State announces it is all but certain to recommend converting Capitol Lake to an estuary
Converting Capitol Lake to an estuary — a step that would mean removing the Fifth Avenue dam in Olympia and letting the body of water rise and fall with the tides — is likely to be the recommendation of the final environmental impact statement for the lake, the state Department of Enterprise Services announced Wednesday.
The preliminary announcement was made during an hourlong meeting of two work groups largely comprised of local and county officials, both elected and staff.
DES manages state property and was tasked with producing and soliciting comment for a final EIS that will guide the long-term management of the man-made lake.
State and local stakeholders have been studying and debating what to do with Capitol Lake for decades because of the lake’s problems with water quality as well as critters. For example, residents have been denied public access to the waters since 2009 because of an invasive species known as the New Zealand Mud Snail.
Although the final EIS was originally set to be released in June, it has been pushed back to October, DES spokeswoman Linda Kent said Wednesday.
The north basin reflecting pool is most identified with Capitol Lake, but the actual body of water to be managed stretches from Tumwater Falls to West Bay. Options the state considered were continuing to manage the lake in its current state, allowing it to revert to an estuary, or creating a hybrid of the two.
“DES received more than 850 comments on the Draft EIS, and we heard loud and clear that confirming a funding and governance approach for long-term maintenance of this waterbody is vital,” said Carrie Martin, DES project manager for the EIS, in a statement.
During Wednesday’s meeting, a slide was shown that ranked how the cities of Olympia and Tumwater, Thurston County, LOTT Clean Water Alliance, Squaxin Island Tribe, Port of Olympia and a community sounding board felt about the three options of estuary, managed lake and hybrid.
Ranked 1-10, estuary received an overall average score of 8.1. However, the port’s preferred alternative was a managed lake.
Port Commissioner Joe Downing, who attended the meeting, asked about the advantage of announcing the likely preferred alternative of estuary on Wednesday instead of waiting to announce it when the final EIS is ready.
Martin said the funding and governance work group members need to get to work to incorporate those findings into the final product.
“It’s really critical for the long-term durability of the (estuary) preferred alternative,” she said.
Downing expressed concerns about the estuary.
“Taking out the dam poses, on the surface, a very large threat to the existence of the port,” he said. He said the port supports improving water quality, which the estuary provides, but is concerned about the effect increased sediment could have on port operations.
“I hope going forward we can come to some agreement on sediment,” Downing said.
Project Manager Tessa Gardner-Brown of Seattle-based Floyd Snider, the principal consultant to DES, said there is a plan to meet with representatives of the port and Army Corps of Engineers about existing and future dredging assumptions.
Technical work to finalize the EIS continues, Martin said.
While some findings may be revised, the cumulative result of the possible changes is unlikely to be significant enough to alter the likely preferred alternative, she said in a statement.
DES used the draft EIS, comments on the draft EIS, and stakeholder input to identify the likely choice of estuary.
This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 4:11 PM.
