Grant County PUD plans recreation improvements

Utility will conduct user survey

EPHRATA — Development at Grant County PUD recreation sites along the Columbia River is slowing down, but some projects are on the schedule for 2020. Shannon Lowry, the PUD’s public lands and recreation manager, reviewed the 2020 recreation improvement projects for commissioners at their regular meeting Tuesday.

“A couple of these projects have been waiting on us to get completed,” Lowry said. Dredging is scheduled at the Priest Rapids Recreation Area boat basin, Lowry said, which has been subject to silting in the river access channel and the floating docks. “We are finding that the silt is going in there and settling in based on the way the reservoir has been fluctuating.” Part of the shoreline has been damaged by erosion and needs to be reinforced, Lowry said. She estimated the project would cost about $200,000.

Repairs are scheduled for the walkway and shore installations at the Buckshot Recreation Area near Desert Aire, destroyed in a 2018 fire. In answer to a question from Commissioner Larry Schaapman, Lowry said the repairs are required as part of the PUD’s operating licenses. Repairs are forecast to cost about $150,000.

The floating dock at the upper Wanapum Dam boat launch will be replaced, Lowry said. “The wind-wave action in that area – the float that we’ve got there isn’t holding up very well. We did some repairs several months back, and they seem to be holding, but to get a more permanent fix we need to get that redesigned and a new float installed.”

Recreation department employees will be conducting a survey of people using rec facilities during the summer. The survey is required by the PUD’s operating license. “This is a pretty big effort. This is the three-year interval (report) where we go out and talk to folks and we write down what they say. We hope to get about 1,000 surveys completed this summer.”

In answer to a question from Commissioner Tom Flint, Lowry said surveyors will be talking to people at recreation sites around the district. “It’s kind of random sampling. But we do make sure we’re at some of our more heavily used sites on the peak weekends.”

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].