Sediment removal causes stir

MOSES LAKE — A criminal citation issued late last year has temporarily halted sediment removal operations from Moses Lake, but the agency removing that debris maintains operations were being done within the statutory authority provided to it.

Richard Teals is one of three directors of the Moses Lake Irrigation and Rehabilitation District, the agency that oversees the irrigation, rehabilitation and recreation of Moses Lake.

Teals was personally cited for unlawful hydraulic project activities by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in December for the district's sediment removal work at a site near Wild Goose Road in the Cascade Valley without the proper permits. But Teals contends the district was acting within its mandate as an irrigation and rehabilitation district, and points to previous projects on the lake he says were completed in conjunction with Fish and Wildlife and without the need of any permits.

"I think they're slapping our hands because they feel we needed a permit," Teals said. "And we feel we didn't need to have a permit."

Teals has said the district wants Moses Lake to be maintained as a useful waterway for the people who use it every year by removing the silt and sediment that has slowly been spilling into the lake over the last quarter century. Approximately 30,000 cubic yards of sediment in the lake have been targeted by the district for removal from the lake, in an effort to get as close to the original lake bottom as possible.

Fish and Wildlife regional habitat program manager Chris Parsons said officers who had been contacted about a possible violation on Wild Goose Road observed the district working within the lake's ordinary high water mark without any local, state or federal permits.

Fish and Wildlife has been working with the district since they first issued the violation in an effort to stabilize the site.

"Our goal is to get them in compliance with this one violation," Parsons said.

The situation has involved numerous jurisdictions in addition to Fish and Wildlife. Agencies including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington Department of Natural Resources and Washington Department of Ecology have all reportedly gotten involved to mitigate the site and provide long-term assistance.

The Moses Lake Irrigation and Rehabilitation District is being represented by attorney Mitchell Delabarre of Wenatchee, who said he has been in contact with state agencies concerning the sediment removal project.

"There are several agencies that have addressed concerns, and we are looking forward to giving them additional information to help them accomplish that," Delabarre said.

Delabarre said the agencies are working together on a long-term basis for the ongoing rehabilitation of the lake. The rehabilitation part of the district's activities are unique to the Washington irrigation district as a municipal entity to rehabilitate inland lakes and shorelines through programs like aquatic weed harvesting and sediment removal.

Over the past two years, the district has been utilizing equipment to try and remove sediment from the lake bottom which has been covering it little by little over the last 25 years.

Teals said the district has a need to remove that sediment in order to get harvesters in to remove aquatic weeds and other vegetation from the lake, and harvesters used by the district have had trouble accessing certain sites because of sediment buildup.

Teals said it is natural for the lake to change, but noted it is also natural for the citizens of the lake to change it for their benefit.

"If this lake is all silted up, there's no way we can benefit from the lake," Teals said.

At another district site off Marina Drive in Moses Lake, Teals points to what has changed in portions of the lake which have had the sediment removal. Fisheries biologists have told the district removing the muck enhances fisheries and fish survival.

The criminal citation against Teals is currently making its way through the Grant County District Court system, with a trial date presently postponed until April. The case is being prosecuted by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Teddy Chow, who has not returned calls seeking comment. But Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Hallstrom said earlier this month the county is optimistic to get the situation resolved.

Delabarre said he has not been able to find a legal basis for Teals being personally cited in the case.

Teals knows what he has been charged with constitutes a fine, but admits he hasn't thought about whether the offense could cost him any time in jail.

"I haven't even thought about that when I feel it's so ridiculous that it's me being charged here when it's the decision of an elected body, an elected board," Teals said.

Teals asserts he could not have stopped the project himself if he wanted to, noting the decision to remove the sediment required a majority decision of the district's three-member board.

Parsons understands concerns about the need to remove vegetation and sediment from the lake, but said the violation should be a wake-up call for the district to work with the other agencies as required so problems don't continue in the future.

"We believe they were knowledgeable, but they failed to get the permits needed," Parsons said.

Parsons said the district should have received hydraulic project approval and had the soil tested prior to removal. Hydraulic project approval is needed for any activity that affects the bed of the lake, Parsons said.

Teals argued that the district has tested samples from all sections of the lake, with no harmful properties detected. The district has worked in cooperation with Fish and Wildlife on a handful of other projects in the past few years, and Teals said none of those projects required any permits.

Sediment removal was stopped at the Wild Goose Road site in December following Teals' citation.

The district had been working with nearby landowners who had agreed to take some of the sediment to fill low spots on their property. Since the district's work stoppage, county code enforcement has registered at least one violation against one of those landowners for storing the fill dirt on their property.

But while the work has been halted, the lake waters continue to rise and agencies are working to solve problems before shores are up against the high water mark. Moses Lake is part of the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project and lake waters are drawn down each winter and replaced again in the spring with water from the Columbia River and from the reservoir behind Grand Coulee Dam. Parsons said the state has expedited stabilization of the Wild Goose Road site without permits in an effort to restore the degraded area before lake levels rise, and said Fish and Wildlife has been working with the district and a district consultant on immediate action.

Parsons said Fish and Wildlife is concerned primarily with the fish that could become stranded in pools created by the sediment the next time the water is lowered.

The district's consultant, Parsons said, has drafted an Interim Corrective Action Plan for the Wild Goose Road site, and Parsons said the state agency will be working closely with the district and consultants on the project.

Other issues surrounding wetlands in the area, and what to do with the removed sediment remain unresolved, Parsons said. Agencies involved are seeking a more complete restoration plan, but Parsons said certain issues have to be resolved in a timely manner.

Delabarre has been in contact with state agencies concerning the removal of sediment. He said the issues regarding permits have not been resolved in an effort to focus on immediate issues and on the stability of existing sites.

"What we're trying to do is work with those agencies to work with the sites so we don't have a partially completed project covered up by the lake," Delabarre said.

With the Wild Goose Road project as a starting point, Delabarre said the district is looking at the issue as a means of working with state agencies on a long-term basis. State and local agencies are looking at how to resolve the immediate issue, he said, while also working on the ongoing rehabilitation of the lake.

Teals himself wants the district to be able to continue its work during the short window afforded them by low waters.

"If that place can't get put back together before the water comes back up, it would be entirely the fault of the Department of Fish and Wildlife," Teals said. "Because we would have finished the job, we would have finished very professionally."