In the years after the flood, the Gregory family had a 10-foot high farm pad constructed on their property to park livestock and valuable tractor equipment in preparation for the next “big one.” Standing atop the unkempt, gated structure, Gregory said he hasn’t had to use it much since its construction.
“This would have been the closest (to 2007) and the elevation, it wasn’t even close,” Gregory said of the January flooding in the Chehalis River Basin.
But for many of the two dozen or so farm pads — also known as critter pads — that were built in the Chehalis Basin following the 2007 flood, last month’s flooding served as the first real test to see how the structures could reduce the loss of livestock and valuable items, said Kelly Verd, special projects coordinator with the Lewis County Conservation District.
So far, according to feedback, the pads appear to be working.