PORT ANGELES — Clallam County has received a state grant for a fish passage project on McDonald Creek.
The $295,219 grant amendment with the state Department of Ecology will improve stream conditions and fish passage at the Agnew Irrigation District outtake just upstream from U.S. Highway 101, county officials said.
No county match is required.
Commissioners Mike Chapman and Mark Ozias voted Tuesday to approve the amendment.
Commissioner Bill Peach was absent because he was serving with the state Board of Natural Resources in Olympia. Peach did not object when the grant was discussed in an Oct. 24 work session.
“No problems,” Peach said at that meeting. “I would approve it.”
The effort to improve fish passage at the 5-foot-high irrigation diversion dam is part of a broader, now-$1.8 million project to restore the lower Dungeness River floodplain and McDonald Creek between Port Angeles and Sequim.
The diversion dam has a small and “intermittently functioning” fish and water bypass, an irrigation canal and fish screen, Ecology officials said.
“Collectively, this configuration has caused the stream to down-cut and become heavily armored with cobbles, boulders and riprap migrating from the dam and degrading on-site habitat conditions,” Ecology officials said in a project summary.
“The proposed solution for McDonald Creek is to maintain Agnew Irrigation District’s ability to continue diverting irrigation water from McDonald Creek while improving fish passage and habitat conditions on site.”
Meanwhile, commissioners closed their business meeting Tuesday with a moment of silence for former Port Angeles City Councilman and Deputy Mayor Don Perry, who died Oct. 24 at the age 71.
Perry, who served on the council from 2007 to 2011, founded the Port Angeles Underground and Heritage Tour in 2000 and was credited with saving the underground and a part of Port Angeles history.
A celebration of Perry’s life will be held at noon Saturday at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St. in Port Angeles.
“Don will be missed,” said Chapman, a longtime Clallam County commissioner.
“He was a good friend of the board of commissioners over the years, and a good friend of the city of Port Angeles and the city of Port Angeles underground.
“Thoughts and prayers go to Don and his family,” Chapman said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.
