The closure will allow for Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership’s contractor, Tapani, Inc., to construct the Lower East Fork Lewis River Reconnection Project

VANCOUVER – Beginning in April, the East Fork Lewis River will be closed to boaters, fishers and other river users for three miles downstream from the lower portion of Daybreak Regional Park (downstream/west of Northeast Daybreak Road/82nd Avenue). The closure will allow for Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership’s contractor, Tapani, Inc., to construct the Lower East Fork Lewis River Reconnection Project.

The project, led by Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership with support from Clark County and other partners, is the largest restoration project ever implemented on the East Fork Lewis River. The project will reclaim the former Ridgefield Pits gravel mines and other floodplain areas, restore 200 acres of floodplain to the benefit of juvenile salmon and other native species, recharge groundwater aquifers, and reduce flood and erosion risk to neighboring homes and businesses. The project is occurring on public lands owned by Clark County, most of which were acquired through the Legacy Lands program which is funded through the Conservation Futures levy.

During the closure, river users upstream of Daybreak Regional Park will be required to take out at the park’s boat ramp. They can re-enter the river downstream of the project area; the closest public launch downstream of the project area is the John Pollock Water Trail Park off Northwest Pollock Road in La Center. The closure, through 2026, will impact several formal and informal river access points including access from the county’s Daybreak maintenance facility, the area known locally as “Cemetery Bend,” and the Bjur Road access point.

Funding for this project was secured through competitive grants from the Washington Department of Ecology’s Floodplain by Design program, the Washington Recreation and Conservation Office Salmon Recovery Fund, and NOAA’s Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resiliency Project grant. More information about the project is available at estuarypartnership.org/our-work/habitat-restoration/east-fork-lewis-river-reconnection-project.

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Information provided by Clark Co. WA Communications.