Department of Ecology takes the lead on Capitol Lake estuary restoration. Here’s what to know
Responsibility for the enormous project to return Capitol Lake to an estuary has been transferred to the Department of Ecology. The Washington State Legislature included the decision in the budget passed earlier this year, and Ecology officially took over July 1.
The barge that was seen floating around Capitol Lake in May was the last time folks should see people working on the lake this year. Ecology’s Southwest Region Director Bobbak Talebi told The Olympian that field work included collecting information to inform the design of the future 5th Avenue bridge foundation.
According to a newsletter from the Deschutes Estuary Restoration Team (DERT), Ecology has been meeting with staff from the Department of Enterprise Services, which had been the lead agency on the project, to better understand the project and share information. The lead contractor, Floyd | Snider, is continuing to work on the project with the department.
The Ecology team is also holding introductory meetings with design partners and stakeholders, including the Squaxin Island Tribe, state Department of Fish and Wildlife, LOTT Clean Water Alliance, the City of Olympia, the City of Tumwater, Thurston County and DERT.
The current project priority is to complete 60% of the design for estuary restoration by the end of the year. Talebi said Ecology is still on track to meet that goal, despite the massive transition.
“I think, as a team, it definitely demonstrated the amount of expertise and collaboration that we’ve had on this project to help move it along and still achieve those deadlines that we’ve had for 60% design,” Talebi said.
He said the proviso included new objectives for the department to meet as well, including looking at opportunities to phase in other steps to the restoration project and timelines associated with the work.
“In an effort to both address the degraded lake water quality and identify a cost-effective approach to an estuary restoration that the state can responsibly support, the legislature intends to transfer management of this aquatic ecosystem to a state agency with natural resources expertise,” it says.
Talebi said he thinks the transition of leadership is a huge opportunity for Ecology because the Deschutes Estuary is one of the biggest urban restoration projects in the country. The department has strong federal connections and can help find additional funding.
“I think that this fits within the strengths of our agency and obviously aligns with our view that this is a huge opportunity to help the state set this project up for success,” Talebi said.
Finding the funding
Talebi said there are multiple funding sources for the project, including federal, state and local investments. He said the path to success includes maintaining all those different funding sources and exploring every nook and cranny for more funding.
“There’s a lot of different funding programs that we’ve used that either we directly manage, or we’ve been able to access,” Talebi said. “In particular, like some of the coastal resilience grants that we were able to secure with NOAA, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, these are all funding programs that we are very familiar with and have strong partnerships with already.”
He said the 60% design plan will help influence what the next steps of the project are, and how much funding there will be.
Talebi said he knows there hasn’t been much communication around the project lately, but that won’t be the norm. He said Ecology needed a couple months to get their feet under them and ensure there aren’t any delays on the project.
“There’s so much public interest in this project,” Talebi said. “There has been, there’s going to continue to be, and so we’re still committed to, just as DES has done, to continue involving the public, listening to folks, seeing what questions they have.”
What’s already budgeted
The state budget included an $8 million appropriation to Ecology for the restoration project. It says the department must use DES’s previous studies and reports, and gather more stakeholder input and review the incomplete design plan to come up with a completed plan.
“The updated design must include a recommended series of projects phased over several biennials with defined deliverable outcomes that move the state forward to a completed estuary,” the budget says.
This plan has to include a detailed implementation framework to be achieved over a five-year period. And the plan is due to the governor, capital budget committee chairs, and the legislature by Sept. 1, 2026.
The legislature also included another $750,000 for project management costs.
This story was originally published August 31, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
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