Emergency Flood Recovery

On December 10, 2025, a devastating flood altered the Stehekin River’s course, destroying a protective levee and redirecting the river channel through private property and over the former roadway. This change has left approximately a quarter of the community isolated, impacting critical access for families and schoolchildren, and posing ongoing risks to safety, infrastructure, and property. Stehekin Heritage calls for the Department of the Interior and Army Corps of Engineers to approve immediate action to restore safe access, protect residents, and prevent further harm.

Public Meeting February 10th

On February 10, 2026 members of the Stehekin community met with Brad Hawkins (Chelan County Commissioner), Mike Kaputa (Chelan County Natural Resources director), and Mike Morrison (Chelan County Sheriff) at the Stehekin School. Although staff of our federal elected leaders and governor were expected to come, they were not able to due to a new protocol concerning elected officials being in contact with federal agency staff.

While the meeting was happening, staff from the Corps of Engineers, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, National Park Service, Washington Emergency Management and independent river consultants were spending time out in the field surveying the flood damage and considering solutions.

During the community meeting, Mike Kaputa gave an update of the County’s efforts to organize coordination between agencies and encourage a timely response. Details of timeline and specific ideas could not be shared by Mike Kaputa on behalf of other agencies, but said we could expect some kind of news early in the week of February 16. The County’s efforts to get all of the agencies involved to Stehekin at the same time was a major undertaking and many people expressed thanks for that.

Community members expressed frustration at the slow progress, lack of communication and the lack of NPS administration presence at the meeting. The community was advised to continue efforts writing letters and emails to federal and state officials, Department of Interior, and Chelan County Commissioners.

The town of Stehekin has grown around the Stehekin River. The river has changed its course over the years, flooded periodically, and been contained from time to time with dikes and other remediation. The town’s very existence is now under threat.

Our analysis is that over the decades, migration of debris downriver – observed by state and county authorities but never addressed – created a channel ripe for this event.

The situation is now, as noted above, emergent. The river has a flow of about 1200 CFS at present. We anticipate at least 3000 CFS in spring runoff, around March 15. Unless immediate action is taken there is no question: the banks will give way and immense devastation will ensue.

Rivers change their course from year to year, cutting channels where they will. Our proposal is essentially to revert to a prior channel, with minimal if any effect downstream, protecting existing homes and allowing Stehekin to continue serving as one of the rarest and most beautiful places in the United States.

Our proposal is simple, but must be commenced immediately. Stage One involves barging in earth-moving equipment and large rocks – “riprap” – from Chelan. A bar in the river will be shifted by local operators so as to reinforce the north and south banks, and create a more central channel. Riprap will dissipate the river’s energy and buttress the banks at important areas. This “Stage One” is intended to prevent even greater devastation that is otherwise certain to occur in the spring runoff.

Stage Two, which can take place in succeeding months, will involve reinforcement of banks in critical locations, with more riprap brought up from Chelan.

Our goal is preserve and protect the natural beauty of Stehekin while fostering the continuity of life for Stehekin’s residents and homeowners. We ask your help in coordinating any regulatory requirements from the various county, state and federal agencies having jurisdiction of the waterways, roads, fisheries and funding.

Immediate Action Required:

We hope the NPS will initiate immediate action, as it has the primary responsibility for maintaining Company Creek Road. We also hope that elected officials will support these efforts.

Time is short; the work ahead is formidable. Stehekin Heritage appreciates your support for emergency action in Stehekin.

1) Contact Representative Schrier and her aide, Ruby Gaston

2) Contact the Dept. of the Interior

Both need to hear your request for immediate assistance to begin emergency work in Stehekin.

Please write a letter and make a call.

