A decade of planning, grant applications, permits and more has pinnacled to breaking ground for a project benefiting the local economy and ecosystem of the East Fork Lewis River.
The Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership’s historical habitat restoration project on the East Fork Lewis River covers three river miles downstream from Daybreak Park. The main focus surrounds the Ridgefield Pits, an abandoned pit mining area between La Center and Daybreak Park.
“So big picture, this project kind of focused on three things,” Jasmine Zimmer-Stucky, public and legislative affairs manager for the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership, said. “One is salmon habitat for salmon recovery, and the other is flood and erosion risk reduction for people and businesses along the river, and the third is improving public access and recreation.”
The project starts at Daybreak Park, where the trail will be moved away from the eroding banks of the East Fork. The project will assist in stabilizing the bank and improving access to the water itself, she added.
Zimmer-Stucky pointed to a map from the mid-1800s showing the area of the Ridgefield Pits as a once multi-channeled flood plain. According to the map, the river used to flow through the area in numerous channels off the main stem. By the 1960s, the river was jammed into one channel to allow for the gravel mining operations to commence.
“What we can do right now is restore it to as close to those original conditions,” she said.
A 1996 flood event caused the river to have an irregular flow among the pits, which affected the local ecosystem. The river overran the levees and flooded the abandoned gravel pits. The water has remained trapped, creating warm water conditions unsuitable for juvenile and spawning salmonids and lamprey to survive. During the higher water levels, access is opened for fish species to the river portions blocked off during the late spring and summer months until heavy rains return in the fall.
“From the ecological perspective, we’re trying to return the river as close as possible to this (mid-1800s) condition here, and that’s really important for the salmonids, for lamprey,” said restoration program lead Chris Collins. “We have several species of salmonids here: Steelhead, Coho, Chinook, Chum. A couple of species of lamprey, and this type of habitat is really important for them because when you have multiple channels, when you have a really highly connected floodplain when you have wetland areas, those types of habitats are fantastic for especially juvenile salmon and lamprey because they can find the calm water. They have plenty of places to hide, and there’s a lot of food production.”
The project will utilize the soil from the levees, raised river banks, and other spots where the elevation will be lowered for floodplain areas. By creating multiple river channels and regrading roughly 300 acres into a floodplain, the salmonids and lamprey will thrive in the recreated ecosystem that once was.
In the calmer water in the new floodplain channels, Collins said the fish species will have better resources to hide from predators and an abundance of food sources, all while being able to spend less energy out of the main river channel.
As the project will include planting tree and shrub species such as multiple Willow tree species, Douglas spirea and other native plants, Collins projects that, looking ahead 50 years from now that, multiple smaller channels in the floodplain will have a forested canopy that will aid in cooling the water temperature in the summer months.
“We’re planting over 100 acres of riparian forest with native species,” so the smaller channels you have, they’re easier to shade,” he said.
Construction is expected to last two years, with in-water work occurring from April 15 to Oct. 15 each year. Collins and Zimmer-Stucky pointed out numerous instances of Tapani Construction, the contractor for the project, going above and beyond to preserve the natural land that is already occurring within the project’s area.
Due to the construction activity and temporary bridges spanning the river, the East Fork Lewis River is closed to water recreation and boaters for three miles downstream from Daybreak Park. River users upstream from Daybreak Park will be required to exit the water at the park’s boat ramp and can reenter the river downstream of the project area. The closest public access downstream from the project is located at the La Center Water Trail Park and Kayak Launch on Northwest Pollock Road.
