‘A significant milestone’: Camp Kwoneesum Dam is gone but work to reshape the land continues

Because the mussels are delicate and sensitive, Blevins said, they must be collected by hand rather than scooping them with a bucket. Unlike other mollusks that attach themselves to their habitat, Blevins said, these mussels have a foot they use to move around and dig down into the streambed.

“To collect them, we’re actually going to have to snorkel in the stream, pull them up and then walk them up the river,” she said.

With a crew of about 10 people helping, Blevins expected to get all 1,000 mussels moved by the end of the day.

Ian Sinks, stewardship director for Columbia Land Trust, said the native species of mussels — which grow to be about 6 inches long and can live for 100 years — are an important part of the ecosystem. Prior to the start of the dam-removal project, Sinks said, 3,000 mussels had to be removed from the creek below the dam to protect them.

“They filter water. They are associated with salmonids, trout and salmon, as part of their reproductive cycle. They nutrient cycle, and they’re food for other wildlife,” he said. “We took all of the mussels out so they wouldn’t get crushed. Now, we’re starting to bring them back.”

Sinks said all the mussels were removed to one area, which has some risk should conditions in that area go bad. Now, they’re moving them to different areas below the work area to minimize that risk.

“We’re going to spread them out a little bit and hedge our bets,” Sinks said.

The mussels and other wildlife can’t be reintroduced in the dam area just yet. Because the work was just completed this summer, the creek and tributaries are still settling and shifting. Rains throughout the winter and spring will undoubtedly shift some of the logs, and silt and sediment will wash downstream.

“It’s still pretty dynamic. Mussels can move but not very far,” Sinks said.

‘Significant undertaking’

Removing the old dam was no small job. According to Pete Barber, restoration ecologist for the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, removing 20,000 cubic yards of materials that made up the 425-foot-long, 55-foot-tall dam required planning and coordination. Barber said it was one of the largest dam-removal projects in the state’s history.

“This was a significant undertaking made possible by a collaboration of dedicated individuals and groups,” Barber said Friday.

They had to pump water from the reservoir and distribute it to other streams, capture wildlife for relocation, and remove sediment that had built up at the bottom of the dam over the decades — all before taking down the dam and spillways.

Restoring native plants, fish and other wildlife to the Wildboy Creek area is especially important to the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, which has relied on the creek for food and medicine for generations.

“It’s primarily for summer steelhead. There may be some winter steelhead that come up. And there’s been documentation of coho,” Barber said.

Once the dam was removed, work on the creeks, former reservoir and hillsides began.

“The area had to be excavated, so there was a lot of water and soil shifting around. All of that was recontoured,” Sinks said.

Nearby, thin shoots of new grass poke up through the soil. On the other side of the valley, wattle bags — thin tubes of compressed straw — create steppes up the hillside.

“They’re staked in to catch sediment and keep it out of the creek,” Sinks said.

Water flowing through the creeks and tributaries is low, for now, but Sinks said that will change when winter and fall rains arrive and wash out any remaining fine silt or sediment.

Hundreds of old logs and downed trees scattered along the creek and tributaries slow water flow and create pools.

“That actually helps facilitate fish passage, especially for juveniles and smaller fish,” Sinks said. “If it was just a chute or pipe, it would be much harder to go up.”

Along with some remaining cleanup work at the site, Barber said, some 10,000 native plants would be planted in two phases, one this fall and one in the spring. Another planting is scheduled for next year to replace any plants that die off.

Milestone reached

The Cowlitz Indian Tribe and Columbia Land Trust worked for nearly 10 years to remove the old dam and reservoir. For the tribe, the dam was an ugly scar on land it holds sacred.

“I call this a vanity lake, created for a very small segment of the population. Its use is long past its privilege date. Bringing it down will serve a greater community and a greater need in nature,” Tanna Engdahl, spiritual leader for the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, said during a May ceremony at the dam.

“The removal of Kwoneesum Dam marks a significant milestone in our journey to restore the natural beauty and ecological balance of our ancestral lands, which in this case has been in the process for many years,” William Iyall, chairman of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, said in a news release Friday. “As we work to restore the area to its original state, we honor our ancestors and ensure that future generations will continue to thrive in harmony with the land. We are thrilled to see this project enter this crucial stage, bringing us closer to a restored and revitalized ecosystem.”

Meg Rutledge, executive director of Columbia Land Trust, said the Kwoneesum Dam project is an excellent example of the work both the trust and Cowlitz Indian Tribe are doing to preserve critical habitat.

“We are here to deliver conservation that lasts and that has meaning to people and places where we work,” Rutledge said, adding that the opportunity to collaborate with the Cowlitz Indian Tribe was especially significant. “They are the people who always have been and always will be leaders in stewarding and caring for our lands and our people. It’s a privilege for us.”