June 16, 2015

Work completed at Entiat Park on Columbia River

Photos courtesy of J.A. Brennan Associates [enlarge]

The revamped 30-acre park has camping, a boat launch, trails, swimming beach and picnic areas.

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Chelan County Public Utility District recently completed redevelopment of Entiat Park along the banks of the Columbia River in the city of Entiat.

The $7.3 million project cost also includes the one-third-of-a-mile Entiatqua Trail that connects the park to the Entiat River.

J.A. Brennan Associates led the park design, which included providing landscape architecture and construction support. Hurst Construction was the contractor.

The design team included Arai Jackson Ellison Murakami and Rolluda Architects, architecture; Pacific Engineering, civil engineering; Nelson Geotechnical Associates, geotechnical engineering; HV Engineering, mechanical engineering; and Z Engineering, electrical engineering. The project manager was Courtney Hill with Chelan County PUD.

Hill said the PUD agreed as part of the relicensing of Rocky Reach Dam to make improvements to the park, which is operated and maintained by the city of Entiat.

The revamped 30-acre park has tent and recreational vehicle camping, a boat launch and a hand-carry boat launch, multi-use shoreline trails, swimming beach, dock, picnic areas, restrooms with showers, a playground and day-use areas.

Formerly Entiat Park was designed primarily for RV camping, but it now also has 26 new walk-in tent sites, including a group site. Each site has a barbecue grill, fire ring and picnic table.

J.A. Brennan said the park landscape blends vegetation types, ranging from open lawns with shade trees, to lush, riparian shoreline to open shrub-steppe rolling hills.

Interpretive panels tell the story of old Entiat, which was flooded with the construction of the Rocky Reach Dam. Fragments of that history, such as a wall and steps along old Main Street, are adjacent to the shoreline. A sculpture by Smoker Marchand, a Colville tribal artist, is a focal point at the park.