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SMALL TOWI, I PAPERS
217 ~I COTA ST ~.C~
SHEI3"ON, WA 98584-'~t~63
March 29, 2012
Voice of Mason County since 1886 --
Published for MaSon
County and Mike Sprouffske of Shelton-- $1
un
in
Limeric
Authorities
say it is boy's
missing father
By KEVAN MOORE
kevan@masoncounty.com
Police recovered the body
of Shelton resident Sheldon
W. Olsen, 39, from Lake
Limerick at about 4:45 p.m.
on Saturday.
Olsen went missing dur-
ing a canoe trip in the lake
in the evening of March 17
at around 6:48 p.m. The
body of his son, Jace, was
recovered
later that
evening.
The father
and son
had em-
barked on
a canoe
trip in the
lake that
Sheldon e v e n i n g
and wit-
Olsen nesses told
deputies
the two were seen on the-:
lake offshore from the club-
: house as late as 6:13 p.m.
The alarm was sounded lat-
er when the canoe was spot-
ted on the lake empty.
The body of Olsen was
recovered from Lake Lim-
erick, on the same day as
his son's memorial, after a
weeklong effort by the Ma-
son County Search and Res-
cue Volunteer Dive Team in
partnership with the Squax-
in Island Tribal Police Dive
Team. Olsen was located
approximately 150 feet from
shore in 14 feet of water..
Divers conducting search
patterns visually located O1-
sen and recovered his body
from the lake.
Mason County Sheriffs
Office deputies organized
a search immediately after
being called on March 17,
utilizing one of the depart-
ment's three boats and div-
ers. Sheriffs deputies found
2-year-old Jace's body at
about 9:20 p.m. Deputies
suspended the searches af-
ter a 2½-day effort. Then,
after reviewing the search
and analyzing data from the
search, deputies resumed
See Found on page A-8
No room
at the inn
WCC, county
jail running over
their capacities
By KEVAN MOORE
kevan(~nasoncounty.com
The Washington State
Department of Corrections
has gotten a lot of media
attention this week regard-
ing overcrowding, especially
when it comes to Washing-
ton Corrections Center here
in Shelton.
See Crowding on page A-8
sllll!!!l!!ll!U!l!l!l1112
Draft comprehensive plan amendment possible
By NATALIE JOHNSON hard to draft an update for a por-
nataHe@n~asoncounty.com tion of its comprehensive plan
......................................... that outlines economic develop-
ment strategies.
After four years of recession, "We've just got a bad economy
the City of Shelton is working and we need to do something and
we're kind of on our own," City rather than commuting to Thur-
Administrator Dave O'Leary said. ston or Kitsap counties.
"Cities are our economic engines "The number one break that
and they need to facilitate com- we've gotten is the new develop-
merce." ment that hopefully will be hap-
The draft update to the com- pening with the Shelton Hills
prehensive plan includes goals to (property)," Mayor Gary Cronce
create new jobs in Mason County-
and to keep people working here, See Economy on page A-7
Journal photo by Kevan Moore
Three-year-old Wyatt Dean was more than willing to ham it up for the camera while enjoying the tire swing at
Kneeland Park on Tuesday. Young Mr. Dean and many others have taken the chance to enjoy bursts of intermittent
sunshine in recent days. For further evidence that spring has sprung, please turn to page B-8.
uses
uary
More than "200 pieces of woody
debris placed to create habitat
By NATALIE JOHNSON
natalie',ii~masoncounty.com
The Skokomish Tribe, in partnership with
the Mason Congervation District, used a
helicopter to place more than 200 pieces of
large woody debris at the Skokomish Estu-
ary last Monday.
The project is intended to restore habitat
in the estuary, said Shannon Kirby, habitat
biologist for the Skokomish Tribe.
"Basically what we're trying to do is recre-
ate the conditions that were there in 1938,"
she said.
After 1938, the Nalley Island Dikes
changed the landscape in the Skokomish Es-
tuary. In 2007 the tribe implemented Phase
1 of its project to restore the estuary. This
phase included 130 acres on the western side
of the estuary.
"That consisted of removing the perim-
eter dikes and putting in a boardwalk that
extends along Tacoma Power's lines," said
Skokomish Tribe Habitat Manager Alex
Gouley.
In 2010, the tribe began implementing
Phase 2 of the project, which includes 215
acres of the estuary.
In this phase, contractors removed the re-
mainder of the dikes, roads and culverts and
dug ditches to help channel water through
the estuary.
Gouley said the tribe hadn't originally
planned on including the addition of large
woody debris in Phase 2.
"We had some funding left over because
the bids came in low,,' he said.
The project was funded by a Salmon Re-
covery Fund Board grant which also fund-
ed Phase 1 and 2 of the dike removal proj-
Courtesy photo
The Skokomish Tribe, in partnership
with the Mason Conservation
District, used helicopters to drop
more than 200 pieces of large woody
debris into the Skokomish Estuary
last Monday to recreate fish habitat
that hasn't existed since before the
Nalley Island Dikes were complete in
1938.
ect, Kirby said.
Phase 1 cost about $1.5 million and
Phase 2 cost about $2.3 million.
Before dams and dikes changed the land-
scape of the Skokomish Estuary, high water
flow would cause trees to fall into the river,
which created areas for salmon to rest, feed
and spawn. Without the large, woody debris,
these places don't exist.
"The primary benefit was to create fish
habitat," Kirby said.
Placing the woody debris in the estuary
expedites the restoration ~process by helping
create channels and capture sediment, and
creates habitat for salmon and other fish,
she said.
"We're tryirig to recreate what historic
conditions were there," Kirby said.
Helicopters worked throughout the day
Monday placing root balls and logs around
the estuary.
"It was really cool to see," Kirby said.
The wood for the project was donated
by Brady's Trucking and the Ridge Motor-
sports Park and moved by Columbia Heli-
copters.
Both Phase 1 and 2, and the introduction
of the woody debris will help reintroduce the
tidal processes and flooding of the estuary,
Gouley said.
While this will improve fish habitat, it
will also help restore the salt flats that used
to make up the estuary.
"When Nalley diked the farm that salt~
marsh plane slowly subsided and changed
into mud flat. It (the salt marsh) slowly sub-
sided over time because there was no flood-
ing," he said. "Through accretion the salt
flats will build up again."
In some places, the land is five or six feet
lower in elevation than it was before the salt
flats eroded, Gouley said.
A portion of the Skokomish Estuary along
State Route 106 was never diked, and gives
the tribe a valuable picture of what the rest
of the land once looked like, Gouley said.
"We have a reference," he said. "Getting
natural debris to settle in the floodplain by
removing the dike, that will help with the
revegetation process. It is kind of an experi-
ment but we knew it was the natural pro-
cess."