With Final Design Approved, Envirocon Prepares to Remove Mill Pond Dam

Envirocon’s Design-Build Team, in coordination with Seattle City Light (SCL), Pend Oreille County Public Utility District (PUD), and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) recently submitted and had approved the Final Design for the Mill Pond Dam Removal and Habitat Restoration project. Since December 2015, Envirocon’s team has been involved in an intensive project design that included constructability reviews, public open houses and meetings, and design submittals at various stages of the planning process.

As the Mill Pond Dam website (www.MillPondDam.com) states, the goals for the project are 1) Restore natural riverine ecosystem structure and functions to Sullivan Creek in the Mill Pond reach; and 2) Improve habitat availability, connectivity, and quality for native fish populations in the Sullivan Creek Watershed.

Upon receiving all necessary permits and approval from FERC, Envirocon crews and equipment began mobilizing in August to prepare the site and construct staging areas prior to full-scale operations. The schedule for the project includes sediment management and creek remediation; concrete and log crib dam demolition; recreational facilities construction; and restoration of the natural riverine ecosystems in the affected area stream channel, floodplain, and upland regions upstream of the Mill Pond Dam to Outlet Creek. These activities will be completed between August 2017 and October 2018, with additional monitoring of the site and supplemental planting to be completed by December 2019.

By the conclusion of the project, Envirocon’s Design-Build Team will have performed 1.7 miles of stream channel and floodplain restoration and installed over 70 engineered log jams for habitat diversity and stream channel complexity, including placement using helicopters in over 2,000 feet of stream channel to accommodate access constraints and minimize environmental impacts to the area.

Please follow our progress with periodic schedule and project updates and upcoming live stream at the Mill Pond Dam website (www.MillPondDam.com) as our team and our partners undertake this exciting, challenging, and important river revitalization and restoration project.