Climatic Rivers Stimulate Arguments on Flood Management in Washington State
In November, Whatcom County, where the Nooksack River drains pipes into a substantial valley, sat right in the bullseye of a climatic river. The Nooksack Rivers annual sediment load is 1.4 million heaps– the second-largest quantity of all the rivers draining to the Puget Sound region, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Even if the river was dredged, too much sediment is transferred down the river each year for it to be reliable in preventing floods, Oliver Grah, who is the water resource program supervisor in the Natural and Cultural Resources Department for the Nooksack Indian Tribe, informed GlacierHub. The water holes would then in theory renew the river throughout dry summertime months when river flow is much lower, he included.
Gutierrez, who studies the Skagit River just south of the Nooksack, described that over the last 150 years, settler colonialism has actually changed flooding, whether by eliminating log jams and large woody debris that impact river streams or by installing levees, dikes, and dams that modify the rivers configuration.
Stunning imagery from Sentinel-2 revealing flooding along the Nooksack River in Washington https://t.co/CaAiGukfbk pic.twitter.com/ohiiBT1Q0y
— Joshua Stevens (@jscarto) November 19, 2021
A much deeper river would bring a greater volume of water downstream, mitigating overflow throughout extreme precipitation occasions. Dredging can have destructive impacts on the watersheds ecology, destroying environment for salmon types– an essential natural and cultural resource for the local Lummi Nation and Nooksack Indian Tribe who hold treaty rights with the State of Washington to gather and co-manage salmon stocks on the Nooksack River.
The Nooksack begins as three rivers: the North Fork, Middle Fork, and South Fork, which stem from the high peaks of the North Cascades. The North Fork selects up icy glacial snow melt and gets input from the other two forks in the Cascade foothills, sweeping across a broad floodplain in Whatcom Countys lowlands and continuing west into Bellingham Bay and Puget Sound. Along its way, the river transports big quantities of sediment that stem from glaciers on the north side of Mount Baker. The Nooksack Rivers annual sediment load is 1.4 million loads– the second-largest amount of all the rivers draining to the Puget Sound area, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Mt. Baker, a glacier covered volcano in the North Cascades of Washington, feeds the Nooksack River which flows through Whatcom County. Source: Shawn/Wikimedia Commons
In the wake of the recent floods, the concept to remove gravel from the river to mitigate flood threat has actually resurfaced. Some farmers and home owners in the Nooksack Valley, for example, believe gravel elimination to be an efficient method to lower or maintain the river bed and stop their land and property from filling with flood water every winter season.
In a neighborhood conference in the town of Everson on November 24, a week following the devastating floods, local county authorities rested on a stage at the Nooksack Valley High School to listen to community members, some of whom had lost their homes and companies. “There are individuals who can not go house tonight since they do not have a bed to oversleep. There are individuals who can not go home due to the fact that they do not have a home to go home to,” one neighborhood member said. Regional leaders tried to keep the conversation focused around short-term solutions to the flood, dredging controlled the conversation. “Weve got to dredge the river. Stop yelling environment change when you havent dredged the river,” another neighborhood member required, generating cheers from the crowd behind them. Although the meeting concluded with a sense of appreciation for volunteers who were helping in the areas recovery, numerous concerns about flood prevention were left unanswered.
Even if the river was dug up, too much sediment is transported down the river each year for it to be reliable in avoiding floods, Oliver Grah, who is the water resource program manager in the Natural and Cultural Resources Department for the Nooksack Indian Tribe, informed GlacierHub. Sediment and gravel build-up will likely increase with climate modification.
On December 7, former Whatcom County Council Member Rud Browne, whose term ended this January, presented a resolution in a Whatcom County Council Natural Resources Committee meeting. Browne proposed eliminating sediment from the dry uplands meander zones of the river. The task would include digging holes above the waterline that could stop overflow throughout a flood, Browne discussed in an interview with GlacierHub. The water holes would then in theory renew the river throughout dry summertime when river flow is much lower, he added.
But his resolution was rapidly tabled by other council members who requested additional input from the tribes and county flood and river personnel. According to Browne, this was because “individuals typically get lost in the issue of dredging” although he highlighted this is not a dredging proposal, however something entirely various. Although digging holes would need getting rid of plant life and gravel from around the river environment, he states it would not have the very same effect on fish habitat that dredging would, that includes removing gravel and sediment from below the waterline.
In a letter to the Whatcom County Council triggered by Brownes resolution, the Lummi Nation disapproved of any sort of gravel elimination. “To be clear, the Lummi Nation has not been spoken with on the proposed resolution,” the letter specified, asking that prepare for long-lasting flood management take on a cooperative approach based on “sound science” that is notified by “indigenous insight.”
Trusting the river environment to likewise reduce its own flooding, as long as it is offered the space and capability to do so, might benefit every stakeholder involved, he kept in mind. One example consists of replanting areas that were previously logged for industrial forestry along the watershed, which would increase water quality and minimize the risk of flooding by keeping more wetness in the soil and slowing overflow following heavy snowfall and rain occasions.
Dartmouth College Ph.D. prospect Grant Gutierrez echoed this belief. Gutierrez, who studies the Skagit River just south of the Nooksack, described that over the last 150 years, inhabitant colonialism has actually altered flooding, whether by getting rid of log jams and large woody particles that impact river streams or by setting up levees, dikes, and dams that modify the rivers setup. When early inhabitants in the late 1800s and early 1900s established the locations around the Nooksack for agriculture, its valley was transformed. The land was cleared for farming, forests were logged for lumber, and the river was corrected. These modifications only made flooding even worse. Human beings still rely on a dream that they can “solutionize” their method out of flooding, Gutierrez included.
The North Fork Nooksack River revealing heavy sediment load. Sources: AndrewEnns/Wikimedia Commons
Warmer air holds more water, increasing the intensity of rains throughout atmospheric river events. This strength will likewise grow as the regions dynamics change, Guillaume Mauger, a research study researcher at the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group, explained in an interview with GlacierHub. For instance, a recent analysis from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory projected that annual snowpack in the Cascade Mountains could decline by nearly a quarter by 2050 and up to nearly three-quarters by the end of the century. As snowlines decline up the mountains, more locations will get rain rather of program, which runs off more quickly, intensifying the flooding. The November event showed that Washington communities are not well adapted to the future environment or the existing climate, Mauger concluded.
In spite of his resolution being tabled, Browne hopes future flood management in Whatcom County can be approached with an open mind. “There is an old saying that the meaning of insanity is continuing to do the exact same thing but expecting a various result,” he concluded. “We are just going to resolve these issues with a determination to discuss every option.”
After a series of storms discarded unmatched quantities of rainfall on the northwestern corner of Washington last November, little neighborhoods in the Nooksack Valley were left severely flooded and asking questions about how to prevent flood damage in the future. But finding a solution to flooding isnt easy. The area is house to a diversity of stakeholders, consisting of Indigenous tribes, community leaders, gravel-extracting firms, and agricultural landowners, whose interests, such as securing fish environment, industrial business, and personal property, frequently enter into direct conflict with flood prevention procedures.
The winter storms were produced by a series of atmospheric rivers– long, narrow regions in the atmosphere that bring water vapor from the tropics. When these rivers reach land, they can discard heavy amounts of rainfall in localized regions. In November, Whatcom County, where the Nooksack River drains pipes into a comprehensive valley, sat right in the bullseye of a climatic river.
