PEAC Rocks the Boat to Halt the Dock

Does the Willamette River and its critical habitat really need another dock for yachts?

On behalf of the Northwest Environmental Defense Center (NEDC), PEAC is challenging the US Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) and National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) approval of a new dock on the Willamette River.

The City of Lake Oswego applied for permission to build the dock, which is specifically designed for “non-trailerable boats” (what most people would call yachts), and wants to install it on the river, only a few hundred feet from the mouth of Tryon Creek. Both Tryon Creek and this stretch of the Willamette River are designated critical habitat for threatened salmonids.

Check out the City's boat dock concept drawing, developed by the Oregon State Marine Board.

Summer 2008

PEAC filed its initial complaint challenging the dock’s approval in August of 2008 in the federal district court in Portland. One claim in that complaint noted that the Biological Opinion regarding the dock completely failed to address impacts on salmonid critical habitat. Apparently the defendants, the Corps and NMFS, agreed, and they withdrew that BiOp and the permit for the dock. However, only 10 weeks later, they issued a new BiOp and a new permit. Clearly someone thinks that Lake Oswego’s “critical” need for a yacht dock is more important than salmonid critical habitat.

Read a related press articles from the Portland Tribune, The Oregonian, and Lake Oswego Review

Winter 2009

After reviewing the new BiOp, Environmental assessment and Permit, PEAC attorneys Tom Buchele and Dan Rohlf, and PEAC students Mark Billingsley and Ryan Couch, concluded that the Corps and NMFS were still ignoring evidence of significant adverse impacts on threatened salmonids and their critical habitat.

In January 2009, PEAC filed a supplemental complaint on behalf of NEDC challenging the reissued permit. Among its many flaws, the decision authorizing the dock completely ignores nearby Tryon Creek. PEAC’s offices are only a few hundred yards from Tryon Creek, where many Lewis & Clark students have participated in efforts to restore the creek and the surrounding state park. Recently fish surveys in the creek have confirmed that juvenile steelhead and coho and Chinook salmon have returned to this restored habitat. Ironically, NFMS, which has cooperated with these restoration efforts, did not feel it was necessary to even mention Tryon Creek in its BiOp regarding the proposed dock. That dock however would provide habitat for predatory fish very close to the mouth of Tryon Creek and would increase boat traffic in the area.

Spring 2009

On March 6, 2009, PEAC submitted its motion for summary judgment and opening brief challenging the renewed yacht dock permit. Ryan and Mark spent a great deal of time combing the administrative record for evidence in support of NEDC’s claims and did a great job drafting sections of PEAC’s brief.

What's Next?

PEAC will receive the defendants’ response in early April and will submit a reply a few weeks later. Oral arguments will likely take place in May or early June, and we expect a decision from the Court before work on installing the dock is authorized to begin in July 2009.