OLYMPIA — Responsibility for the enormous project to return Capitol Lake to an estuary has been transferred to the Department of Ecology. The Washington State Legislature included the decision in the budget passed earlier this year, and Ecology officially took over July 1.

The barge that was seen floating around Capitol Lake in May was the last time folks should see people working on the lake this year. Ecology’s Southwest Region Director Bobbak Talebi told The Olympian that field work included collecting information to inform the design of the future 5th Avenue bridge foundation.

According to a newsletter from the Deschutes Estuary Restoration Team, Ecology has been meeting with staff from the Department of Enterprise Services, which had been the lead agency on the project, to better un

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