U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers' Relocation Of Evans Creek Temporarily Affects Salmon

 MAP

U.S Army Corps of Engineers - Seattle District

"...The Evans Creek Relocation project is such a priority that the WRIA 8 Council recently voted to allocate $450,000 towards it."  -- Redmond Councilmember Vanessa Kritzer, 8/16/2021

The U.S. Army Corps says:  Mr. Yoder, please see the City responses to your comments: 

 

• Are Chinook presently living and rearing in Evans Creek or one of its tributaries?  Or, will just Chinook habitat improve, setting the stage for Chinook migration? 
• Response:

The City’s Biological Assessment that was submitted with the Joint Aquatic Resources Permit Application (JARPA) package describes current occurrence of Chinook in the project area.  Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) inventories document Chinook spawning occurring in Evans Creek in the project area.  However, the City’s instream habitat surveys conducted for the project indicate that the creek lacks suitable gravel and cobble substrate, and pool/riffle habitat complexity required for spawning.  Therefore, it is unlikely that Chinook still spawn in this reach.  The project reach of Evans Creek does support migration of both adults and rearing juveniles.  Juvenile rearing habitat is present, particularly in the most upstream portion of the project reach.

 

Once the project is completed, the project will enhance rearing habitat for Chinook Salmon, steelhead, and other salmonids, and augment fish passage to the upper watershed where Chinook spawning habitat occurs.

 

• You say there will be a temporary disturbance to fish and their habitat during Phase 2 construction.  How do you define "temporary."  (1 month? 1 year? 1 week?)  
• Response:  

Temporary in this case is 3 months.  All in-water work associated with Phase 2 construction will be restricted to occur within the proposed July 1 through September 30 in-water work window of a single season and would not coincide with major salmonid migrations (either upstream migrations of adults, or downstream migrations of juveniles).  This in-water work window is regulated by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), and the project will need to meet all WDFW permit conditions.

 

• You say one acre of rearing will be replaced. Replaced with what?  How many acres of rearing are there now?
• Response:  

One of the project’s stated goals is to “Provide the type of habitat needed to support significantly enhanced juvenile salmon rearing.”  The existing Evans Creek channel has just under one acre of instream habitat that will be relocated; a portion of that existing area is rearing habitat.  The proposed Evans Creek channel will increase instream habitat to more than seven acres within the project area and improve the quality of that habitat.  At this point in the design we don’t have a final number for constructed rearing acreage, but it will be an increase and enhanced from existing conditions.

 

Thank you for your time.

 

Colleen C. Anderson

Project Manager, Regulatory Branch

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District

Office:  206-764-3262

colleen.c.anderson@usace.army.mil

"Evans Creek Relocation Project" Benefits Fish, Offers Land Use Opportunities (Part One)

 

The dotted blue line is the proposed, new channel.  The relocation increases buffer width benefiting
the fish and offers land-use development opportunities. King county lands are involved.

Project Overview

Evans Creek is a Class I stream that has been impacted by adjacent industrial development. Narrow vegetated buffers expose the stream channel to sunlight, and untreated runoff may be entering the channel. 

This project is listed in the WRIA 8 Chinook Conservation Plan.The large upstream watershed supports good wild Coho runs, provides important Chinook habitat and contains quality riparian habitat and corridor connectivity for other wildlife. The open space proposed for the new channel also contains the well-used Bear-Evans trail, and the stream project will benefit passive recreation opportunities. 

The proposed stream relocation solution involves the following:

• Reconstruct the channel to the north and east of industrial properties in open space where adequate buffers can be established.
• Reconnect the channel with floodplain wetlands and restore riparian buffer function by controlling invasive weeds and planting native riparian vegetation along the new channel.
• Install in-stream habitat structures, streambed sediment and bioengineering in the new channel to enhance hydraulics and fish habitat.
• Coordinate as needed with underlying private property owners, adjacent industrial development, and WSDOT. 
• Retain and improve the Bear Evans Trail, accommodating future expansions of the trail network to the west fostering passive recreation opportunities in the area.

-- redmond.gov

High stormwater utility rates under review by council

Two weeks ago past councilman Richard Grubb spoke to council during an "Items from the Audiance talk" about the high costs of stormwater management in Redmond. He was concerned that stormwater fees have increased from $3.00/month in 1988 to $16.56 today.

Granted, stormwater treatment helps to remove sediments and pollutants from run-off before it gets into Bear creek and the Sammamish River. In addition, the city uses stormwater fees & grants to pay for stream and wetland restoration projects for new developments and along Bear & Evans Creek and the Sammamish River. Expensive retention ponds have recently be intalled along the Evans Creek industrial basin. In additon, I think fees have been applied to permit approvals and preservation of Keller Farm wetlands. Keller Farm wetlands are vital to aquifer recharge. Our aquifer supplies 40% of our drinking water. Meandering our waterways to control floods and preserve fish habitat is also funded through stormwater fees & grants.
It is clear, the city really does care about flood mitigation, safety of our drinking water, protection of endangered salmon, and the "swimmability" of Lake Sammamish and the slough. But, as Councilman Hank Margeson stated at the last council meeting -- a 452% stormwater rate increase over 20 years is something to look at. Mr. Margeson is Chair of the Planning and Public Works Committee. It meets the 2nd Thursday of the month at 4:30 pm in the room off of city hall chambers. Hank's committee has responsibility for looking at stormwater treatment issues.

Besides protections of our natural resources and environment stormwater fees will be used to help pay for the new $40 million Regional Treatment facility planned for the Downtown. In 2007 our residential stormwater rate increased by $6.58 to $16.56/single family home just to pay for the Regional facility. Did you notice this on your utility bill last year? According to Mr. Spangler in a 7/25/07 King County meeting, stormwater fees are about 2x those of Seattle.

The city's rational for this 40% increase is "everyone benefits" from the regional stormwater system since about 90% of all treated residential stormwater eventially drains into the Sammamish River. Councilman Pat Vache had concerns about maintenence of private facilities . Maintenance of commercial facilities is "code enforced" and paid by rate fees, according to J. Roetemyer, stormwater engineer. Public Works Director Campbell wasn't clear about maintenance by Homeowners Associations' facilities being "code enforced".

According to Mr. Jon Spangler, city Stormwater Manager, the complete facility will be built by 2011 -12 and have the capacity to ultimately treat 500 acres of future downtown development. Presently, 32.5 acres are developed and will be serviced regionally.

Drivers be aware - a major regional trunk-line on Redmond Way will be built by 2009. You can find the regional stormwater facility MAP "here".

I wrote a story on this in 8/30/07. You can find it on this blog's search engine by searching "spangler regional".