STANWOOD — A redesign of Leque Island that could lead to the removal of levees and the tidal flooding of former farmland is moving forward.
It’s not the first time the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and conservation group Ducks Unlimited have tried to make changes on Leque Island, a strip of water-logged land between Stanwood and Camano Island. It’s a popular spot for hunting and bird-watching.
A proposal to take out aging dikes around the 300-acre island, allowing it to flood with saltwater and create a habitat for salmon, has been in the works since the early 2000s. It gained momentum with grants from the Salmon Recovery Funding Board in 2004 and again in 2007.
Design work started in earnest in 2005, but the project stalled due to concerns about proper permitting and possible saltwater intrusion into drinking water in an adjacent aquifer.
The department now is revisiting the project, with a new advisory committee and open meetings, project coordinator Loren Brokaw said. There are 31 people on the advisory committee, including representatives from organizations that have repeatedly challenged the proposal.
The current version of the project kicked off in 2013, when the Environmental Protection Agency released its conclusion that removing levees around the island would “not create a significant hazard to public health by contaminating” a freshwater aquifer that serves part of Camano Island.
Since then, the advisory committee has narrowed the list of possibilities for Leque Island to six designs. A public meeting is scheduled Wednesday so people can review the options and share questions, suggestions or concerns.
“We reset the project in October 2013,” Brokaw said. “This time around, instead of developing the project without a lot of public input, we’ve got meetings to really see how people feel about these design alternatives.”
The first option would leave the island as is, without repairing failing levees or removing them. Another plan would create an intentional breach in the levee at the southwest corner of the island, but would keep the majority of the structure intact. A third design calls for setting the levee back, allowing high tides to flood the southern portion of the island while the acreage between Highway 532 and the new setback remains diked.
Two other possible choices are considered “full restoration,” meaning they would let the saltwater tides claim the entire island. One would remove all levees around the island, while the other would remove most but leave the northeast quarter of the island protected. On the opposite end of the spectrum from full restoration, the final alternative would reconstruct the dikes to circle the island from the highway to its southern tip.
The Washington Waterfowl Association and Camano Water Systems Association already know which plan they prefer. Both organizations have been fighting the project since it began.
A few years ago, the waterfowl association would have compromised with a levee setback, president Rone Brewer said.
“At this point, the association isn’t interested in compromising,” he said. “We want the whole thing.”
The group, which has two seats on the project’s advisory board, aims to see the levees rebuilt.
The Camano Water Systems Association still worries saltwater could contaminate drinking water, longtime member Dale Tyler said. Both groups also want to keep the land open for hunting and bird-watching.
“If it’s underwater, I think they’re throwing it away,” Tyler said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Fish and Wildlife lists Leque Island as an important restoration area for salmon habitats. The original project would have set the levee back and transformed about 115 acres of state-owned farmland into an estuary habitat for chinook, coho, chum, sockeye and pink salmon.
That option still is on the table. However, the department plans to review comments from the advisory committee and Wednesday’s meeting, assess permitting needs and find funding before making a final decision. Officials hope to pick a design in April, Brokaw said.
The soonest work could start on the island would be summer of 2017, he said.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
An open house to review the six design options for Leque Island is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Stanwood Middle School cafeteria, 9405 271st St. NW.
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