Two years after flood event, bids let to fix berm

WORLAND – A project that started two years ago is now starting to see progress thanks to several partnerships and a federal grant. The Washakie County Conservation District (WCCD) is the lead agency on the Paxton Berm project to repair the berm along the Big Horn River behind Big Horn Co-op and Paxton Automotive.

Two flood events in 2017 created damage to the Paxton Berm on the north side of the Big Horn River on the south side of U.S. Highway 20 - the ice jam flooding in February and then the high river levels due to snowmelt runoff in July when snowpack was 200 to 300 percent above average.

Victoria Dietz, WCCD executive director said in August, then Washakie County Emergency Management/Homeland Security Director Jeff Schweighart alerted the district about cracks in the berm.

Through funding from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Emergency Watershed Protection Program, the Washakie County Conservation District was able to help the City of Worland cover an exposed sewer line in the river, due to the same flood events. They again looked to the NRCS for funding to help shore up the berm.

The application, which required congressional approval, was made in August 2017 and in October 2017, Dietz wrote a letter to the Wyoming congressional delegation outlining the project. Dietz wrote that, "Due to the volume of the high water releases from Boysen Reservoir, and the extended time in which the released volume and flows remained high, the banks on the Big Horn River became saturated, causing them to not only scour, but to also slough off.

"The Paxton Berm, located along the Big Horn River in Worland, has received extensive damage. Presently the destabilized berm continues to slough, and the fear is that a reoccurring ice jam ... or a repeat of last year's flooding, will cause the berm to fail and extensive flooding will occur."

The berm provides flood protection for five businesses - Big Horn Redi-Mix, Paxton Automotive and Big Horn Cooperatives' farm and ranch, tire and gas station/convenience stores. The damage runs about 1,200 feet along the berm and at this time does not reach as far east as Big Horn Redi-Mix, Dietz said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) administers the Emergency Watershed Protection Program, which consists of two options: EWP Program – Recovery and EWP – Floodplain Easement (FPE). Recovery is for imminent threat, such as the exposed sewer line. The EWP-Floodplain Easement is for privately-owned lands or lands owned by local and state governments may be eligible for participation in EWP-FPE. To be eligible, lands must meet one of the following criteria:

•Lands that have been damaged by flooding at least once within the previous calendar year or have been subject to flood damage at least twice within the previous 10 years

•Other lands within the floodplain are eligible, provided the lands would contribute to the restoration of the flood storage and flow, provide for control of erosion, or that would improve the practical management of the floodplain easement

•Lands that would be inundated or adversely impacted as a result of a dam breach.

In January 2018, she was contacted by Sen. John Barrasso's Sheridan office that the bill for the funding of the Emergency Watershed Protection program projects was in a House committee making its way through the process.

Included in that bill were funding requests for communities devastated by Hurricanes Harvey, Marie and Irma, with additional projects specifically for Wyoming Emergency Watershed Protection backlogged waiting on funding. The Washakie County project was not on the backlog list. Dietz said there was not a lot of hope that they would be able to receive funding.

Then in April 2018, the NRCS was notified that funding for the project had been approved.

The WCCD received a 75-25 match from the NRCS program. The NRCS would fund $803,000 and the landowners or conservation district would fund $236,000. Dietz said typically as a sponsor of the grant they pass on the percentage match to the landowners, in this case Big Horn Cooperative and Mel Weinschrott.

The match for the two landowners was going to be an issue, Dietz said, and then "the most exciting part of the project" occurred as the Wyoming Department of Transportation, who had collected rock in Wind River Canyon when boulder fell, was able to allow the conservation district to use the rock for the project.

The value of the rock, at just over $300,000, could be used for the match.

NRCS paid for the design of the project, with Nelson Engineering out of Jackson completing the work.

The rock has been hauled from the WYDOT Bird's Eye pit to store across from Big Horn Co-op. Nowood Construction has been hired to sort and haul the 5,800 tons of rock, with grant funding used for the hauling.

Once the rock was obtained, it wasn't as easy as just to start hauling Dietz said, they had to ensure the rock was stable enough to be used for a berm, that it would not erode or disintegrate in the water. The canyon rock, the non-colored rock, was the perfect rock after it was sampled. She noted any colored rock cannot be used.

Dietz said the grant from NRCS will and is being used for construction costs that will occur this summer, as well as the screening, loading, and hauling of the rock which is being done right now.

The old berm, constructed in the 1960s, according to Dietz's research, used old car body parts and they will not be removed. She said removing the car bodies would further damage the integrity of the berm. Loose parts will be removed and any that need trimmed back will be cut off, she said.

The engineers also had to consider how to repair the berm without changing the Big Horn River levels, either making it deeper or shallower.

A cultural study by NRCS also had to be conducted and during the study there was one area of specific interest that may have been the site of the old Worland Ferry. Dietz said it was determined that the remnants they looked at were not old enough for the time period of the Worland Ferry.

The WCCD began advertising bids for the Paxton Berm project two weeks ago with a prebid and site tour meeting later this month. A review committee of three WCCD board members, a representative from Nelson Engineering and a representative from NRCS will review the bids and bid award is anticipated by June 7.

Work on the project should begin in August, Dietz said, noting they need to complete the project while the river is at lower elevations. She said Washakie County has also been a partner on the project and will be the liaison with the Bureau of Reclamation should they need to request a decrease in flows from Boysen Reservoir, much like was requested when the sediment bar near Riverside Rotary Park was removed from the river in the fall 2017.