Brownfields Update for the Pacific Northwest

When we think of projects funded with Brownfield targeted funds, we often picture a site redevelopment such as an old industrial area turned into an office park or a mill site transformed into a shopping and entertainment area. This month’s Idaho news item highlights the creative use of Brownfield funds to assist with a natural resource restoration project. The story shows how Brownfields assessments provided by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality have been an integral part of the design and implementation of the Teton Creek Restoration Project plan.

Teton Creek is part of the Upper Teton Watershed that straddles the border between Idaho and Wyoming. A portion of Teton Creek near Driggs, Idaho was badly destabilized over a 20-year period by human alterations that have increased the threat of flooding and property damage. From around 1983 to 2004, a developer had illegally dredged the creek and filled in other areas, reshaping the creek claiming this would protect development in the area from flooding. In the early 1990s, the Army Corps of Engineers prosecuted the developer for violation of the Clean Water Act and put an end to the creek’s modifications.

However, the modifications to the creek has caused stream banks to fail, upstream streambed to collapse and started a domino effect of erosion that continues to advance upstream. The migrating erosion has compromised fish habitat, water quality, riparian vegetation and the creek channel’s ability to dissipate flood energy. The threat of flooding along the damaged one-mile section of the creek has actually increased due to the deepening and straightening of the channel by the developer.

In 2006, a group of Teton Creek stakeholders including landowners, developers and government agencies, approached the Friends of Teton River (FTR) with their concerns. The FTR was formed in 2000 as a research group to study fisheries in the Upper Teton Watershed. By 2005 the FTR had expanded its mission to include restoration work on streams and rivers of the Watershed. The FTR responded to the stakeholders’ request for assistance by forming a committee to collaboratively assess, stabilize and restore the sections of Teton Creek damaged by the developer. The FTR has since spearheaded the regionally and nationally-recognized $2.5 million restoration project and has garnered a broad base of community, state and federal support.

Brownfields restoration became part of the story when planners became concerned about the proximity of a closed county landfill to the section of the creek being restored and whether restoration efforts would disturb the landfill’s contents. Another pressing issue was the possibility of t leachate or other contamination being released into the creek as it eroded into the landfill.  The landfill and the complications it presented became the number one priority for the FTR.

After an inquiry by the executive director of the FTR about possible Brownfields funding, the DEQ agreed to assist the efforts in the form of Site Specific Assessments funded through the agency’s Brownfields Assessment Program. The Phase I site assessment led to Phase II that included excavations to evaluate the aerial extent, thickness and content of the landfill debris, and collection and analysis of environmental samples. Monitoring wells were installed to determine groundwater flow.

The findings of the assessments supported the design of the restoration plan. DEQ remained involved throughout the project’s planning phase, helping   experts design a plan that would allow the restoration to be implemented without disturbing the landfill.  The result was avoidance of costly remediation of the landfill.

Phase One of the Teton Creek restoration began in the fall of 2009 as FTR worked with consultants, engineers, the Idaho DEQ and other governmental agencies. Fieldwork completed to date includes the construction of a stable channel; bank stabilization; fish habitat creation; and floodplain stabilization with native plants. The total project is expected to involve several phases and will progress, as funds are available.

For more information about this project, contact:

Aaron Scheff
Brownfields Program Manager
Idaho Department of Environmental Quality
208-373-0420
aaron.scheff@deq.idaho.gov