ATTN: NPS Superintendent Danika Globokar, NPS Project Manager
RE: Formal Notice of Consultation with Legal Counsel and Preservation of All Rights Regarding December 2025 Flood Damage, Company Creek Levee Failure, and Related Infrastructure in Stehekin
Dear Superintendent Globokar and Project Manager,
The Stehekin Heritage Foundation writes on behalf of its members and the Stehekin community to provide formal notice that we have retained and are actively consulting with legal counsel regarding the National Park Service’s handling of the catastrophic flooding in December 2025 and its ongoing impacts.
The flood on December 10th, 2025 resulted in the failure and destruction of the approximately 400-foot Company Creek levee (maintained under NPS responsibility) and roughly 1,000 linear feet of Company Creek Road. The river shifted into the previous road alignment, cutting off vehicle access to a large portion of the community and threatening approximately 15–20 private homes and properties.
The Stehekin Heritage board promptly presented a plan (Stehekin River Emergency Restoration) to return the river to its previous channel within the river corridor and return the road to its previous alignment. The plan was presented to state staffers, the county, and NPS personnel. The plan presented a cost effective, efficient approach but has been consistently ignored by the NPS for months. March 15, 2026 was given as the deadline for when the work needed to be completed to avoid further damage from spring runoff. No work was done to alleviate the ongoing endangerment of life and loss of private property. A secondary flooding event March 20th, 2026 caused further damage and allowed the river to migrate even more across the previous roadway and through private property. Now, even when the river is not at flood stage, a large portion of it is flowing through private property and the roadway down valley.
These impacts directly affect the Stehekin community’s safety, access and livelihoods. More than half of Stehekin’s school aged children cannot get to school due to unsafe access. An elderly disabled veteran has not been able to get to his home for months. Employees who work on the Stehekin Ferry (as essential service needed to keep the valley going) have to hike an hour or cross through dangerous, rushing waters just to get to work. It is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or killed due to these conditions. Additionally, people’s property and homes continue to be at risk.
The Stehekin community has long relied on specific federal commitments for road maintenance and erosion protection, including the 1973 court stipulation obligating road maintenance for the benefit of abutting property owners, the 1995 Record of Decision for the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area (which directed maintenance of Company Creek Road in its existing alignment and authorized river manipulation/erosion protection to safeguard public roads), and related planning documents such as the 2013 River Corridor Plan.
We believe that the NPS’s lack of maintenance of the levee, delayed response and planning after the December 2025 flood, and approach to recovery may have breached these obligations and contributed to foreseeable harm.
This letter serves as formal notice that the Stehekin Heritage Foundation and its members are consulting legal counsel and are actively evaluating all available legal remedies. We reserve all rights and remedies under law, including but not limited to claims related to property damage, access rights, and failure to fulfill maintenance and protection duties. This notice does not constitute a waiver of any claims, defenses, or rights, all of which are expressly preserved.
We request an immediate solution utilizing the personnel, material and equipment that is already in place to restore the road in its previous alignment and return the river to its previous channel within the river corridor. All of the proposed alignments that we have been presented by the NPS, including the “A+ alignment,” will result in continued loss of private property and endangerment of life. At minimum, the alignment should stick to the original road right-of-way past private property and be constructed in a manner durable enough to withstand all future foreseeable flooding without letting the water through to the private property below, and should continue down valley far enough to prevent the river from coming back into the old road.
Respectfully,
The Stehekin Heritage Board
PO Box 1, Stehekin, WA 98852
stehekinheritage1@gmail.com
