Cherry Valley revival: Working together to advance fish habitat restoration, farming, and flood risk reduction

Using beautiful drone footage and captivating underwater salmon photography, the Snoqualmie Watershed Forum tells the story of diverse partners in the Cherry Valley working together to recover salmon, while protecting farmland and reducing flood risks.

Hear about the challenges and successes from representatives of the Tulalip Tribes, Snoqualmie Indian Tribe, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Sound Salmon Solutions, Snoqualmie Valley Watershed Improvement District, Wild Fish Conservancy, Snohomish Conservation District, and Drainage District 7.

The Snoqualmie Watershed Forum has been working since 1998 with partners to address salmon recovery, water quality, and flooding. Nowhere is this more evident than in Cherry Valley, where the partners are working to revive the landscape.

The Forum is a signatory and committed partner of King County’s Fish, Farm, & Flood Initiative. It is clear what needs to be done to recover salmon, protect farmland, and reduce flood risk, but it can’t be done without partnerships. Take action and learn more at govlink.org/action7.

King County prepares for flooding: More than 500 river facilities inspected for damage

This year the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for social distancing required field inspections take place with a different protocol to keep staff safe. Despite this additional challenge and the vast number of facilities to inventory, staff completed inspections on all 511 river facilities in one year – an activity normally done over a two-year cycle.

King County staff inspect a damaged revetment on the Snoqualmie River in July 2020.

The 2019-2020 flood season was one for the record books. The first flood event took place on the Snoqualmie River in October 2019 and the season concluded with a total of seven flood events having occurred in King County by the end of February 2020.

Damage was found on 136 facilities and plans for emergency repairs or longer-term improvements to remedy the damage are underway. This assessment and planning is critical in order to prepare for another flood season which began on October 1 of this year.

Flooding pictured from helicopter on the Cedar River in February 2020.

The flooding was due to extensive rain throughout western Washington. Average monthly rainfall totals throughout the region in December 2019, January and February were far greater than normal. After the widespread flood in February that received a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration, conducting post-flood inspections and triaging damage to river facilities was a high priority for the King County Flood Control District (Flood District).

River facilities, such as levees and revetments, play an important role in protecting people, neighborhoods and infrastructure against damage from erosion and flooding. The King County Water and Land Resources Division, as the primary service provider to the District, maintains more than 370 revetments and 130 levees across six river basins from the South Fork of the Skykomish River in the north to the White River in the south on the border with Pierce County.

Photo of a revetment on the Cedar River taken during an inspection visit in February 2020.

Each river facility is scheduled for inspection on a two-year cycle to look for any damage that could weaken its effectiveness. Inspections largely take place in the spring and summer or after a flood event and involve trained staff making careful observations of the riverbank facilities as well as floating the river in boats to identify potential problems.

Everyone in King County is encouraged to be flood ready. Information on what to do before, during and after a flood is available at kingcounty.gov/prepareforflooding.

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About the King County Flood Control District

The King County Flood Control District is a special purpose government created to provide funding and policy oversight for flood protection projects and programs in King County. The Flood Control District’s Board is composed of the members of the King County Council. The Water and Land Resources Division of the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks develops and implements the approved flood protection projects and programs.

About the King County Water and Land Resources Division

The Water and Land Resources Division works to protect the health and integrity of King County’s natural resources. Employees work to reduce flood risks, monitor water quality and restore wildlife habitat; manage, and reduce the harmful impacts from stormwater, noxious weeds and hazardous waste; create sustainable forestry and agriculture; and protect open space to support all of these efforts.

After the storm: A few facts about King County’s February widespread flooding

Originally posted at Keeping King County Green the Department of Natural Resources and Parks Blog.

Five months ago, long-range weather experts told us this winter’s western Washington weather would be influenced by “La Nada” – the “anything is possible” middle pattern that is neither La Nina nor El Nino.

The rainstorm that drenched western Washington beginning Feb. 5 and led to widespread flooding across much of the region was one for the record books. Thanks to that storm, the official rain gauge at Sea-Tac Airport has received half a foot more rain since Jan. 1 than our already gaudy average for this time of year.

So it was not too surprising that on Wednesday, Feb. 5, King County’s Flood Warning Center opened for the fifth time since Jan. 1 – that’s five flood events over the first six weeks of the year.

