“Illegal” Dams in Clallam and Jefferson Counties
This really sucks for the property owners — four in Clallam County, two in Jefferson County — who suddenly found out that the “dams” on their properties are illegal. I’m all for environmental protection, but you’re not supposed to have the rules changed in the seventh inning.
Doug Short is one of the people who was informed by the Dam Safety Office of the Department of Ecology that his pond is actually a high-hazard earthen dam; and it’s illegal. He has a salmon-bearing waterway running through his property. He leased it to the State of Washington to help revive Jimmycomelately Creek. He also fenced his portion of the creek with a 200-foot setback even though only a 50-foot setback was required.
He said: “I never really looked at it as a dam. It's a pond. It's for watering cattle, to feed my hatchery, which does endangered species. When you do good deeds, you're supposed to get it back — that karma thing. It seems like it's not working out that way with this property.”
The required changes — enlarging the pond — will cost about $100,000 and the State of Washington isn’t providing any financial help. Short is hoping for help from the Clallam Conservation District or the Jamestown S'Klallam tribe.
The other five owners on the North Olympic Peninsula who received this notice all said they thought they just a pond on their properties; not a dam.
The responsibility for correcting these dams lies with the present owners. There’s no allowance for “grandfathering” if the dam was already there when the current owner purchased the property.
Doug Short is one of the people who was informed by the Dam Safety Office of the Department of Ecology that his pond is actually a high-hazard earthen dam; and it’s illegal. He has a salmon-bearing waterway running through his property. He leased it to the State of Washington to help revive Jimmycomelately Creek. He also fenced his portion of the creek with a 200-foot setback even though only a 50-foot setback was required.
He said: “I never really looked at it as a dam. It's a pond. It's for watering cattle, to feed my hatchery, which does endangered species. When you do good deeds, you're supposed to get it back — that karma thing. It seems like it's not working out that way with this property.”
The required changes — enlarging the pond — will cost about $100,000 and the State of Washington isn’t providing any financial help. Short is hoping for help from the Clallam Conservation District or the Jamestown S'Klallam tribe.
The other five owners on the North Olympic Peninsula who received this notice all said they thought they just a pond on their properties; not a dam.
The responsibility for correcting these dams lies with the present owners. There’s no allowance for “grandfathering” if the dam was already there when the current owner purchased the property.
Labels: Clallam Conservation District, Dam Safety Office Department of Ecology, Doug Short dam, Jamestown S'Klallam, Jimmycomelately Creek
posted by Tom Harper at 4:17 PM
8 Comments:
This is great investigative journalism!
Screw Ecology...just hope the hell the next governor (hopefully a republican, unless they keep "finding" democrat votes) gets rid of that bloated bureaucratic waste of taxpayer dollars!
It doesn't matter if the next governor is liberal or conservative. Individuals need more autonomy against government bullying, and both parties are guilty of this.
Washington needs a governor like Bobby Jindal!
Ecology is a waste of time. If I want to see a tree, I'll go out in my backyard.
Allow logging in the national parks so that good, decent people can get jobs and support their families!
Right on, brutha! (anon 7:33AM)
Oh yeah, lets allow every tree to be cut down, and every plot of land to be paved over or become a golf course. Give me a break!
If the Department of Ecology is a bit too heavy handed, that's one thing, but the intent is right. We need to protect our wetlands, and we need to protect the forests. More logging is not the answer. Anyway, who gives a rats ass about logging when no one is building houses...and why should we log to ship it all overseas? Logging needs to be managed, and it's been proven over-and-over, that the industry cannot manage itself. It cannot be a bunch of yahoo loggers (a group largely uneducated and lacking in other skills) calling the shots. We've seen the damage uncontrolled logging has done!
You, Annon 7:33am, March 31, are a nimrod, sir.
GET RID of the Department of Ecology!!!!!!
Okay Tony, go do it.
You figure out a way to get rid of a department that the state has funded, and I'm right behind you...
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