Legislative Contact

Unsure what to write? Here are some of the letters written by the Stehekin Community

Letters to Representative Schrier

Dear Representative Schrier,

I am a resident of Stehekin Valley, and my family and I are one of the families that were stranded at our property for a couple weeks after the flood that occurred in mid December, we still have approximately a half mile walk to get around the washed out part of the road. I know that you have been briefed on the situation here in Stehekin, so I won’t bore you with another recap. I am writing to give you a quick snapshot of what this current situation does to my family, our property and potentially our way of life. My wife and I live with our 6 children (ages 8-17) on 2.2 acres of property that was part of homestead begun by my great grandfather over 110 years ago. We have chosen to live a very simple life, raising a lot of our own food right here on our property, with big gardens, chickens, pigs and even a milk cow. Because of the way we have chosen to live, we can live comfortably with a fairly low cost of living. It has been mentioned, I believe in a meeting today or yesterday, that maybe the simplest, easiest fix of the Stehekin flood is for private residents to sell property to the National Park Service and move. This is a near impossibility for my family and me. This is our home. My kids are the 6th generation of my family to live in Stehekin, the 5th generation to live on this property. This is more than just a piece of property, it is a part of who we are. We have taken a sterile piece of unused ground on the edge of the old family homestead and turned it into a thriving fertile piece of, to us, paradise. I imagine that if someone hasn’t been as fortunate as I have been to have a place like this to call home, then it doesn’t make sense how attached I am to this little part of the world. If someone hasn’t experienced that, then I don’t know how to explain what it means to me. It’s where I want to watch my kids and grandkids grow up. It’s where I want to die. There is no monetary value that can be put on what this means to me, and to my family. As I have mentioned we are still needing to walk approximately ½ mile around the washed out part of the Stehekin road. We do this almost every week day. My wife works at the Stehekin school. So every school day her and my kids are out the door at 7:10 to walk the route we have made through the woods to get down to the vehicle we have on the other side of the wash out. Any supplies or groceries that we need, we are backpacking in. We are not going anywhere at night because of the logistics of getting young kids home through the dark woods. All of this though is just a minor inconvenience compared to what will happen this spring if action is not taken to control the Stehekin river. If no action is taken, the river will completely strand us for up to 4 months. The route that we have through the woods will be completely inundated with swift water. The only route out will be a much longer hike. Instead of a 15 minute walk it will turn into an hour and a half hike. School will become impossible for my kids. Getting to work for me will be limited to just absolutely essential days. Worse though will be what happens to the neighbors property downstream of us. Many of our friends and neighbors properties barely survived the flood this fall. With spring run off traditionally being much longer than fall floods, the destruction of private property is almost assured. I am asking you for your assistance in making sure this doesn’t happen! I urge you to please use your influence to pressure the NPS and the Army Corp of Engineers to issue emergency permits. We need to move fast! The estimates for how long the work will take to restore the river channel are approximately one month of work. The spring run off generally begins by the end of March. We need to be able to start work no later than the middle of February! Thank you for your time, and I do appreciate the efforts you have already put into this situation. I know there are many other important issues facing our county, state and country. Stehekin is very unique. There may be only 60-80 year round residents, but we are what keeps Stehekin running. And Stehekin is a destination for almost 50,000 visitors a year, from all over the country or even the world! With out the work that needs to be done being completed, Stehekin will not be able to flourish, and will eventually cease to exist. I know that no one wants that!

Sincerely, Jake Courtney

Dear Representative Schrier and Staff,

Thank you for your continued engagement on flooding impacts across Washington
State and for your stated willingness to help identify solutions in Stehekin. I recognize
that many communities are experiencing significant loss right now, and I appreciate the
difficult task of balancing urgent needs across the district.

My name is Mistaya Johnston. I was raised in Stehekin and returned after 15 years
away to purchase and operate a family business, Stehekin Valley Ranch. My husband
and I are raising our three young boys here, and our family is deeply invested in
Stehekin’s future.

I am writing following today’s (1/27/26) meeting with Chelan County regarding the
current flooding in Stehekin. We are eager to work collaboratively toward solutions that
protect both the community and public resources.

At this moment, the most urgent need is restoring the river to its original channel before
spring runoff. If this does not occur, Company Creek residents will be completely
isolated, potentially for months. Returning the river to its channel is the necessary first
step before any road or levee repairs can be completed.

Further acquisition of flooded private property by the NPS would significantly weaken an
already limited private land base and is not a sustainable solution for Stehekin. The
NPS has also stated publicly that deferred maintenance should be prioritized over
additional land acquisition.

Decades of deferred action—despite recommendations from hydrologists and the Corps
of Engineers regarding cobble removal—have brought us to a critical point. We are now
facing imminent and preventable losses.

We respectfully ask for your assistance in facilitating immediate action, either by
directing the National Park Service to act promptly or by enabling Chelan County or the
Corps of Engineers to proceed with cobble removal within the next 50 days.