By the time the Flood Warning Center closed early in the evening on Tuesday, Feb. 11, flood center workers had taken roughly 1,000 calls during this current activation – one of the highest call volumes over the past several years.

And the County’s award-winning Flood Warning App was accessed more than 24,500 times at the peak of the flooding Feb. 6-7 – a record for any two-day period since it was introduced in late 2012.

Unlike the previous four flood events, this flood caused significant impacts to King County residents, as well as county roads, trails, and other infrastructure.

Also unusual about this flood was where it hit the hardest.

Typically, the Snoqualmie and Tolt rivers lead the way in flood impacts, such as closed roads, inundated fields, and neighborhoods becoming isolated by floodwaters.

This time, Issaquah Creek and the Cedar River saw the highest flows, with homes, roads, bridges and more sustaining significant flood damage.

Issaquah Creek soared to a Phase 4 flood alert level, with the Hobart gauge recording its highest flood elevation since 2006. The high flows resulted in emergency evacuations for more than 200 people living along the creek in Issaquah, a multi-day closure of Issaquah-Hobart Road while crews made emergency repairs, and several more major problems.

Lake Sammamish – which receives Issaquah Creek at the southern end of the lake and sends flows down the Sammamish River at the lake’s northern end – recorded its highest elevation in 23 years, leading to concerns from lakeside residents with flooding on their property.

The Sammamish River’s low gradient watercourse means lakeside residents have to deal with higher-than-normal lake levels long after stream flows feeding into the lake have receded.

The Cedar River didn’t fare any better, with the Landsburg gauge recording its highest flow since 2009. Flooding led to the closure of a four-mile section of State Route 169, while a neighborhood that lost access to and from their homes relied on an emergency route using a portion of the county’s Cedar River Trail for access.

Although constrained by levees, the Cedar River was flowing too high and too fast to be contained along its entire length. A portion of the Riverbend lower levee was breached by swift flows, sending a portion of the river’s flow into Cavanaugh Pond – a King County Natural Area.

Engineers are concerned that as flows from the pond area move downstream to rejoin the river’s mainstem, additional erosion could cut into the riverbank immediately adjacent the Cedar River Trail – threatening not only the trail itself, but a fiber optic line located underneath the trail.

The Green River also recorded major flood flows, with recordings at the Auburn gauge reaching their highest levels since 1996. Road closures were common throughout the Green River Valley upstream of Auburn, as floodwaters fanned out across the valley at levels that hadn’t been seen in a decade or longer.

Flood patrol crews were in the field for six straight days beginning in the evening of Feb. 12, with two-person teams working 12-hour shifts to serve as the Flood Warning Center’s eyes and ears. They observed flood conditions, checked on levees and other flood structures, and reported findings back to River and Floodplain Management colleagues.

Those observations helped King County identify damage to many river facilities, with more problems becoming visible as floodwaters recede. These detailed inspections will continue for several days as the water levels take place once water levels drop.

So even though flood flows are largely a memory a week after the peak of this flood event, the impacts from high, swift waters will be something King County will be working to address for weeks or months to come.

About the King County Flood Control District
The King County Flood Control District is a special purpose government created to provide funding and policy oversight for flood protection projects and programs in King County.  The Flood Control District’s Board is composed of the members of the King County Council. The Water and Land Resources Division of the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks develops and implements the approved flood protection projects and programs. Information is available at kingcountyfloodcontrol.org/.

About the King County Water and Land Resources Division

The Water and Land Resources Division works to protect the health and integrity of King County’s natural resources. Employees work to reduce flood risks, monitor water quality and restore wildlife habitat; manage, and reduce the harmful impacts from stormwater, noxious weeds and hazardous waste; create sustainable forestry and agriculture; and protect open space to support all of these efforts.

Land Conservation Initiative: Preserving and protecting farmland and urban green space

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Local Food Initiative

What is the Land Conservation Initiative?

The Land Conservation Initiative is the way we can protect the livability, health, and ecological integrity of our region for everyone. Access to nature and open space is the foundation to our collective quality of life. However, development threatens working lands that produce food, jobs, and a rural way of life. The Initiative sets forth the goal of conserving and preserving 65,000 acres of remaining high conservation value lands throughout King County within the next 30 years.

This Initiative is a regional collaboration between King County, cities, business people, farmers, environmental partners, and others that began by creating a strategy to preserve our last, most important natural lands, resource lands and green spaces.

