LONGVIEW — The federal government likely will pay for sediment monitoring on the Lower Cowlitz River in 2022, but funding for a river survey this year is still in question.
“The concern right now is what, if anything, is going to or can happen this summer with the survey?” said Cowlitz County Chief of Staff Axel Swanson.
The survey helps determine whether sediment from Mount St. Helens washing out of the Toutle Valley is clogging the river channel and increasing the risk of flooding. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is mandated by federal law to maintain flood protection levels along the Cowlitz River but for several years hasn’t received requested money for the work in its budget.
About $410,000 for the river surveys and monitoring is included in President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2022 budget, but Congress has yet to approve the funding, according to the Corps. Although the federal fiscal year ends Oct. 1, it’s unlikely Congress will approve the budget in time to conduct a river survey before the end of 2021, said Corps spokesman John Morgan.
The project also is included in Southwest Washington Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler’s list of “community project funding requests” that lawmakers can pitch to the House Appropriations Committee. The county also requested the funding from Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray.
The delegation earlier this year sent letters to the Office of Management and Budget and the U.S. Department of the Army urging them to include funding in the 2022 fiscal year budget for sediment monitoring.
Local funds
Cowlitz County doesn’t want to have to pay for the survey again but offered the option to the Corps if there is no other money available this year, Swanson said.
In 2019, Cowlitz County; the city of Castle Rock; and the Longview, Kelso and Lexington diking districts paid the Corps $110,000 to survey the river. The survey, which was the first since 2015, found that while flood protection levels along the lower Cowlitz River have remained stable, the dam in the Lexington area was no longer at the federally mandated level of protection.
The Corps of Engineers in November conducted a hydro survey, calculated the level of protection and resumed water level gauge monitoring with the help of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Survey results showed the same flood protection levels in Longview and Kelso and improved levels for Castle Rock and Lexington, according to the Corps. Swanson said he and other local officials are skeptical the improvement shows a lasting trend because it’s only one of two data points.
The level of protection in Lexington improved because a sediment deposit was cleared out during some major winter storms, according to the Corps.
The Corps uses the data on the flood protection levels to decide if the river should be dredged or if the Toutle River sediment retention dam spillway should be raised.
“Past experience is that the level of protection does fluctuate around Lexington,” the Corps said in a statement. “As of today the survey results do not indicate any trend line and it would be too early to say if dredging is required.”
Swanson said the county also is working with the state and federal governments to update the agreements related to dredging, as well as a long-term strategy for sediment monitoring.
The state is obligated to fund a dredge spoil site as part of a 1986 agreement among the Corps, Washington and the county.
At least $1.2 million was included in the state capital budget for dredge spoil sites, Swanson said. The county’s next step is to begin identifying potential sites to locate dredge spoils, he said.