Thank you for your time and for your willingness to engage on this urgent issue. We
look forward to working together to protect Stehekin as a safe, accessible, and
sustainable community.

Sincerely,
Mistaya Johnston
Stehekin, Washington

Hello Representative Shrier,

I know you have been inundated with communications from the Stehekin community regarding the flooding situation, but I am writing in hopes that the urgency of necessary immediate action can be further conveyed.

I am a resident on Upper Company Creek Road and have not had vehicle access to my home since the first flooding event on December 10th. We were without power for a month, but the PUD was amazing and outfitted us with an emergency ground transformer. I am very thankful for their willingness to take action.

On December 19, our community rallied with Christmas treats and a fundraiser to send a helicopter loaded with provisions, including livestock feed, to us while we were trapped up here. I am very grateful for our resourceful neighbors, because without them, their hard work, and the heavy equipment that fortunately survived the flood, we would still be bushwhacking up the side of a snowy, icy mountain and around the new water pathways to backpack our food in. With an excavator, and a loader, the residents have constructed a makeshift log walking path over the water, which allows us now to hike out a half mile to our cars, providing us with a way to get our children to school, hike out our trash, and haul our groceries in. This temporary pathway does not, however, allow for any of us to leave in the dark in the event of a medical emergency.

Daily, we are diligently keeping our eyes on the weather, in hopes that the temperature doesn’t rise and more importantly, that it doesn’t rain. If either of these things happen, Company Creek Road, and the 20 households that live on it, will once again be isolated.

As you are aware, the National Park Service is responsible for the maintenance of Company Creek Road. The upper road in front of our property has been underwater for 50 days now. The lack of any action to remove deposited cobble and redirect the river to its historic channel is showing blatant disregard and has become disturbingly irresponsible to the people who live here, including hard working Park Service employees.

Thank you for attending the zoom meeting with Chelan County. I noticed that “impending flooding when spring melt happens” was mentioned a few times. Everyone on Company Creek road will very certainly be stranded again when that happens. But please note, that without immediate removal of deposited sediment, we face that threat beforehand with warmer temperatures or precipitation.

I am entreating you, as our representative, to push for the emergency permits necessary to take action immediately, while the weather is allowing.

Thank you,

Mandy Kitchell

Dear Representative Schrier,
I am writing to you regarding the flooding situation in Stehekin, Washington in response to your
comments in the meeting with Chelan County this morning 1/27/26.
First, suggesting the National Park Service purchase the property now being flooded should not be
even considered. Stehekin has already lost several hundred acres of private property to the NPS,
and we cannot sustain as a community with any less. The NPS has declared on their own website
that they should direct funds to deferred maintenance and away from acquiring more property.
Secondly, the urgent task at hand is to restore the river to its original channel before the spring runoff.
If this does not happen, the Company Creek residents will be completely isolated, likely for months.
Only after the river is returned to its channel can the road and levee be repaired. This is the
responsibility of the National Park Service according to their own policies set forth in the 1995
General Management Plan.
Over the past 36 years, the National Park Service has ignored recommendations from hydrologists
and the Corps of Engineers to remove cobble from the river, and has not maintained the levee as
they should, so they are largely responsible for our current problem. They cannot be allowed to
delay action. The loss of property that will occur if something is not done immediately to return the
river to its channel will be astronomical.
We desperately need your help to require immediate action by the NPS, or allow another agency
such as Chelan County and Corps of Engineers to take charge of removing the cobble in the river in
the next 50 days. We are facing imminent loss of property without your help.
Sincerely,

Patty Wilsey
Stehekin, Washington

Dear Rep. Schrier,

We are David and Jeannetta Kurth. Our home of 33 years has been Stehekin. Our
location in the valley is right next to where Battalion Creek flows under Company Creek
Road. With the failure of the Company Creek Road levee a mile upriver of us, a
significant portion of the Stehekin River now flows into Battalion Creek causing it to
overflow down our spur road (Wood Road) and onto our property. Since December 11
when the levee was completely destroyed, we have had high water around our
dwellings and inside our out buildings. One storage building is now completely
destroyed and the water runs through it still. We have lost access to our property
without having to wade through running water as the road is completely destroyed
getting into it.

