What's Happening
Pierce County has made the Habitat and Flood Capacity Creation Project (HFCCP) inactive because permitting was more complex than anticipated. To learn more about the project history, study activities, closeout and lessons learned, see the final report and the report appendix.
About the Project
Mount Rainier provides the Puyallup, White and Carbon rivers with an extraordinary and constant supply of sediment. This sediment contributes to frequent flooding that can threaten public safety, property and infrastructure.
Pierce County is committed to flood risk reduction strategies that reduce flood damage and benefit the environment. The HFCCP was fact-finding in nature. The county wanted to learn whether targeted sediment removal could be an appropriate tool to reduce flood risk in specific circumstances and improve degraded habitat.
County staff worked on early versions of the HFCCP in 2011. The team wrapped up technical reports, permit applications, and a detailed cost-benefit analysis in 2018. This work showed cost efficiencies and benefits were not high enough to continue funding the project.
Design of this project took the recommendation from the county flood plan and incorporated habitat creation in the project area. The criteria for project site selection included areas with little-to-no habitat due to restricted movement of the Puyallup River. In addition to the HFCCP Final Report, you can also review
a site-selection overview that details the process for identifying a preferred reach for implementing a sediment removal pilot project.
Project Goal
Is sediment removal an effective method for localized flood hazard risk reduction during moderate flood events in the Puyallup River basin, and can a sediment removal project be designed to measurably improve habitat and reduce flood risk at the same time?
Additional Questions
Pierce County staff is available to provide presentations about lessons learned during this work. Please contact
Angela Angove.