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Ringangleclaw
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PostWed May 09, 2018 4:18 pm 
RandyHiker wrote:
You are correct about the author name -- now go read the book
I did, about fifteen years ago.

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JVesquire
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PostWed May 09, 2018 10:49 pm 
Eightmile Dam overflowing but breach not imminent, official says by Pete O'Cain LEAVENWORTH — Concerns of a potential breach at the Eightmile Dam appear to be overstated, according to Chelan County Emergency Management. Icicle and Peshastin Irrigation District manager Tony Jantzer said Wednesday that there’s about three feet of water going over the top of the earthen section of the 85-year-old Enchantment Lakes dam. The rising levels is attributed to snowmelt. “If the lake raises three more feet we will likely issue evacuation notices at this point, and the lake is currently still rising,” Jantzer told KPQ news. He added, “We assume that if the water gets deeper than three more feet in there that, you know, the potential for it to fail is extremely high at that point.” But Sgt. Kent Sisson with Emergency Management said it’s not as bad as it seems. “Yeah, there is water coming over the earthen portion, but that is somewhat routine this time of year,” Sisson said. Sisson was in talks with officials from the Dam Safety Office of the state Department of Ecology. “Nobody is saying this is going to be an imminent breach at this point,” he said. He added that before Emergency Management would issue evacuation notices they’d need to see significant failure of the dam, something they haven’t seen yet. Sisson estimates there are about a dozen homes that would be threatened if the dam were to breach, though that figure isn’t an exact count. Jantzer could not be reached for comment. Sisson said irrigation district workers are headed to the dam Thursday to install monitoring devices that would give warning of any overflow or failure. The district has been working to install the devices since last month. Contributing the rising levels is a clogged drain pipe. Sisson said a drain that normally releases water at 50 cubic feet per second is only letting out 4 or 5 cubic feet per second. Sisson said officials want to fly an excavator via helicopter to the dam and then remove the obstruction. A public meeting regarding the dam is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at Chelan County Fire District 3 at 228 Chumstick Highway in Leavenworth. Pete O’Cain: 664-7152 ocain@wenatcheeworld.com

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Token Civilian
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PostMon May 14, 2018 10:20 am 
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Ringangleclaw
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PostMon May 14, 2018 11:07 am 
RandyHiker wrote:
Guns, Germs and Steel Thesis: If you follow the line of thinking that peoples of European origin had no business moving into the Americas and displacing the prior human inhabitants -- then modern humans should have stayed in Africa -- since Europe and Asia were already populated by Neanderthal peoples.
I don't think that was the authors thesis, maybe it's yours. But in my opinion the book non-judgementally observes why some societies expanded and some failed and shrunk. And he does this largerly by looking at geography, environment and the culture and politics of those societies. How that has anything to do with the defered maintainence of the 8-mile dam is beyond me.

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CC
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PostTue May 15, 2018 12:19 pm 
Token Civilian wrote:
http://komonews.com/news/local/flood-waters-threaten-old-dam-near-leavenworth-residents-told-to-prepare-to-evacuate
Emergency, emergency, everyone to get from street!! Jantzer is pushing this for all its worth; namely $1.5M from state/FEMA for a new dam. The earthen portion of the dam eroded so long ago nobody knows when it happened. It overflows there every spring. Like I said, present overflow level is only a couple feet above natural level of lake, so even if it erodes down to that level it's not like it will be the Johnstown Flood. It survived the 2006 and 2015 floods, and who knows how many before that. It's very unlikely it's going to blow from snow melt, burn area not withstanding. As a temporary measure they have helicoptered in an excavator in to build up the eroded part which is a great idea: putting more pressure on the old dam by increasing the level of the lake should really help.

First your legs go, then you lose your reflexes, then you lose your friends. Willy Pep
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Randito
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PostTue May 15, 2018 6:07 pm 
Ringangleclaw wrote:
RandyHiker wrote:
Guns, Germs and Steel Thesis: If you follow the line of thinking that peoples of European origin had no business moving into the Americas and displacing the prior human inhabitants -- then modern humans should have stayed in Africa -- since Europe and Asia were already populated by Neanderthal peoples.
I don't think that was the authors thesis, maybe it's yours. But in my opinion the book non-judgementally observes why some societies expanded and some failed and shrunk. And he does this largerly by looking at geography, environment and the culture and politics of those societies. How that has anything to do with the defered maintainence of the 8-mile dam is beyond me.
It is certainly not the author's thesis, however a number of posters on this thread have expressed ideas that the PNW should not have dams for irrigation and agriculture and other changes to the environment brought by people of European descent moving into the region and displacing the peoples whose ancestors walked into the region millennia ago. The fantasy nature of such ideas I think is illustrated by Guns, Germs and Steel.