“The main goals of the Initiative are to accelerate investments in land conservation to save money, to ensure critical natural areas and resource lands can be preserved before they are lost to other uses, and to ensure green space for all residents,” said Bob Burns, Deputy Director of King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks. “Prior to the Initiative we estimated it would take 60 to 70 years to protect those 65,000 acres. The goal of the Initiative is to cut that in half.  Because land values rise faster than the growth of our revenue streams, accelerating the pace to within 30 years will save an estimated $15 billion.”

The 65,000 acres of land fall within six categories: urban green space, trails, natural lands, river corridors, farmlands, and forests.

How is this initiative funded?

The primary funding source is the Conservation Futures Tax (CFT) fund, which is a property tax that exists on all parcels in the county.  The CFT requires a 50 percent match in most cases.

“We work to find match dollars, from other local, state or federal sources, to pair up with the CFT fund,” Bob said. “One way we invest our land conservation dollars is to buy farmland easements on our most valuable agricultural lands. Easements to remove development rights from private lands will preserve farmland and help keep farmland affordable and active, supporting local food production.”

How will it help protect agricultural land and green space in King County?

“Approximately 15,000 acres of the 65,000 acres goal is agricultural land,” Bob said. The Farmland Preservation Program (FPP) is an important component of this Initiative by preserving rapidly diminishing farmland through development rights purchases.

In addition to the 15,000 acres of agricultural land identified in rural areas, the Initiative also plans to protect 2,500 to 3,000 acres of urban green spaces, some of which could be used for community gardens.

Community gardens and open spaces make us healthier and our neighborhoods more livable

“An exciting component of this Initiative is urban green space preservation,” Bob said. “A key goal of the LCI is to ensure there is green space for every resident in King County. We want to make sure every neighborhood has green space. These green spaces will be preserved in ways that focus on resident interests and needs. The communities will drive how these green spaces will be used, whether that is through a community garden, open space, or other passive use.

“Green spaces provide a multitude of benefits for residents, and not all of our communities currently experience these benefits,” he said. “Every resident should have the opportunity to live their best lives, and providing access to open spaces for every neighborhood will help eliminate disparities in the quality of life for residents.”

In addition to addressing open space inequities, preserving farmland and green spaces will support locally grown food, which helps strengthen the local food economy and increase community resilience in the face of climate change.

“Investing in the preservation of farmland and green spaces will strengthen our local economy and promote a more robust local food system, which will benefit us all,” Bob said.

Learn more about the Land Conservation Initiative here.

Farmers, residents, fish and wildlife win in historic Snoqualmie Fish, Farm and Flood accord

On June 12, at the historic Carnation Farms – with it’s expansive views of the lush Snoqualmie Valley for a backdrop – King County Executive Dow Constantine met with the Snoqualmie Fish, Farm and Flood Advisory Committee that has spent more than three years forging the first major agreement in the county to strike a balance between farming interests and salmon recovery.

At the core of the Fish, Farm, Flood agreement is a series of immediate, mid-term, and long-term recommendations for action to address overall Snoqualmie Watershed goals.

“I gave the Fish, Farm and Flood Advisory Committee a difficult assignment: Overcome competing interests to achieve shared goals – and they delivered,” said Executive Constantine. “They produced recommendations that will help us restore salmon habitat, strengthen our agricultural economy, and reduce flood risks.”

Going beyond the decades of acrimony as a result of valuable, but often competing goals, the 14-member Advisory Committee has unanimously endorsed a package of 34 recommendations to address specific watershed goals and actions that will improve the watershed for people, businesses, and fish and wildlife.

Among the top priority actions are achieving less costly and more predictable drainage regulations for farmers, and increasing the pace of salmon recovery efforts in the Snoqualmie Valley. This work includes reexamining drainage and buffer regulations, and developing an agricultural land strategy for the valley.

The collaboration was the result of the King County Council adding a directive in the 2012 King County Comprehensive Plan update to create a watershed planning process for the Snoqualmie Watershed – primarily the lower 30 miles of the valley from Snoqualmie Falls north to the Snohomish County line. This area includes about 14,500 acres of the Snoqualmie Agricultural Production District.

The Advisory Committee has representatives from farming and agriculture, conservation, flooding, and salmon recovery interests, as well as tribal, state and local jurisdictions.

