Edna Fund selected to chair Flood Control Zone District advisory board

Former Lewis County Commissioner Edna Fund has been selected to chair the Advisory Committee for the Chehalis River Basin Flood Control Zone District.

Fund, who served two terms as a county commissioner, will replace the late John Henricksen, who passed away in May. Fund served as a board member of the Office of Chehalis Basin (OCB) and vice chair of the Chehalis Basin Flood Authority.

Fund will step down from the OCB board and will be replaced by Lewis County Commissioner Scott Brummer.

“To have Edna continue her work for flood protection by chairing the advisory committee is a great benefit to this work,” District Administrator and County Manager Ryan Barrett said in a statement Wednesday.

In a statement announcing the moves, Fund said the proposed water retention facility on the Chehalis River would bring “significant flood level reduction all down the Chehalis River, including to the communities of Montesano and even as far downriver as Cosmopolis.”

In the statement, Fund said the proposed structure would help alleviate the risk of severe flooding throughout the Chehalis Basin, offering an additional layer of protection to schools, businesses, I-5 and other “valuable infrastructure.”

“The work that has been done in the last two years by the Flood Zone District to address concerns with environmental and fish impacts is remarkable,” Fund said in the statement. “The district is committed to building this flood protection with no net loss of fish habitat.”

The OCB, which is studying the project, receives roughly $70 million in state funding each biennium. The funds are evenly split between flood prevention and wildlife restoration.

As proposed, the dam would only retain water during severe flooding events and is projected to prevent flooding at more than 1,200 properties. Preliminary estimates for the project, which would be constructed near Pe Ell, suggested the price tag could range between $475 million and $675 million.