The Dungeness River is set to roam free again, at least for another 2,600 feet.

Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal staff revealed Sept. 14 on a trip with the Dungeness River Management Team that three homes were demolished on Serenity Lane, about 2.5 miles from U.S. Highway 101 off River Road, for its Riparian Restoration Project.

Two of three homes were being rented and one in particular at 131 Serenity Lane was being threatened by the river’s current. Prior to demolition, the renters were moved to comparable housing in early March.

Robert Knapp, Jamestown habitat restoration planner, said this portion of the project conserves about 27 acres and about 2,600 feet of the river.

“At 100 feet wide, it’s one of the narrowest parts of the Dungeness,” he said.

Knapp said the river flowed in the early 1990s between two armored dikes/levees about 100 feet apart near the end of Serenity Lane.

“Now there is about 1,000 feet of room for the river to migrate and flood without risk to houses,” he said. “Healthy rivers need room to flood and meander.”

Eventually, the property will be opened to the public for fishing, dependent on the season’s guidelines, but no facilities will be on site as part of conditions in place by the state, Knapp said.

A public opening date hasn’t been set yet but it could by next spring or sooner, he said.

The purchase of 20 acres is part of an ongoing effort to restore salmon habitat in the floodplain. The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe purchased the acreage from a Seattle family for $1,218,000 using the state’s Salmon Recovery Funding Board grants and just over $204,000 in matching funds.

Tribal staff said the project benefits Endangered Species Act-listed chinook salmon, bull trout, summer chum salmon and steelhead fish species along with coho, pink and fall chum salmon.

Knapp said Jamestown Excavating pulled out about 50 tons of contaminated soil and garbage from the properties including a neighboring site the tribe doesn’t own.

He said burn pits that were formerly in front of the home had remnants of burned treated wood and high amounts of arsenic.

Asbestos also was found in the homes, Knapp said.

Two of the three homes were mobile homes but were not in good enough shape to move and reuse,” he said.

Former renters like Matt McWilliams at 131 Serenity Lane fought the river cutting into his backyard by placing logs and debris in the water and by channeling the current elsewhere. However, his porch dangled over water at one point.

As part of the agreement to leave the home, McWilliams sought comparable housing through Epic Land Solutions, a contractor for the tribe, to rent or buy similar homes. McWilliams wanted to relocate by water and/or a forested area.

The tribe offered to pay a portion of rent or on a mortgage within a certain geographical area for those displaced.

Storms flooded the area last year and nearly took the river’s current into McWilliams’ home in December and continued to encroach on the property a few months later.

In similar situations, Knapp said a home was damaged by the river and later demolished in the winter of 1996-1997 and a home on Kinkade Road washed into the river in January 2002.

The tribe has made an offer on 21 Serenity Lane and is waiting to hear back, Knapp said, and another offer for a property further south along the river was turned down.

Sarah Doyle, stewardship coordinator for the North Olympic Salmon Coalition, said on a Saturday in January or February they’ll set a day to place native plants on the site.

To RSVP, email outreach@nosc.org and more details will be provided in the coming months.

Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.