Corps Seeks Comments on Steamboat Slough Restoration Project (USA)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers seeks comments on a draft Environmental Assessment for Steamboat Slough habitat restoration in the Lower Columbia River Estuary.

The Corps of Engineers, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is proposing to restore tidal connection and fish access to 68 acres of historically tidal wetlands on the mainstem of the Columbia River. The Steamboat Slough project site is located within the mainland portion of the Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the Columbian White-tailed Deer in Wahkiakum County, Wash.

The restoration project’s primary goals and features include:

– Re-establish tidal connection between the Columbia River and the project site to restore estuarine floodplain habitats;

– Provide improved access and rearing/refuge habitat for juvenile salmonids;

– Restore tidal channel habitats;

– Restore native wetland plant communities and functions to enhance productivity of the site.

[mappress]

Press Release, May 16, 2013