This is entirely the result of the National Park Services failing to maintain the levee.
They have had ample warning from the many past several flood events that this levee
needed to be improved or replaced, particularly the high water events of 2021 and
2023. Since 2023, the past two years the Stehekin River has been at historically low
levels and it would have been the perfect time to do the work. They have refused to
even discuss it. The levee is not the only problem, however. The level of the river bed
has been increasing substantially with every flood event resulting in a lower threshold
for the river to flood. There is substantial documentation of this fact. The river bed
needs to be lowered back to safe and historic levels.

When our property and the road next to it is impassable to us, it cuts off access to
around 20 other properties up valley from us. Among those properties are several
families with school children who cannot now safely attend school. It also requires that
supplies be helicoptered in. Several of the adults in that area are also employed with
the ferry companies, the Post Office, and the National Park Service and their ability to
get to work is also no longer safely done. Wading through two or three feet of water to
get to high ground, over a road surface that continues to deteriorate and wash away is
not safe, sustainable or reasonable.

Please advocate for this community! It has been over a month since the original
December 11 event. Time is of the essence!! Immediate action must be taken to
rebuild the levee and Company Creek road as close to its original position as possible.
By immediate we mean NOW while we are at a relatively low river level. The next
rainfall predicted in the next week will exacerbate the situation for all involved. There is
no time for “assessments” and EIS studies. There are local Stehekin businesses who
have the capacity to get the work done. They must be allowed to do it immediately and
get paid for their services. There is no time to get bids and go through government red
tape. Just get it done.

All photos are from the day of the original event, Dec 11, except the toppled shed after
the second rise in the river on Dec 15, which caused more damage than Dec 11.

Sincerely,

David and Jeannetta Kurth

Other Letters

Good morning Acting Superintendent Globakar,

Thank you for your continued communication with us, I am writing in reply to yesterday’s email.

Distinction Between Emergency Action and Long-Term Solutions

The difference between an emergency action and a comprehensive solution appears to be overlooked by the National Park Service (NPS). While it is understood that permits and interagency cooperation are necessary for addressing long-term challenges, the immediate emergency must be treated with urgency. The complexity and length of the interagency permitting process make it impossible to resolve the issue in a timely manner. Therefore, emergency powers must be exercised, as they have been in the past when NPS infrastructure was threatened. Historical examples include emergency work conducted in both Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks following the 2003 flood event.

Concerns Over Delays and Potential Impacts

Delays in authorizing Chelan County to proceed with emergency work could be interpreted as an attempt by the NPS to expand its land holdings by allowing the river to destroy two neighborhoods along the Company Creek area, or at the very least, coercing residents into selling due to hardship caused by inaction.

Role of Fish, Wildlife, and Ecology Agencies

Involving all relevant fish, wildlife, and ecology agencies should be straightforward. For the next three months, every aquatic organism in the affected area has been destroyed—bugs have been suffocated beneath twelve feet of densely packed fill or crushed by moving gravel, and fish eggs and year-round fish have been eliminated. Existing data can confirm these facts without the need for a new study.

Call to Action

Immediate action is needed. The NPS should lead by authorizing and signing off on the emergency work, allowing Chelan County to carry out the necessary interventions.

John Wilsey

January 20, 2025

Doug Burgum, Secretary

United States Department of the Interior

1849 C Street N.W.

Washington D.C 20240

Dear Secretary Burgum,

The Lake Chelan Recreation Area in Washington State experienced the second highest flood on record on December 10, 2025. The Stehekin River breached a levee destroying the road providing access to private residents. Approximately 25% of our small community has no suitable access to their property.

As a result of this flood and previous floods leading up to it, the road now floods at what were average river levels. If the river is not returned to its original channel, the spring runoff will completely isolate the affected residents, likely for months. Only after the river is returned to its channel can the road and levee be repaired. This is the responsibility of the National Park Service according to their own policies set forth in the 1995 General Management Plan.

The NPS has not been encouraging in their ability to move quickly as is needed, so we desperately need your help to either require immediate action by the NPS, or allow another agency such as Chelan County and Corps of Engineers to remove the cobble in river and repair the road and levee.

Without your help, we are facing the loss of property as soon as the river level comes up in the spring, 60 days away.

Sincerely,

John and Patty Wilsey