PORT ANGELES — Dan Morrison has fenced off 1.44 acres of wetland near his sprint boat track and is proceeding as planned with the U.S. Sprint Boat Association race Saturday, he said this week.
According to feedback he’s getting about the race, which will be at his Extreme Sports Park at 2917 Edgewood Drive, “I’m thinking we’re going to have probably 12,000 people there,” Morrison estimated.
The 4-acre track that he and his wife, Kelie, began operating in 2011 drew 8,000 to 10,000 spectators in mid-September to the initial race of sprint boats, which are small, quick-turning, two-person powerboats that can reach speeds of 80 mph.
The race course, 3 feet deep and 15 feet wide, is filled year-round with 500,000 to 750,000 gallons of water, Morrison said Tuesday.
It’s also next to an approximately 10-acre wetland, 1.44 acres of which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said April 27 should not have been filled by Morrison during excavation for the track, access roads and a utility line.
The Corps’ Seattle office subsequently issued a stop-work order for work in the wetland.
Morrison visited the Corps’ Seattle office July 31 to discuss options for fixing the problem, Corps officials and Morrison said this week.
“They just wanted us to know this is the situation, and we’ve got to deal with the situation,” Morrison said.
“I felt like we are going to be able to get through this thing, that’s all. Any of these deals are process, and you’ve got to deal with them.”
In an earlier interview, Morrison said the toe of the track’s slope encroached “in a couple of places” onto the wetland.
The meeting July 31 was held in the Seattle office of Pam Sanguinetti, a biologist and Corps project manager handling what the Corps said was a “knowing and willful violation” of federal law.
“We discussed what his understanding of the violation was,” she said Tuesday.
“We talked about what the procedures would be and talked about some possible ways he could resolve the violation.”
The Corps will send a letter to Morrison summarizing the 90-minute meeting “in the very near future” and possibly by Friday, Sanguinetti said.
“Then he will reply to that on what he would like to do, and the Corps will take a look and see if it’s something we accept.”
The letter Morrison receives will include a timeline for resolving the violation, Corps spokeswoman Patricia Graesser said.
Morrison’s options include restoring the wetland, applying for an after-the-fact permit or paying a penalty, she said.
The Corps “does not make a decision as to whether he can go ahead with his event,” Sanguinetti said.
“That’s his decision to make. We just tell him he is not to continue violating.”
She said a settlement agreement between the Corps and the Morrisons might include restoration or removing the fill.
During certain times of the year, the wetland looks like the surrounding tall grass, and Morrison said in an earlier interview that it sits in the middle of an agricultural area.
That’s not unusual, Sanguinetti said.
“When it gets into the dry times of year, especially, it’s not unusual to see areas in agricultural open areas like that where it’s wet for the majority of the year, but during the dry time of the year, you don’t see water,” she said.
“If you dig, the water table is there.”
Hydric, or saturated, soil forms only in wetlands and, unlike other soil, lacks oxygen.
“That soil can’t lie to us,” Sanguinetti said.
It’s often darker than surrounding soil and supports vegetation unique to wetlands, she added.
The wetland on the Morrisons’ property contains water, hydric soils, “and we actually have the vegetation,” Sanguinetti said.
“Someone standing on the ground might not be able to see it unless they’re trained,” she added.
Water that forms wetlands moves through the ground and feeds rivers, Sanguinetti added.
“If you change wetlands and pond them, it can cause rivers to go dry, and it reduces water flows and quality.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