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Ski
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PostTue May 15, 2018 9:07 pm 
RandyHiker wrote:
"...the PNW should not have dams for irrigation and agriculture..."
Eastern Washington would be a barren wasteland without the dams. It's unfortunate that they didn't think ahead and provide for fish passage. The Norwegians made the same mistake - that's why "aquaculture" is such a big industry over there. After reading through this entire thread, I really have to wonder if some people on this forum have any grasp at all of how many agricultural dollars get exported from the east side of the state. Back to the issue about free unrestricted flow on the Columbia and fish and native Americans: those anadromous runs didn't last year-round. There were a couple brief windows when the runs came upstream and were harvested. The rest of the time those people were hunter-gatherers.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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Randito
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PostTue May 15, 2018 9:56 pm 
Ski wrote:
The rest of the time those people were hunter-gatherers
I think that first nation peoples along the Columbia depending mostly on salmon for protein year round. There were large drying racks for making salmon jerky to preserve it for year round usage.

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Ski
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PostTue May 15, 2018 10:25 pm 
^ all of the northwest tribes dried it (or smoked it.) but that diet was supplemented in the "off-season" with wild game, berries, nuts, roots, and tubers (depending upon local availability.) it was not as though fresh fish was in abundant supply year-round, which one of the comments above alluded to.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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HitTheTrail
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PostWed May 16, 2018 6:17 am 
This is the headline in today's paper: Dam officials hope to quell threat of breach by Pete O'Cain May 15, 2018, 5:28 p.m. LEAVENWORTH — Officials from a half dozen agencies fielded questions Monday evening from a room of residents concerned — and in many cases, angry — about the potential for the Eightmile Dam to breach and flood homes along Icicle Creek. The Icicle and Peshastin Irrigation District declared an emergency at the Enchantment Lakes dam in March fearing high runoff. The 2017 Jack Creek Fire burned areas above Eightmile Lake, resulting in increased runoff in the upper watershed of about 20 to 25 percent, said district manager Tony Jantzer. The concrete and earthen dam was overflowing last week and there Jantzer worried that the dam might break. To mitigate the problem, the irrigation district retained Anchor QEA, an engineer consulting firm specializing in waterfronts, to develop a short-term plan to prevent a breach. The first phase will be to remove a free-standing section of the dam wall to enlarge the spillway from around 30 feet to 100 feet, and then hardening the earthen portion of the dam. They hope to have it done this week. “We’ll be able to handle safely like four times as much water,” Jantzer said. They’re also looking to add sensors to the dam that would allow officials to monitor water levels in the lake. In phase two, crews would install a 24-inch pipe and create a temporary siphon to draw Eightmile Lake down. The lower the lake is the better chance it has to capture the runoff and the less likely it is to cause a dam breach, explained Dave Rice with Anchor QEA. The current drain pipe is clogged, only releasing about four or five cubic feet of water per second, said Sgt. Kent Sisson with Chelan County Emergency Management. Unclogged that figure is over 50. Jantzer said they can’t unplug it until the lake draws lower. Phase three would be to make the temporary siphon more usable and creating a more permanent solution over the coming months. “We feel that when we get done with phase three we’ll be able to end this declared emergency and that this situation will be stabilized and that we’ll all be safe,” Jantzer said. Earlier this week, notices were distributed to about 50 homes in the Icicle Creek area. In the event of a breach, alerts will be pushed out to cell phones within a certain range and all landline phones in the affected area, said Rich Magnussen with Emergency Management. Officials will go door-to-door as well, but time will be limited. Sisson said it’d take about 45 minutes for a wave of water to reach the first homes along Icicle Creek. In a worst case scenario, Joe Witczak, a dam and well manager with the state Department of Ecology, estimated Icicle Creek would rise about 10 feet. Pete O’Cain: 664-7152 ocain@wenatcheeworld.com Reach Pete O'Cain at 509-664-7152 or ocain@wenatcheeworld.com. Follow him on Twitter at @PeterOCain.

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sooperfly
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PostWed May 16, 2018 8:22 am 
Thanks for the posting, HTT. Here's an interview with Keith Goehner.

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Ski
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PostWed May 16, 2018 8:47 am 
Pete O'Cain wrote:
"...the potential for the Eightmile Dam to breach and flood homes along Icicle Creek."
Maybe this is a stupid question, but did the people who built those homes along a moving body of water believe there was no possibility that body of water might at some point in the future flood? SRSLY?

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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HitTheTrail
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PostWed May 16, 2018 6:43 pm 
My Son-in-law just told me he did a training run from Leavenworth to the Stuart Lake TH yesterday and saw around 50 cars at the 8-Mile TH and very few at the Stuart TH. I am sure some of them were people on official business but he said it appeared lots of hikers are are going up to check out the flood. Wooza! He also said the 4th of July trail is snow free to the top now.

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sooperfly
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PostSat May 19, 2018 6:52 am 
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Matt Lemke
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Matt Lemke
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PostSun May 20, 2018 2:52 am 
NacMacFeegle wrote:
The unsustainable growth of our population is a problem
I completely agree with this sentiment...will you join me in killing ourselves to help with this issue? embarassedlaugh.gif Like somebody famous once said: "The best way to help save the planet is to kill yourself"

The Pacific coast to the Great Plains = my playground!!! SummitPost Profile See my website at: http://www.lemkeclimbs.com
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