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Cowlitz County commissioners press for joined action on Mount Saint Helens sediment, fish recovery and recreation
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Summary
At a lengthy workshop, county staff, federal and state agencies, stakeholders and residents urged coordinated action on sediment management, fish passage and recreation planning tied to Mount Saint Helens, emphasizing both flood risk and long-term tourism opportunities.
Cowlitz County commissioners held an extended workshop on April 14 to press for coordinated action on sediment management and salmon recovery related to Mount Saint Helens, where speakers emphasized the region’s flood risk and potential economic opportunity from expanded recreation.
County engineer Susan Eugenis told the board that recent meetings with U.S. Army Corps staff identified needs for additional stream and sediment gauges and pointed commissioners to potential federal funding streams, including PL 84-99 emergency funding for levee districts. Eugenis said the Corps supplied talking points and that some grants and earmarks may help install new gauges, but exact dates for installations were not available.
"They needed an additional stream gauge on the river, and they did receive earmark funding," Eugenis said, noting live data from NOAA and USGS are available to the public.
Experts at the workshop highlighted the complexity of balancing flood risk, habitat and recreation. An engineering expert described "beneficial use" of dredge material as a modern approach that turns dredge spoils into bank stabilization, habitat creation and other co-benefits, noting the Portland District of the U.S. Army Corps has used the technique on the Columbia River.
Commissioners and panelists repeatedly raised Spirit Lake as a high-consequence hazard. One commissioner warned that a major breach could inundate downstream communities with several feet of sediment. The experts underscored that while the probability of a breach is small, the consequences would be catastrophic and merit planning.
Local residents urged quicker, local-led action rather than more meetings. Mark Smith, who said he operates EcoPark Resort at Mount Saint Helens and has decades of firsthand experience, argued against repeatedly rebuilding the sediment retention structure and urged strategies that cooperate with natural recovery.
"If we raise 10 feet and it does back up...we'll spend $36,000,000. We'll get a projected three to five years out of it, and we'll be right back in this room discussing it again," Smith said, arguing that repeated raises of the sediment retention structure would only delay, not solve, the underlying problems.
Representatives of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board described current efforts to restore passage and reintroduce salmon above the sediment retention structure (SRS). Dave Howe of the Department of Fish and Wildlife said the SRS is not currently passable for fish, that the region operates in a ‘‘trap-and-haul’’ mode to move fish upstream, and that reintroduction plans aim to recolonize upstream habitat as capacity permits.
Steve Manla of the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board outlined population goals and current returns: in the lower Cowlitz mainstem, fall Chinook natural-origin returns now approximate 11,000 annually versus a delisting target of 3,000; coho returns exceed their delisting threshold; steelhead remain below goals. Manla stressed recovery requires combined approaches — habitat, hatchery reform and management of harvest — rather than single fixes.
Several residents and tourism professionals urged that the county also view Mount Saint Helens as an economic and recreational asset. Andy Zahn, a lifelong Toutle Valley resident, urged expanded trail access and dispersed camping in the High Lakes and Toutle Mountains. Former county tourism director Mark Plotkin recommended early planning for the volcano’s 50th commemoration and investments in professional event production and promotion.
Bill Fasching of the regional council of governments described the collaborative formed to address downstream safety and sediment issues and urged persistence. Multiple speakers said local coordination and a unified voice to Olympia and Washington, D.C., can increase leverage in funding and policy conversations with federal agencies.
The board did not adopt a single new project or funding commitment at the workshop. Commissioners asked staff to continue coordination with federal and state partners, pursue identified funding opportunities, and return with further information and recommended action steps.
