Photos by Mike Salsbury/The Olympian
Kayakers Mike Ulmer (left) and Hans Furtner of Auburn visit Capitol Lake on Monday. Starting at Tumwater Historical Park, they toured the entire lake but found the water quality substandard. "The water's pretty nasty," said Furtner, who said he would not return to kayak on the lake.

A duckling swims through an algal mat while looking for a meal Monday near the south basin of Capitol Lake. The Tumwater City Council voted Monday night for a middle-ground approach to treating the lake.

Partial estuary gains ally

Squaxin tribe's position on dredging steers Tumwater council

BRAD SHANNON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published August 7, 2001

"The dredging will have to occur somewhere if we want to have a port." -- Pete Kmet, Tumwater council member

TUMWATER -- City Council members gave informal support Monday night to an emerging concept that could convert a part of Capitol Lake into a river estuary, but they did it grudgingly.

The estuary prospect conjured images of slimy Mud Bay on the shores of downtown Olympia and was clearly disliked by some council members, including Pete Kmet. But the council members were confronted with another equally unappealing prospect.

State efforts to retain the half-century-old man-made lake by heavy dredging of silt might not be allowed, mainly because the Squaxin Island Indian tribe opposes major dredging and has clout with those who issue needed permits for the Army Corps of Engineers. The Squaxins have tribal interest in the Capitol Lake chinook salmon run.

So Mayor Ralph Osgood urged a middle ground, which the Department of General Administration and an advisory committee have begun considering.

A curtain

One concept would run a curtain north and south in the lake's far north end, retaining fresh water on the east side with a river and bay meeting on the west side.

A long bridge could span perhaps a 500-foot opening in the lake at Fifth Avenue, where the liberated Deschutes would run in its ancient path.

"I'll tolerate it," said Councilwoman Cindy Beauchene, who favors dredging and fears a "mosquito-breeding ground" developing near Tumwater Historical Park if the waterway reverts to an estuary.

Others worried that a decision to open the lake to a free-flowing Deschutes River will only pass along the dredging problem to Olympia's shipping port.

"The dredging will have to occur somewhere if we want to have a port," Kmet cautioned.

Middle ground

In the end, Osgood and Councilwoman Chris Parsons won out. Parsons, who represents Tumwater on the nine-member Capitol Lake Adaptive Management Plan advisory committee, believes some middle ground will be needed to overcome the objections the Squaxin tribe and the city of Olympia.

Olympia has favored retaining a reflecting area in the lake next to Heritage Park, which the state is spending millions to construct.

"However we reach consensus, that will be the preferred way to go," said Parsons, who sought the council's direction.

Whatever route is taken, it will be enormously expensive. Lenore Miller, capital programs manager for the state Department of General Administration which manages the lake, said estimates range from $17.5 million during the next 12 years to dredge the lake every two years and deposit the material on a land site. Costs would be $5 million the first two years.

The estuary option, which includes an expensive bridge and some dredging, would cost $34 million to $35 million, most of that upfront.

The group advising General Administration on management of the lake is almost evenly split on whether to seek a lake or estuary option.

The Port of Olympia, city of Olympia, Thurston County, Department of Natural Resources and General Administration favor the lake, while Tumwater, the Squaxin tribe, Department of Ecology and Department of Fish and Wildlife have expressed support for an estuary, Miller said.

Jeff Dickison, a policy analyst with the Squaxin tribe, said Monday the tribe wants the committee to focus on what's good for water quality and fish, but other members of the committee including Parsons say the tribe has warned it holds virtual veto power over any dredging permit.

If a dramatic change is recommended, Miller said her agency would take the proposal to the State Capitol Committee, a four-member group including Gov. Gary Locke and other top officials that has final approval over Capitol Campus decisions.

On the web:

City of Tumwater.

Gov. Gary Locke.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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