SEATTLE — Local agencies trying to meet federal levee standards often find themselves in a pickle: remove trees from levees that provide crucial habitat for fish, or risk losing millions in federal money for levee repair?
At a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers symposium Thursday on the issue, a top corps official said the national policy may need to be revised and the corps wants to find ways to balance fish and levee safety.
“Our worry is always human safety,” said Brig. Gen. William E. Rapp, commander of the corps’ Northwestern Division, but he added that the corps believes human safety and fish recovery aren’t mutually exclusive.
In recent years, King County and others have struggled to deal with the federal policy while also protecting another priority — endangered salmon.
“We’re caught between two federal mandates,” said Steve Bleifuhs, King County’s river and floodplain manager.
Last year, King County turned down $400,000 in federal money to avoid cutting down 300 trees on levees as required by the corps. The county said vegetation enhances the structural integrity of levees and prevents soil erosion.
The county found other ways to make levee repairs, but it did cut down 100 trees on other levees to get $20 million for levee repairs, Bleifuhs said.
“We’re not saying all vegetation is good. By and large, for the most part, it’s good,” he said.
National fisheries experts agree.
“Vegetation is really important for fish health,” said Steve Landino, who directs the state habitat office for the National Marine Fisheries Service habitat conservation division.
Trees, shrubs and other riparian vegetation provide shade to cool river water and nutrients in the form of leaves and bugs that salmon eat.
Vegetation also slows water and creates eddies where juvenile salmon can hold, Landino said.
On Wednesday, the environmental group American Rivers filed a 60-day intent to sue the corps under the Endangered Species Act.
American Rivers says the policy to remove trees and other vegetation from levees in Puget Sound area rivers jeopardizes endangered salmon, such as Puget Sound chinook salmon.
“This is not a situation where we have to make a choice between safety and salmon,” said Jan Hasselman, an Earthjustice attorney in Seattle representing American Rivers.
“Allowing the vegetation on levees and rethinking the way we construct levees will be better for salmon as well as for the safety of the community,” he said.
After Hurricane Katrina focused new attention on levees, the corps began rigorously enforcing its levee policy nationwide.
About 100 levees in the corps’ Seattle District are not in compliance with the federal standard, primarily because of the vegetation issues, said Doug Weber, the district’s levee safety program manager.
Nationwide, the corps oversees 2,000 levees in its levee rehabilitation program. The Seattle District oversees 300 levees in Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana.
The corps national policy requires levees to be cleared of trees larger than two inches in diameter. But this region has a variance, allowing trees up to 4 inches in diameter. It also dictates which type of trees or shrubs, as well as location, corps officials said.
The policy “has been based on the best available science,” Rapp said.
He added that the corps is in the middle of a two-year scientific study to review the impact of vegetation on levees. “We’re committed to following the science. We will modify our policy based on what comes out of that research,” Rapp said.
It may not help King County this summer. The county plans to cut down 100 trees on a levee on the Green River so it can get $4 million in federal money for repairs.
Of 200 levee projects that the county has worked on since 1990, Bleifuhs said none that had vegetation on them have been damaged. In fact, some that didn’t have vegetation experienced damage in a November 2006 storm, he said.
“We’re going to cut the trees. We can’t go back to our taxpayers and say we forfeited $4 million,” Bleifuhs said. “This is the hard place we’re stuck between.”
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