Aspect's Mark Swank and Bodie McCosby Presenting at AEG's Annual Meeting

Aspect’s Infrastructure team will be at the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists (AEG) 65th Annual Meeting this month in Las Vegas. Associate Engineering Geologist Mark Swank, CEG, LEG, and Staff Geologist J. Bodie McCosby, GIT, will present as part of the Dams and Levees Technical Symposium on Thursday, September 15.

Bodie’s talk, “Eightmile Lake Restoration Project - Characterization of a Landslide Dam,” chronicles his and Aspect’s ongoing geologic and seismic studies to modernize the dam infrastructure at the remote Eightmile Lake dam, which was built on an ancient landslide in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area of the Cascades.

Drill rig at the remote Eightmile Lake site

Mark’s presentation, “River’s Edge – The Story of a Levee Setback and Restoration Project,” is on Aspect’s recent project for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe to build a new levee setback and restore natural river processes along the Lower Dungeness River near Sequim. Earlier this year, the River’s Edge Levee Setback Project won in the Geotechnical category of the Seattle Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Local Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Awards.

Aerial view of the new levee setback – photo courtesy of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe

Mark will also moderate the “Wild Problems, Unique Solutions, and Lessons Learned” panel on Friday, September 16.

Removing Barriers to Fish Passage at Icicle Creek

Like many of Washington’s waterways, Icicle Creek in Chelan County is the site of several projects with the goal of helping salmon and other fish make their way upstream to spawn. Many of the projects involve constructing structures, like a habitat-friendly culvert or a fish ladder, to balance fish passage with the many other needs and uses for the river. But a project sponsored by Trout Unlimited is focused on removing barriers—in this case, large boulders in the creek that stand in the fish’s way. Once the boulders are removed, fish will have access to another 26 miles of habitat.

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This project is one of a suite of projects the recently released Icicle Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) recommends in the Preferred Alternative to implement the Icicle Strategy, an $82 million dollar effort to ensure a sustainable water supply and water resources for people, farms, and fish in the Wenatchee Basin through 2050. Aspect has been the technical and facilitation lead on this project since 2012. Our work includes serving the Icicle Work Group—a group of approximately 30 stakeholders from local, state, and federal governments, Tribes, irrigation districts, farmers, and non-profit groups that created the Icicle Strategy; developing the PEIS; and leading technical evaluation of proposed projects across the basin that may improve water resource management and increase instream flow during critical flow periods.

Senior Geotechnical Engineer Nick Szot, PE, and Senior Engineering Geologist Mark Swank, LEG, are supporting Trout Unlimited’s goals for the Icicle Creek project by developing alternatives for fish passage and relocation of a 16-inch-diameter watermain that brings water to the City of Leavenworth. They have also provided considerations for protecting creek bank slope stability during construction, which is expected to start in summer 2020.  Learn more about the project in this recent article in the Wenatchee World.