Deschutes River drowning in sediment

Right now, thousands of cubic yards of sediment from eroding banks on the Deschutes River continue to smother fish spawning beds and fill Capitol Lake while public and private agencies continue to search for solutions.

What’s happening on the Deschutes in the South Sound, is a prime example of what is happening in many other Puget Sound/Columbia River Basin watersheds and rivers elsewhere in our state.

Let’s give our threatened and endangered fish a break by utilizing proven, problem solving bank stabilization techniques used elsewhere in the U.S.

Visit Pioneer Park, 20 minutes from downtown Olympia. See the eroding riverbank.

Take photos, call the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Director, Dr. Jim Unsworth (360) 902-2700. Email him at director@dfw.wa.gov. Mail him at 600 Capitol Way N. Olympia 98501.

Let him know you care about the sad state of our Deschutes River.

Ask him to make saving the river a priority to give threatened and endangered salmon, Steelhead and coastal native cutthroat the chance to flourish as they once did.

This story was originally published March 30, 2017 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Deschutes River drowning in sediment."