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Experts urge broader federal‑state‑local plan after Mount St. Helens workshop on sediment retention
Summary
At a County‑hosted Mount St. Helens workshop, scientists, state fish managers and elected officials reviewed results from engineered log‑jam pilot projects upstream of the Corps’ Sediment Retention Structure (SRS) and discussed downstream erosion and levee protection. Presenters said wood structures and beaver colonization have increase
Scientists, state fish managers and elected officials used a public workshop hosted during the Cowlitz County commissioners’ meeting to press for coordinated federal, state and local action on sediment coming off the Mount St. Helens debris avalanche and its effects on the Sediment Retention Structure (SRS) and downstream levees.
Colin Thorne, a river-science researcher and resident, summarized a decade-plus pilot program that installed large engineered log jams (ELJs) and other grade-building structures upstream of the SRS. Thorne said the pilot structures helped roughen the sediment plane, encourage vegetation and beaver re-colonization, and raise the plant’s trap efficiency after previous declines. “The ELJ’s are building great through vegetation and deposition, and phase 2 is underway,” Thorne said during his presentation.
Department of Fish and Wildlife staffman Dave Howe told the meeting the agency shares long-standing concerns…
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