Stafford Creek Corrections Center Project

L.C.Lee & Associates, Inc. (LCLA) provided regulatory assistance to the Washington State Department of Corrections to help them obtain federal, state and local environmental permits for the Stafford Creek Corrections Center Project near Aberdeen, Washington. As mitigation for unavoidable impacts to waters of the U.S., LCLA designed and oversaw the construction of the Newskah Creek Riparian Ecosystem Restoration project. The restoration featured the excavation of 1,200 feet of secondary channel along the creek to expand tidal exchange on the flood plain and provide habitat for salmonid species.

In planning the construction of a new Washington State Corrections Center near Aberdeen, Washington, environmental permitting stalled due to public and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opposition to filling 17 acres of tidal waters of the U.S., including wetlands (waters/wetlands) to build the corrections center and its associated highway utility corridor. Dr, Lyndon C. Lee of LCLA was retained by the Washington State Department of Corrections to resolve the permit impasse and arrive at a workable solution that would allow the Stafford Creek Corrections Center construction to be completed on schedule. Dr. Lee presented a plan to put the utilities under the existing roadway, and reduce total project impacts from 17 to 2 acres of waters/wetlands. LCLA then developed a mitigation package and obtained all necessary environmental permits to allow construction of the correctional facility to continue.

The mitigation plan called for the construction of 1,200 feet of secondary channel and restoration of 10 acres of waters/wetlands along lower Newskah Creek, a tidally influenced stream that flows into the south side of Grays Harbor, west of Aberdeen, Washington.  The design included excavation of the secondary channel to reconnect tidal influence to the historic floodplain and provide additional habitat for salmonids, removal of roads and levees, restoration of complex microtopography to the floodplain, reintroduction of large wood to both the floodplain and the secondary channel, and restoration of native forest, scrub-shrub, and emergent wetland plant communities.

Newskah Creek currently is listed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as a salmonid-producing stream. Coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and Chinook (O. tshawytscha) are the principal salmonid species. However, both migratory and resident coastal cutthroat trout (O. clarkii), and steelhead (O. mykiss) use the stream.  LCLA provided construction oversight for all activities involved in the restoration of the lower Newskah Creek ecosystem.  Construction was completed in January 2001.  LCLA scientists performed both compliance monitoring and maintenance oversight for the Department of Corrections during the first two years post construction. Design, construction, and monitoring costs totaled $850,000.