University of Washington. Since then, thousands of ELJs have been installed globally, many of them here in the Pacific Northwest. They can func�on to provide erosion protec�on for highways, levees, farms, and homes, capture mobile wood threats in a safe manner, protect boat ramps, and create stable forested island habitat. They can also be engineered to foster water reten�on by raising the local water level, increasing volume during low flows which is important to both wildlife and human communi�es. Designing an ELJ requires complex analy�cs, math and physics. A slide describing an example of the mathema�cs and formulas used was shown, as well as a hydraulic model. Example engineering plans were displayed next to an image of a final installed structure. Tim stated that when designed correctly, the structure should effec�vely blend in with the environment and be extremely stable and las�ng. A map was shown indica�ng many tens of projects completed by NSD in the greater PNW area, and a few of them were specifically reviewed including projects on the Cispus, South Nooksack, Satsop, and Wynoochee rivers. These successful projects now protect roadways and habitats and slow riverbed scour, bank erosion and land loss. Similar work can be done on the Dosewallips river. Tim thanked everyone for their atendance and opened the floor to ques�ons. Public Comment The discussion began with a ques�on from the community regarding the order in which these two projects would be completed. They were curious why the work did not begin upstream and work downstream, following the flow of the river, and were concerned that the proposed approach could cause unknown effects. Tim Abbe welcomed the ques�ons and stressed that projects are never atempted without extensively asking “What will happen?” both locally and up and downstream of the project areas and never without landowner permission. While this funding is geographically constrained to these two areas, there is poten�al for benefit to the larger community of Brinnon, such as catching wood upstream and atenua�ng downstream flood risks. A community member asked how they can be assured that solving one problem will not create problems elsewhere? Tim Abbe agreed that this is a very important topic with lots of moving parts. He stressed the importance of transparency and dialogue, and described the inten�on to communicate exactly what will be done and what the predicted impacts will be. Tim stated that the DRC is very willing to engage each landowner and encouraged them to come to the table, even to express frustra�on. The goal of modeling is to make all stakeholders “whole,” to be sure that no one is hurt and that everyone is “li�ed up.” He expressed gra�tude for these forums and for the community engagement. There was addi�onal discussion about past ELJ projects on the river, publicity for these mee�ngs, new LiDAR, the lack of flow monitoring for the Dosewallips River, poten�al impacts from road failures, and the need for an informa�onal flyer and larger community gathering or event. Tim Abbe stressed that there are many op�ons possible going forward but that something must be done to keep Brinnon safe in the long term. These forums are a great place to have these discussions and to inform the public. The projects’ goals are to create cumula�ve benefit. He expressed op�mism based on having similar experiences with small communi�es in the past. He acknowledged that the river landowners are caretakers of the land and ul�mately what is done is up to them. The dra� Brinnon Community Survey was displayed. A community member asked why the DRC is responsible for the survey since most of the items on it are not related to fish. Tami Pokorny expressed that she was happy to ini�ate the survey using input from the previous DRC mee�ng, and that it can be released to the public or otherwise managed by a different group. She said she felt it was important and necessary that all of the community’s desires be considered up front to inform floodplain and other projects. Next Mee�ng Date It was decided that due to the holidays the December mee�ng will be postponed to the new year. Adjourn Adjourned 11:32 AM.