Mega-Dam Threatens the
Chehalis River
June 2025 Update
A proposal to dam the Chehalis River in Southwest Washington was made in 2020. You may have since viewed Chehalis: A Watershed Moment by Shane Anderson, produced by Pacific Rivers a few years ago.
Unfortunately, the proposal still exists today. It’s a serious threat, and technical analyses conducted since have found that the benefits of the dam are a lot less than originally understood. At the time of this writing, there is a pending budget request by the Office of the Chehalis Basin for flood mitigation funding.The intentions for this funding include many significant elements towards non-dam alternatives and habitat restoration. Those include many worthwhile and cost-effective measures such as raising homes and habitat improvements. But by far the most expensive element of all the funding (the draft budget is a total of $70,029,000) is the Flood Retention Expandable (FRE) dam.
Unfortunately, the proposal still exists today. It’s a serious threat, and technical analyses conducted since have found that the benefits of the dam are a lot less than originally understood. At the time of this writing, there is a pending budget request by the Office of the Chehalis Basin for flood mitigation funding.The intentions for this funding include many significant elements towards non-dam alternatives and habitat restoration. Those include many worthwhile and cost-effective measures such as raising homes and habitat improvements. But by far the most expensive element of all the funding (the draft budget is a total of $70,029,000) is the Flood Retention Expandable (FRE) dam.
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Images depicting initial dam model and the new, enlarged alignment.
The FRE construction concept is 45% wider than the original dam proposal. It is being planned to provide an option for increasing the size of the dam again in the future. The enormous costs of installing a dam will have lackluster benefits: the project, if constructed, is estimated to lower the 100-year flood waters in the Twin Cities of Chehalis and Centralia by just 1.5 feet, and only protect 25% of buildings that are at-risk; at a cost of over $600 million. Surely there is a better way.
Photo by Nick Basaraba.
The Chehalis is one of the last remaining undeveloped rivers in SW Washington and is critical habitat for many species, including spring Chinook salmon. To consider this type of structure when salmon populations are at less than half of their historical numbers – with Chehalis spring Chinook currently being considered to be listed as Endangered – is irresponsible. Our work to oppose the dam, alongside Chehalis River Alliance partners, is not yet over.
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It is our understanding that the true costs to be borne on the environment, landowners, local tribes, and municipalities are not included in the anticipated costs of the FRE, and will have real, long-term consequences. Bigger is not better when it comes to environmental impacts of dams. Despite attempts for design improvements, this option would still have severely damaging environmental effects (habitat loss, flow and sediment interruptions, clear cutting, water temperature increases) that are not able to be fully mitigated - even based on the Flood Control District’s own management planning models. This dam is being billed as novel and a first of its kind, but that can also be described as untested.
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Photos by Nick Basaraba.
