Teade DeVries Agrees to Restore Lake Osoyoos Shorelines

Under a settlement agreement with the Washington state Department of Ecology, a family trust from Canada has agreed to restore a shoreline and wetland on Lake Osoyoos in Okanogan County.

In winter 2013, the Teade DeVries Family Trust from Langley, British Columbia, installed without authorization a 500-foot-long bulkhead and filled in a wetland on a 1.3-acre parcel of lakeshore property.

As part of the settlement, the trust will remove the bulkhead and fill material, and restore the shoreline and wetlands.

“Bulkheads also encourage erosion in the lakebed because the energy that causes shore erosion gets redirected,” said Dale Bambrick, NOAA-Fisheries Columbia Basin Branch chief in Ellensburg. “As the lakebed erodes, water levels in the nearshore deepen, allowing larger predatory fish to pursue juvenile fish up to the water’s edge.”

Ecology permit specialist, Andrea Jedel, said: “By agreeing to restore the environment where the construction occurred, the Teade DeVries Family Trust is demonstrating their commitment to protect our shoreline resources.”

The trust has 90 days to acquire the necessary permits and approvals and nine months to develop a restoration plan to begin the shoreline and wetland restoration work.