Restoration Update: Even More teh Ugly

So, I talked to the project manager at the County and this latest work on the Grant Creek restoration and flood control project is supposed to wind up next week. Uh huh.

This whole deal (rather ordeal) was sold to the Mullan area residents as both flood control and a restoration of the original look and flow of Grant Creek, which had been twisted and torqued out of its natural state when it was diverted into Dougherty Ditch about 100 years ago.  The map I saw showed contouring around the creek in place of the existing steep cutbanks.

Then after Katrina FEMA got involved, passing new rules as to which natural features could be mapped in as flood protection and upset all the basic design assumptions for the Grant Creek project.  To wit, the Milwaukee Road railroad berm no longer counted, nor did the built-up Mullan Road. Also, Dougherty wouldn’t let the excavators play on his land, even though clay and silt runoff from his land was filling up the creek bed below.

Anyway, we ended up with three dreary, utilitarian basins which did give us a nice “lake” (with ducks) last spring.   We got good flood control, but contouring, natural look?  Not so much.  We put out cracked corn and prayed for peace and quiet.

But soon the stakes reappeared. They couldn’t leave well enough alone. Apparently Fish, Wildlife and Parks was involved, and claimed these new wetlands as bull trout habitat.  So the stream bed had to be reworked even more, by tearing out over half the existing vegetation, filling in a big chunk of the old Dougherty irrigation ditch and diverting it around to the north, widening it out, building short levees, and generally tearing everything all to hell.

With any luck the goobs will run out of money soon and go away forever.  I hope some of the greenery, such as it was, grows back in my lifetime.

They tore out all the vegetation north of the creek and built up a small levee.

...and put in this stupid dam...

This is where they filled in old Dougherty Ditch to divert the flow.

Green shoots! Actually red dogwood planted last year.