County's dilemma: Cut trees or lose federal funds

Chop down riverside trees that provide shade for young salmon or lose millions in federal support to fix aging levees -- that's what the Army Corps of Engineers is telling King County.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and devastating Midwest floods, the corps is taking a conservative approach to levee maintenance, forcing cash-strapped local governments to pull out the chain saws.

King County officials would love to fix 14 damaged levees on their own, sparing hundreds of trees and protecting threatened salmon runs. But they can't afford to.

"It's hard for us to walk away" from the federal money, said Steve Bleifuhs, the county's manager for rivers and floodplains.

Levees -- reinforced riverbanks built extra tall -- can be all that stand between bloated rivers and disastrous floods. The county believes the best way to protect residents and businesses from flooding -- plus help save salmon -- is to plant native trees on the sloping riversides.

During heavy rains when swollen rivers creep up their banks, it's not the levees planted with native trees that are most damaged -- it's the ones covered in blackberry brambles, grass or not much at all, county officials say.

"Vegetation on river banks is desirable," said Andy Levesque, a senior engineer with the county's Water and Land Resources Division. "Properly designed, it can strengthen."

With risks so high, corps officials say their strict standards are needed to ensure safety. Look to the recent events on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to see the tremendous damage possible when levees are topped. Or New Orleans in 2005 and the lasting devastation caused by Katrina.

The corps says its methods using large rocks and boulders -- and a minimum of trees and other vegetation -- are best for building levees that can withstand scouring torrents of water. They reliably protect people and billions of dollars' worth of property.

"We always have to err on the side of public safety," said Mike Scuderi, a corps biologist in Seattle.

So when the corps recently surveyed King County's levees, it ruled that many violated their vegetation rules, making them ineligible for a voluntary program providing federal dollars for repairs.

The county is responsible for 119 miles of levees that line the South Fork of the Skykomish, and the Snoqualmie, Sammamish, Cedar, Green and White rivers, plus tributaries. In many stretches, the levees are not much more than an ecological "desert" of rock-reinforced riverbanks covered in invasive blackberry bushes. But in spots where the county has done restoration work, large willows and alders tower on the banks. Countless fish pass the levees as juveniles headed to Puget Sound or as adults ready to spawn.

About 477 riverside trees will have to go or the county will be denied close to $17 million from the federal assistance program.

Lack of consensus

"We understand that we put (King County) in a tight spot," said Doug Weber, the corps' National Disaster Program manager in Seattle.

But the corps is in a tricky position, too. The agency's regulations -- originally approved in 1944 -- were crafted to be broad enough to make levees safe for rivers crisscrossing the country. The top concern: Large tree roots help water seep into and weaken levees. In windstorms, the trees can topple, pulling big chunks out of the barriers.

King County officials argue that in the Northwest, the roots of trees and plants weave together, making the banks more stable -- a position shared by Pierce County officials.

Part of the trouble is the lack of a consensus in the engineering community on the effect of trees on levee stability. Those working to protect fish argue that levees dominated by big rocks represent an outdated approach.

"The corps has in many cases in other places been slow to get with the times and adjust its policies to the most current science," said Michael Garrity, associate director for the Seattle office of American Rivers, an environmental group.

In the past, the counties would have been granted more leeway from the corps on the tree rules. But that changed with public and political outrage over the New Orleans disaster and the corps' role in it, King and Snohomish county officials said.

Corps officials deny that.

"Nothing has changed in the regulations or how we do business," said Nola Leyde, a corps spokeswoman in Seattle.

The corps hasn't boosted its enforcement but has increased "education" on levee safety and vegetation standards nationwide, she and others said.

The Northwest already has more leniency than many other parts of the nation when it comes to levee rules. In 1995, the corps approved a local variance allowing for twiggy shrubs and willowy trees with trunks no larger than 4 inches in diameter on levees.

Many argue it's not enough to help the fish, including runs of Puget Sound chinook salmon and steelhead protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Millions of dollars are streaming into the region to restore the fish populations, including investments in habitat improvements -- such as increasing the amount of vegetation along rivers and streams. The plants can keep the water cooler, provide homes for insects that drop into the water and feed fish, and screen salmon from predators overhead. Logs and branches fall into the water, creating fish-friendly pools.

Some question whether meeting the corps' levee rules would put counties at risk of breaking the Endangered Species Act, but a top official with the agency responsible for safeguarding fish said it would not go after counties for violations.

The corps itself is doing restoration work to help vanishing salmon. But its own tree-removal policy is in conflict with those efforts, according to a June letter addressing levee construction by the fisheries division of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.

The bottom line is that when human lives and salmon survival come up against each other, it's the people who win. And while the county is adamant that the trees don't reduce levee safety, the corps is unconvinced, and other federal agencies won't trump their position.

"Vegetation on levees is something that people want to see," said Steve Landino, director for the Washington State Habitat Office for the Fisheries Service. "But let's face it, they also don't want to see these levees as unsound."

Working with the corps

The towering red alder and bigleaf maples near the top of the slope along the Green River were spray painted with large orange dots. Too big and the wrong species, the King County trees have been marked by the corps to come down.

Pierce County recently had its levees inspected and is waiting to learn which are in violation of the corps' rules. Snohomish County is planning to remove some larger trees on levees to comply with the regulations, though officials there said that in the long run, they'd like to find alternatives to tree removal.

After the corps told King County to choose between greenbacks and greenery, the county carefully reviewed 14 levee-repair projects scheduled for this summer. It decided to withdraw five projects needing the least costly repairs that were the most vegetated, mostly along the Snoqualmie River. It saved 379 trees -- but lost almost $400,000 in federal funding.

In the other projects, nearly 100 trees will be sacrificed to secure $16.6 million in federal support, covering 80 percent of repair costs. The county is doing additional repair work in other locations with money from local taxes earmarked for flood control.

"We have to do something that we feel is a lower standard (for levee construction) to comply with their program," said Bleifuhs, King County's floodplains manager.

"We do have higher standards. Unfortunately, we can't move such a large and powerful federal agency in a different direction."

Perhaps in time, they can.

The corps is starting work to revise the variance that helps fish, as requested by the counties, the Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Landino said he's personally committed to working with the corps on improvements for chinook. There's also a national study on the issue of vegetation and levee stability coming out soon.

Corps officials said they want to help salmon while still keeping people and property safe but that they have to proceed carefully.

"We're keeping fish wet and people dry," said the corps' Leyde. "And that's our mission."