WAGLEY CREEK LID 97-1

Links & Updates to info on this page:

MARCH, 2001 UPDATE:

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SEPTEMBER 2000 UPDATE with Sarah Suggs of the State Dept. of Ecology and she said her agency is waiting (as of 9/15/00) a revised version of the remedial plan from Jones & Stokes which specifically addresses the planting plan. (The one submitted by J&S was simply a duplicate of their original plan. And according to Sarah Suggs, the damaged area was "four or five times larger" in some areas than the original 20-foot corridor.)

The status of Wagley is that they are waiting for a revision to the June, 2000 restoration plan to be submitted. The problem is in the planting plan Jones and Stokes sent was simply a duplicate of their original plan, using the same plant types and a 20' corridor buffer area. However, because of the damage that occurred during construction and the spill-over outside the buffer area, the restoration area is also greater. She said "it was so soupy and wet, they weren't able to control it and it was flowing over wetlands, 4 or 5 times larger - "way beyond" - the 20-foot corridor. Ms. Suggs also indicated that the City would not be able to complete this construction until next year, since they are required to shut down during the rainy season this winter.

According to Ms. Maryann Baird, U. S. Corps of Engineers in a conversation 9/28, they wrote a letter dated 8/26/00 to the City of Sultan saying that "we agree that compensatory mitigation was warranted," and that "the mitigation should be doubled to the action." When queried about what that meant, exactly, she said she'd have to go back and check her notes and records. Simply put, however, she said that "The Jones and Stokes plan stated four acres and proposed doing a 1:1 ratio for mitigation." She said they were requesting a 2:1 ratio mitigation at this point. She confirmed that the stop work order is still in effect. This means that the City would be confined to construction activity in "upland" areas only.

For further information, contact Connie Dunn of the City of Sultan, 360-793-2231.
General Information on the Project Shut-down

Wagley Creek---The water is clear again. One can easily view everything on the bottom through the water. However, the bottom is al layered with silt from construction, and the shading foliage is gone.

The City's contractor(s) performed construction activity during the heavy rains of last fall/winter, expressly violating several governmental agency permits, among them the state Fish & Wildlife Agency permit as well as the U. S Corps of Engineers' permit.

Tony Opperman of F&W, a "habitat biologist" and project contact for this permit, stated in a June 30th conversation with us that: "A lot of the work is [was] right down next to the water within 2-3 feet. The city didn't enforce its own regulations and the pipeline was running within a copule of feet of the streeam -- paralleled it -- in quite a few places." The F&W placed a stop order on the project until the situation could be reviewed and a restoration plan formulated.

In a July 3rd conversation with Maryann Baird of the U. S. Corps of Engineers, that agency's contact for this project, she stated "They [the city] certainly exceeded the boundaries of this permit," and "the city had substantially exceeded the 40-foot work corridor within the wetlands area" (Some areas of destruction were 130 feet further out than mandated.) They placed a stop work order against the city in a letter dated 6/8/00.

In an interview with the Everett Herald's Leslie Moriarity for her May 10th article on shut-down of the project, Roy Bysegger, City Administrator, said that the "rules" had changed because of additional listings of salmon to the Endangered Species list. He also said that "The city really relied on the contracted engineer, Earth Tech, to be up on all of this...they, in turn, relied on the environmental firm that was working with them." However, a November 13, 1998 notification letter from Steven Landino of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to Earth Tech warned: "Presently, coho Salmon and sea-run cutthroat trout range in the [Wagley Creek] project area and are candidate (C) species eligible for listing under the ESA [Endangered Species Act]. Although C species are not afforded protection under the ESA, it would be prudent to incorporate project design features that avoid or minimize impacts to anadromous fish resources should they become listed at a later date."


Bio-filtration was used -- after the damage had been done. Bio-filtration "mitigates" sediment that might find its way into a protected stream by filtering it through gravel, hay and other acceptable filtering agents.


Picture taken from Sultan Basin Road across from Mayor Rowe's property. Construction is beginning again on LID 97-1

What is the Boldt Decision? Could it be used to save Wagley's buffer?

Other places to visit:

"Ecology Under Seige"

Other Violations

Conservation Page

Water Alternatives

Sewer & Stormwater