The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants to build an ecosystem restoration project near Nursery Bridge in Milton-Freewater. To get the project approved, it needs a local sponsor maintain the structure. Normally, that sponsor would be the Milton-Freewater Water Control District – but the district has said no.

“Our board of directors, when I presented this, voted 5-0 not to co-sponsor,”?said George Gillette, chairman of the water control district. “We just felt that was a truly inappropriate way of spending taxpayers’ money.”

In April, the Army Corps proudly announced receiving stimulus dollars – some of which went toward building an “ecosystem rehabilitation project” on the Walla Walla River.

Since the corps built the fish ladder on the north side of Nursery Bridge in 2003 the river has washed out much of the bank and the channel shifted, keeping salmon and other fish from reaching the ladder. The new project installs boulders, called rock weirs, in a stair-like fashion across the bottom of the river, leading fish and water back to the ladder.

One of the problems the water control district has with this project is that corps is not going to make any repairs to the damaged levee system in the same area.

“We felt if money was going to be put in that river to enhance things it needed to repair those structures,” Gillette said.

The Corps of Engineers said it sees the ecosystem restoration project and the levee problem as two totally different issues.

“The way we approach levees throughout the entire country is the same,” said corps spokesman Joe Saxon. “We build the system and then we turn it over to local authorities to maintain it. The maintenance is a local issue.”

At the same time, Stan Heller, project manager for the ecosystem restoration, said the new project will likely strengthen the levees. Each of the stair-steps will run bank-to-bank across the river, which will add stability as each step is tied together.

“We cannot make it any weaker,” Heller said. “… It’s not the restoration project’s purpose to rebuild the levee up to 100 percent strength, but having it there is better than not having it there.”

But Gillette said if or when the water district gets enough money to repair its levee, this new project will become another obstacle.

“We’ll have to take out what they’ve done to make our repairs,”?Gillette said. “In our opinion, it was squandering money.”

Both the corps and Gillette said the water control district doesn’t have the budget to pay for upkeep of the new structure. Gillette said next year’s budget is about $24,000 and the district is strapped just trying to keep up with current repairs, not to mention the district’s inability to fix the big problems on the levee system.

“We’re struggling to take care of maintenance and to take on more does not make sense at all,”?Gillette said.

For now, Saxon and Heller described the corps as being in a “holding pattern.” It can’t move on with the project until it has a sponsor.

Heller said he doesn’t have to worry about the money going away. If it takes too long and the project doesn’t get the stimulus money, it now qualifies for other funding. The corps recently sent out letters to local organizations asking for a sponsor to volunteer.

Despite this conflict, Heller, Saxon and Gillette all agree the water district and the corps still have a working relationship.

“We have to be compatible because they are basically the people we have to go to and they are the people who oversee what’s going on,”?Gillette said. “Anytime we do anything on the levee we have to get their blessing.”