The lengthy timeframe for developing this accord was due in part to the fact that several advisory committee members were busy living with the issues they were addressing, including operating farms, completing habitat restoration work elsewhere in western Washington, responding to flooding, and other important tasks.

While the Committee’s report is the culmination of years of hard work, there is more to be done. Among the committee’s recommendations is creation of three task force groups to carry out follow-up work over the next three years.

County floodplain managers work together to understand a fast-moving river

(L-R) King County Flood Control District Executive Director Michelle Clark; River and Floodplain Management Senior Engineer Chase Barton; and Water and Land Resources Director Josh Baldi stand on the bank of the Tolt River and discuss channel migration.

Notes from the field

On a gray day last month, a small group of King County and King County Flood Control District (Flood District) employees stood on the forested edge of the Tolt River upstream of Carnation.

Geologically speaking, this is a young river – sinuous, fast-moving and largely unconstrained as it courses from its headwaters in the Cascades to its confluence with the wide, slow-moving Snoqualmie River.

Chase Barton, an engineer with the King County’s River and Floodplain Management (Rivers) Section in the Water and Land Resources Division (WLRD), looked out across the swirling water. “This portion is the most rapidly migrating river of those we manage in King County,” he said.

Sometimes, the County’s goal is to use engineering tools to manage a river. “Here,” Chase said, “our goal is to get people out of harm’s way.”

Teresa Lewis, River and Floodplain Management Project Manager, discusses the Tolt River’s historical channel migration.

The field trip was an opportunity to show Michelle Clark, the Flood District’s executive director, and April Sanders, policy director for Flood District Supervisor Kathy Lambert, proposed changes based on public input to the draft Tolt River Capital Investment Strategy in advance of a meeting with the Flood Control District’s Executive Committee.

The tour – which also included WLRD Director Josh Baldi; Program and Policy Services Supervisor Brian Murray, Project Manager Teresa Lewis, and Communications Manager Leslie Brown, from the Rivers Section – provided a window into the work undertaken on behalf of the Flood District. Michelle, who became the Flood District’s executive director in December, asked several questions of the team, wanting to understand both the rationale and the cost implications behind various actions.

The Tolt is a short but powerful river, flowing some 30 river miles and dropping about 3,000 feet from its headwaters in the Cascade Mountains to the valley floor. Its upper reaches, through steeply forested incisions, are largely inaccessible. The lower six miles wend through a rural, woodsy part of north-central King County, an area with narrow roads and widely spaced homes.

Nearly continuous levees border the last two miles of the river, protecting more densely developed residential areas as the Tolt enters Carnation and flows into the Snoqualmie River.

Flooding has long been an issue along these lower six miles of the Tolt; many residences are at risk during even modest flood events. But also of concern is what is called channel migration, when the river changes course and cuts a new path, heedless, of course, of private property lines. Rivers staff recently completed a 98-page study of the Tolt’s channel migration patterns along its last six miles, a carefully researched analysis that looks at the river’s history, geology, the characteristics of channel migration and those areas where hazards are greatest.

Channel migration can happen slowly as a river moves across its floodplain. It can also occur in the blink of an eye, when, for instance, a geologic or weather event causes a river to suddenly change directions. The Tolt, as the study points out, “exhibits moderate to high lateral channel migration rates.” Avulsions – the sudden movement of a channel – “are a major component” of these migration hazards.

As a result of the Tolt’s dynamic nature, the county and the Flood District over the past decade have purchased several at-risk properties. Since 2007, when the Flood District was formed, 35 at-risk homes have been purchased along the Tolt, all from willing sellers. Forty percent of the funding for those purchases came from sources other than the Flood District. The draft Capital Investment Strategy identifies another 30 properties at risk of flooding and channel migration. County officials plan to hold a public meeting in Carnation on May 8 to discuss its channel migration analysis with neighbors, community leaders and others interested in the river’s hazards.

(L-R) King County Flood Control District Executive Director Michelle Clark, River and Floodplain Management Senior Engineer Chase Barton, and Program and Policy Services Supervisor Brian Murray head back to the office after several hours on the banks of the Tolt River.

Back on the Tolt, Teresa noted the important role levees or revetments can play in public safety but added that such tools aren’t effective on rivers as active and energetic as the Tolt.

“For us, on this section of the Tolt upstream of Carnation, helping people out of harm’s way is our most cost-effective strategy,” she said. “This is a river that wants to move around.”