Skokomish Tribe Builds Bridges in Flood Plain Story-Date: 08:39 p.m. PST Sunday , December 21, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ Skokomish Tribe Builds Bridges in Flood Plain By Lucy Laird, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News SHELTON, Wash.--Dec. 22--As the salmon slowly flopped and splashed up the creek under Chico's Eddy Bridge on a crisp November day, its slow, retreating journey offered a testament to the positive effects of the Skokomish tribe's recent bridge-building efforts. In an attempt to combine flood control and salmon habitat restoration on the Skokomish reservation in northwest Washington, the tribe's natural resources management team, led by Jim Park, has built three bridges already. Two more are in the works. Aside from their environmental impact, these bridges work to sew the reservation back together again after being torn apart by incapacitating floods. According to Mr. Park, the goal in the construction of these bridges was to reduce the flooding pressure and help get fish up into the spawning areas. Due to timber over-harvesting in the south fork of the Skokomish River and the diversion of water from the north fork to a power plant, the river has three times the sediment and half the water it should. Basically, the river is "choking on its own silt," Mr. Park said. Bonnie James, editor of the Skokomish newspaper, The Sounder, recounted an especially devastating effect of one of the floods. She said that in 1995, the tribal archives, including health and personnel records as well as Twana language dictionaries and instruction books, were almost all destroyed or damaged when a flood ravaged their storage facilities. Many could not be saved, so the tribe photocopied what they could of the old documents. The destruction of records, however, pales in comparison to the loss of tribal members' homes. Since the 1960's, at least 18 tribal homes have been destroyed by flooding. Tribal member Jeanne Evernden recalls a time when the now-swampy land was a beautiful oasis where cattle grazed and farmers cultivated crops and fruit trees. Numerous trails cut through the woods so neighbors could visit each other. Many homes sat right on the riverfront. Today, Mr. Park said he has accompanied people who grew up in the flood-ravaged areas back to the site of their former homesteads. They point to a water-laden spot of land as the location of their old houses. "It's an incredibly dramatic change," said Mr. Park of the transformation from neighborhood to bog. In addition, the dozen floods a year have wiped out many tribal septic systems and led to the contamination of drinking water on the reservation. With direct funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife services and the BIA, crews from the natural resources department of the tribe have built Skobob Bridge, Chico's Eddy Bridge, and Rod's Bridge, three simple, one-lane constructions, the latter named for and dedicated to a deceased bridge-crew member. Even as the tribe struggles with the raging waters, they have adopted a philosophical approach to their problem. The tribe, said Mr. Park, "ranks habitat and flood control concerns together. They want to live with the river, not in spite of it. "There is a linkage between doing things that help the people and doing things that help the salmon." ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ ----- (c) 1997, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------