Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New QUALITY OF LIFE: Landowners near Salzer and Coal areas sought to participate in restoration project
By The Chronicle, 12/22/98
The Lewis County Conservation District is seeking landowners in the Salzer and Coal creek areas to participate in an effort to protect and restore water quality in the creeks.
For more than two years, the district has been working on a grant in the Salzer Creek watershed. During that time, district representatives have worked with businesses, the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds, the city of Chehalis, and several landowners.
Ten sites were monitored for one year to collect background water quality parameters. The two streams are being degraded at a very slow rate, making it difficult for people living on the systems to notice the changes.
The monitoring concluded the systems are not meeting state standards for temperature, dissolved oxygen and fecal coliform bacteria at times. Reestablishing native vegetation in the riparian zone of these will improve all three of these parameters.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to purchase trees, shrubs and materials needed to protect the vegetation to ensure high survivability rates. The district will send out a notice to all stakeholders in the basin to sign up for an opportunity to protect the future quality of life in the watershed, district officials said.
Notices will be sent to landowners who reside in the basin, but who do not have property along the creeks, to inform them of the project, and to ask for volunteers to make this venture successful.
District officials said landowner involvement will be important to help prepare planting sites, plant the vegetation, and care for the trees and shrubs to get them a good start in adapting to the area.
Landowners with large distances of streambank will need assistance. The district will offer a diverse selection of trees and shrubs to plant. Sites will be evaluated and landowners will have a choice of species from which to choose, depending on site-specific characteristics.
District officials said this is an excellent opportunity for landowners to get involved in protecting their future quality of life along Salzer and Coal creeks.
For information or to become involved, call Bob Amrine at 360/748-0083, Ext. 115.
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District seeks volunteers for water-quality effort
Volunteer to restore our creeks
The Chronicle, 12/23/98, Our Views Editorial
BOWS: To the Lewis County Conservation District which has been working quietly but diligently for a couple of years toward improving the water quality in Salzer and Coal creeks in the Twin Cities.
The two creeks that drain basins east of the Twin Cities are tributaries of the Chehalis River. Cleaning up the creeks is the priority, but would have the added benefit of helping to clean up the Chehalis.
Aided by a grant district employees have been working with businesses, the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds, city of Chehalis and landowners to monitor 10 sites for a year to determine background water quality measurements. No surprise, the monitoring concluded the two creeks aren't conforming to state standards for temperature, dissolved oxygen and fecal coliform bacteria.
It has been determined reestablishing native vegetation along the creeks will help them meet the standards. In furtherance of that, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will purchase and provide trees and shrubs.
Success of this project will turn in part on public participation, especially of those folks living along the creeks who stand to gain the most from cleaning them up.
The district will send notices to all stakeholders along the creeks and all landowners in the creek basins informing them of the project and seeking volunteers. They'll be needed to help prepare planting sites for the vegetation, plant it and maintain it after planting.
This is an admirable project for which we commend the district. It is small projects like these that cumulatively can make a big difference in improving our environment. And local participation in them is essential for their success.
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