More money might result in more projects to replace culverts that block migrating salmon in Washington state but would not cut the time it takes to make each fix, a transportation official testified Monday.
Paul J. Wagner, environmental services biology branch manager in the state Transportation Department, testified Monday in U.S. District Court that the estimated number of state highway-related problem culverts has grown from 350 in 1994, when the first survey was completed, to 1,800 when the latest estimate was completed in 2007.
The difference reflects the addition of rivers, creeks and streams with steeper slopes to the estimates, Wagner told Judge Ricardo S. Martinez. The first survey covered only those with gradients up to 7 degrees while the latest goes up to 20 degrees.
Subtracting about 200 fixes that have been made since the state's culvert program began in 1991 and culverts that would be of little benefit to repair or replace, about 800 remain on the to-do list, he said.
In a trial that began last Tuesday, 19 Native American tribes are asking Martinez to order a drastic speedup in replacing culverts that block salmon from potential spawning grounds and their offspring from the ocean.
The case is a spinoff of 29 years of litigation over tribal fishing rights based on mid-19th century treaties. State lawyers argue that a culvert speedup would give short shrift to other vital efforts, including habitat restoration, hatcheries, harvest controls and changes in hydroelectric dam operations.
Regardless of funding, it takes at least four years from scoping – determining which actions, effects and concerns will be addressed in a project – to improve or replace a culvert to meet fish passage requirements, Wagner said.
More money won't speed up that process, he added, "We'll just be able to do more projects at the same time."
John C. Sledd, a lawyer for nine of the tribes, suggested that fixing culverts would benefit salmon more than other efforts.
"Our goal is to correct priority salmon barriers," Wagner replied. "We hope that would increase salmon production. We don't have a way to determine" how that work compares in effectiveness with other approaches.
