He spoke with Brian Sleight who showed him 2 studies the county has done. One was to determine if it was a project that met their requirements for financial support. They had 3 criteria. The problem meets their criteria in 2 of the 3 required areas. The problem is they are not able to say it is damaging a residence or public infrastructure. For this reason they are not able to spend funds on this project.
There are 3 permits required. 2 with King county and 1 with fish and wildlife. 1 may be very attainable. The other two may be quite difficult to obtain. He shared a view the county and WFDR had which is that lake levelers seemed to be an ideal fix 10-15 years ago. They are less supportive now. This seems to be based on misinformation and less than professional installs gone bad.
Also with Fish and Wildlife, more concern is placed on fish passage and lake levelers are seen as a potential barrier. Our permit biologist has a reputation for being quite uncooperative and difficult to appease.
Chris also saw this as an emergency situation as beavers were not an issue 30 years ago. The county (though slow) is still catching up with developing ways of dealing with beavers that are good. Many people had no idea spring lake has been having a flooding problem. King county is considering streamlining the permit process for beaver issues but has not yet done so and expects it would be at least a year before any changes would be made.
Author note:
This is why going with a professional company is so important in this case. Our site is complex and difficult. Our permit situation is complex and difficult. Beaver's Northwest has much more experience getting permits. They also have MUCH more experience installing lake levelers that stand the test of time. Several of the concerns or beliefs King County had seemed to be based on misinformation or lack of experience. Our own water table history and work with lake levelers demonstrates even smaller versions can be successful. This is an excellent proof of concept in our own data. Much work needs to be done with King county to educate them on our experience and what can be successful.
Its clear, after talking with Chris, we MUST have a professional solution that can convince the skeptics that it could be successful. We MUST be successful. If we try to do a home grown solution, they will likely say no. If they take a chance and say yes and we have problems it will prove to them that it won't work. We must have a plan that is effective at convincing the parties we CAN be successful and we need to BE successful and we need to show them clearly and keep a record for the future..
I spoke with Elyssa Kerr at Beaver's northwest about the concerns. They do have a record of success with lake levelers. They use a 12" pipe and a very big cage so the beavers are not able to plug them with mud. We talked extensivly through the concerns that were raised talking to Chris. She will work on reaching out to various people to resolve concerns and to see if we can get the permits we need. We will need to earmark some money to pay them for their permit work regardless of whether it goes through or not.