(1) The legislature finds that:
(a) The May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens has caused serious economic and physical damage to the land surrounding the mountain;
(b) There are continuing siltation problems which could severely affect the Toutle, Cowlitz, Coweeman, and Columbia rivers areas;
(c) There is an immediate need for sites for dredging, dredge spoils, flood control works, sediment retention, and bank protection and funds for dredging, dredge sites, dredge spoils sites, flood control works, sediment retention sites, and bank protection and to continue the rehabilitation of the areas affected by the natural disaster; and
(d) Failure to dredge and dike along the rivers and failure to cooperate with the federal government in sediment retention would directly affect the lives and property of the forty-five thousand residents in the Cowlitz and Toutle River valleys with severe negative impacts on local, state, and national transportation systems, public utilities, public and private property, and the Columbia river which is one of the major navigation channels for worldwide commerce.