We’ve been featured by WorkBoat for our ongoing rehabilitation work at Spirit Lake near Mount St. Helens. The multi-year U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project focuses on rebuilding critical outlet infrastructure designed to help prevent downstream flooding while preserving one of the Pacific Northwest’s most unique environments.
Now entering the third of four construction seasons, our team will be working on the outlet system rehabilitation.
From the Article
“One of the project’s biggest logistical challenges has been access. The work site is only reachable through a three-and-a-half mile temporary access road built along steep switchback logging terrain. Due to environmental restrictions and seasonal snowpack, crews have only about four months each year to work.
“The only way to really work that job and take advantage of the four months is to set up a camp up there,” Burch said.
AAC partnered with Tapani Inc., Battle Ground, Wash., to construct and maintain the temporary roadway and crossings needed to support the project. Under permit requirements, the temporary infrastructure must be removed and the area restored at the end of every season before crews rebuild the access system the following year.
“At the end of every four-month work window, we’re required to basically put everything back the way it was,” Burch said. “Then, when we come back eight months later, we have to put it all back in again. We have to do that four times.”
