A busy construction season along King County river levees is nearly here, and the county is preparing for the work by removing more than 150 trees along seven levees that need repairs from flooding.
Beginning later this week, trees are being removed from levees along the Green, Snoqualmie and Raging rivers for compliance with federal regulations on levee maintenance and repair. Doing so ensures that King County will remain eligible for federal flood damage repair funding.
A 2006 study shows that roughly 65,000 jobs, or 6 percent of all the jobs in King County, lie within floodplains, with wage and salary income of $3.7 billion. Property in King County’s floodplains is valued at more than $7 billion.
Additionally, levees protect many neighborhoods, major transportation corridors and farmlands.
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the trees have reached a size where their roots could affect levees’ stability and create additional flood risks. The trees are also larger in diameter than federal rules allow.
Trees that are cut down will be used for habitat improvement along the rivers to complement the additional tree planting.
To compensate for the loss of vegetation, King County will plant more than 600 new trees elsewhere within the watersheds.
King County is working with the Corps and federal fisheries managers to develop a levee vegetation pilot project for the Pacific Northwest. This pilot project would provide area managers with additional flexibility when addressing vegetation along levees.
This summer’s levee repair and construction season is about to get under way, and includes important repairs to levees that were damaged during this past winter’s record flooding.
The schedule of roughly two dozen projects is governed by the King County Flood Hazard Management Plan, which was developed by the King County Executive and adopted by the Metropolitan King County Council in 2007. The plan identifies $335 million in critical flood protection repairs to the County’s aging flood prevention infrastructure.
King County implements the flood plan through an inter-local agreement with the King County Flood Control District, a special purpose government formed in 2007 to fund the backlog of capital improvement and repairs to King County’s aging system of levees and other flood-protection facilities.
The King County Flood Control District is a special purpose government created to provide funding and policy oversight for flood protection projects and programs in King County. The Flood Control District’s Board is composed of the members of the King County Council. The Water and Land Resources Division of the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks develops and implements the approved flood protection projects and programs. Information is available at
