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aturday, August 25,
2001 - 12:00 a.m. Pacific Vigilante does end-run on county, digs creek By Mike
Lindblom
The vigilante dredging left six piles of dirt and a 250-footlong cleared swath along the banks of the creek, on property between Issaquah and Renton that the King County Department of Natural Resources had bought earlier this year. Some residents are jubilant about the incident. "We don't know who did it, but we're glad somebody did it," said Doug Bandelin of the May Valley Environmental Council. County Natural Resources Director Pam Bissonnette shook her head in disgust while touring the area yesterday. About two dozen young trees were run over, apparently by a backhoe with steel tracks. "This won't help solve any flooding at all," she said. Instead, water temperatures will rise because several trees that shade the creek were torn out, she said. She said the damaged area was one of the healthier parts of the stream and would not have been altered as part of the official May Creek Basin Action Plan. Jullianne Bruce, a mother of eight whose house is often ringed by standing water, said her land stayed dry during the record rains this week. "It was really different for me," she said. Rick Spence, president of the valley council, accused the county of collecting tens of millions of dollars in surface-water-management taxes without providing relief to May Valley. "The whole valley's going to flood because the county isn't doing anything. Don't be surprised if there is massive civil disobedience in May Valley," he said. County officials said the excavators cut through a security chain to enter the site. It will cost $100,000 to replace damaged trees and remove the piles of dirt, officials said. King County has avoided wholesale dredging because officials believe excessive flows might erode spawning grounds for chinook salmon downstream. Old-timers in the valley reply that dredging did not prevent fish from swimming through the valley decades ago. The county recently approved a plan to remove some obstructions and beaver dams from the creek starting next year, but landowners have demanded that the entire upper half of the seven-mile stream be dredged, as farmers did in the mid-20th century. The political fight has dragged on for years while water levels rose and invasive weeds such as purple loosestrife expanded into back yards. The incident occurred near state Highway 900 at 164th Avenue Southeast. May Creek begins on Squak Mountain near Issaquah and drains a pastoral basin before it spills into Lake Washington. Officials learned about the dig Tuesday when an employee was measuring water depth under a bridge on 164th Avenue, though Bandelin said it happened two weeks ago. Water levels have dropped about two feet since then, he said. County Councilman David Irons Jr., who has tried to broker peace between angry residents and county officials, scolded those who did the illegal dredging. In a written statement, Irons said, "The losers here will be the people whose property will be flooded once again in future years because our flood-relief projects were delayed while we repaired the damage to the creek, and the salmon fry whose habitat has been damaged." Any work along the creek must comply with the Endangered Species Act, and permits are required from the county, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Sheriff's detectives will take up the case Monday. "I can't imagine how many laws were broken. This is going to be a major investigation," spokesman John Urquhart said. Mike Lindblom can be reached at 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. [Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml] Copyright © 2001 The Seattle Times Company |