Wildlife officials are still trying to determine who is responsible for using a bulldozer and excavator to reroute a portion of the Sauk River near Darrington, damaging as much as 1,400 feet of salmon-rearing habitat on the river.
In what officials said was one of the worst cases of illegal river diversion they had ever seen, as much as 6,000 cubic yards of rock, sand and trees were pushed out of an old river channel in apparent hope of diverting the river away from property.
The Sauk has been designated by the federal government as part of the Wild and Scenic River System, protecting its free-flowing condition.
Although about a quarter of the river is now running down the new channel, whoever was responsible for the illegal work didn’t manage to divert the entire river, said Rich Costello, regional habitat program manager for the state Fish and Wildlife Service.
"They were probably out there for a while," Costello said. "From what we know, what it takes to get this volume of work done, it had to take them a while."
The earthmoving was reported on Feb. 26, when the two pieces of heavy moving equipment were still at the site. The equipment has since been removed.
Proving who is responsible is often difficult, but "we expect to figure out who did this," Costello said.
Brian Simonseth of Stanwood said he was devastated when he found out about the damage.
"When I hear about things like this, it really makes me mad," said Simonseth, a former fisherman who has taken to making flies for fly fisherman since his health has deteriorated. "I hope (whoever did this) gets what’s coming to him."
Whoever did the work has run afoul of several laws, including the federal Endangered Species Act, which currently lists chinook salmon as threatened. The damaged section of stream is considered rearing habitat for chinook and several other species of salmon. Steelhead trout also use it.
"There were probably direct impacts on eggs in the gravel and on (salmon) fry emerging from the gravel," Costello said, who said criminal and biological investigations are ongoing. "Fish are used to some degree of movement of gravel, but not at this level."
The section of Sauk River where the damage occurred is where the river starts to spread out in a braided network of channels. The river is in a remote location, with Darrington the only town in the area.
A few people own property along the river, but none has a home right along the section of river that was damaged.
The area is partially surrounded by 115 acres Seattle City Light bought in 2002 for $475,000 to protect spawning habitat for chinook and bull trout, also protected by the Endangered Species Act, and for pink, chum and coho salmon and steelhead.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reporter Lukas Velush:
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