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Harbor log docks. In 1911, the Port of Grays Harbor was organized for the 

 purpose of dredging, filling, and wharf construction. The increasing sire of 

 log-export vessels forced successive deepening of the navigation channel from 

 Westport to CoBmopolis in 1923, the late 1940s, 1973, and 1990. The moBt 

 important historical effect of dredging has been filling of wetlands, 

 particularly in the vicinity of the Cow Point (Figure 2) (GHRPC 1992). 



Landfills in the Grays Harbor tidelands created much of downtown Aberdeen and 

 Hoguiam, and removed extensive rearing habitat for chum, chinook, and coho 

 salmon. Dredged material, along with Bawdust ahd bark from sawmills, was used 

 to fill the tidelands. Wetland filling is now regulated by tbe DS1CZ and has 

 been substantially reduced. However, the full range of other environmental 

 effects of dredging and of dredged material disposal hae only been addressed 

 in the two most recent navigation channel widening and deepening episodes, 

 particularly the current one. The most recent harbor deepening, soon to be 

 completed, is the first to have extensive environmental evaluation built into 

 the project (Ging 1988). 



Daas and Diversions 



Besides the splash dams described above, other relatively small dams and 

 diversions have been constructed in the Basin over the years (USDA et al. 

 1974; GHRPC 1992) for municipal and industrial use. A few of these dams have 

 blocked access to upstream spawning and rearing habitat (Phinney et aj . 1975). 

 The incremental effect of numerous withdrawals in some streams has seriously 

 reduced flow, reducing spawning and rearing habitat and exacerbating poor 

 water quality (Fraser 1986). 



The Skookumchuck and Wynoochee Reservoirs are by far the two largest dams in 

 the Chehalis Basin. The Skookumchuck was finished in 1970, and the agreed- 

 upon fishery mitigation was fully in place shortly thereafter (Hiss et al. 

 1982). The Wynoochee Dam was completed in 1974. Unlike the Skookumchuck, the 

 Wynoochee mitigation is yet to be completely agreed upon (for example, see 

 Riley 1992). 



Industrial Waste Disposal 



Water quality in Crays Harbor is intimately linked to pulp production. Since 

 its inception in the late 1920s, pulp production appears to have depressed 

 fish survival and created conditions popularly known as the "pollution block" 

 (WDF 1971). At least until very recently, the pollution block limited the 

 effectiveness of potential improvements in habitat and hatchery production 

 throughout the Chehalis system. However, successive changes to mill waste 

 treatment and pulp-making processes have led to stepwise estuarine water 

 quality improvements near the mills. Research in the 1940s identified lack of 

 dissolved oxygen in the inner Harbor as the prime suspect (Eriksen and 

 Townsend 1940). When pollution was controlled enough to restore sufficient 

 oxygen for fish in the inner Harbor, fish survival still appeared poor, and 

 investigators attempted to identify toxic substances that waste treatment 

 failed to remove. The most recent evaluation of fish survival (Schroder and 

 Fresh 1992) suggests toxicity from unidentified substances as recently as 



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