Accomplishments: Green-Duwamish Urban Waters Location

2022

May

Green-Duwamish Watershed (WA) — The Green-Duwamish Urban Waters Federal Partnership is excited to announce the formal integration of our UWFP work with the Puget Sound Partnership (PSP). PSP will join EPA and founding lead partners the USDA Forest Service PNW Research Station and Forest Service Region 6 Urban and Community Forestry as the Core Team guiding the Green-Duwamish UWFP. PSP is a Washington State agency charged with leading the recovery and protection of the Puget Sound and its contributing watersheds. This lead agency role has been designated under state legislation, EPA's National Estuary Program, and Endangered Species Act Salmon Recovery efforts. New funding by both EPA and PSP adds support to the UWFP Ambassador in the Green-Duwamish Watershed. The Ambassador’s additional work involves enhancing and connecting community groups in the Green-Duwamish to the goals of the 2022-2026 Action Agenda which is focused on recovery objectives benefiting both the biophysical conditions and beneficial uses of the watershed and estuary, and improving the health and vibrancy of communities in the watershed that have been disproportionality impacted through previous environmental decisions.

February

Green-Duwamish Watershed (Seattle, WA) — The Green-Duwamish Urban Waters Partnership completed a tree moss pollution indicator project with the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps. The project team included members of the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, DIRT Corps, Just Health Action and Western Washington University. This project empowers the most environmentally overburdened community in the watershed to collect new data shedding light on environmental harm in the valley. To learn more about the project, click here.

Green-Duwamish Watershed (Seattle, WA) — In January, the first of a series of highway signs went up labeling the river at crossings in the watershed as part of the critical mission to connect people to the watershed. Most of the bridges over the Green-Duwamish River carry no mention of the river below, which has been a concern of the community. The Green-Duwamish Urban Waters Partnership has collaborated with the Washington State Department of Transportation to implement signs on the major interstate and state highways in the watershed. County and local crossings will follow.

2021

August

Green-Duwamish Watershed (Seattle, WA) — The Green-Duwamish Urban Waters Partnership is completing the 2021 tree moss collection with the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps. The project team included members of the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, Dirt Corps, Just Health Action and Western Washington University. This project empowers the most environmentally overburdened community in the watershed to collect new data that sheds light on environmental harm in the valley. To read about the project, click here.

Green-Duwamish Watershed (Seattle, WA) — In June 2021, federal partners working across the Green-Duwamish Watershed came together for the first federal partners-specific convening. The goals of this meeting were to reunite initial partners that were involved with the 2014 launch, welcome new federal partners and explain the UWFP, present Partnership opportunities and gather the level of interest from federal participants moving forward. We anticipate 10 different agencies to take part in efforts.

March

Green-Duwamish Watershed (WA) — The Green-Duwamish Watershed is a member of the Green/Duwamish/Central Puget Sound Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA9), the governing body tasked with restoring salmon in the watershed. WRIA9 completed the Salmon Habitat Plan Update. This is the first update to the original 2005 plan and directs millions of dollars of local and grant funds coordinating dozens of efforts including capital projects and other activities to transform the watershed. To read the update, click here.

Green-Duwamish Watershed (WA) — The Our Green/Duwamish (OGD) Collaborative represents the stormwater network for the watershed comprising utilities, municipalities, permit regulators and the Green-Duwamish Urban Waters Federal Partnership. The OGD Collaborative has finalized an implementation plan that outlines efforts to reduce pollution and connect people to the river for the next five years. To read the plan, click here.

2020

December

Green-Duwamish River Watershed/Seattle (WA) — The first professional paper on work conducted by Green-Duwamish Watershed’s collaborative community-driven research team looking at air quality indicators in river adjacent communities has been published. This initial paper focuses on the experience and efficacy of the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps scientists participating on the Green-Duwamish River Watershed team. To read the paper, click here and to learn about the Youth Corps, click here.

August

Green-Duwamish River Watershed/Seattle (WA) — Green Duwamish Restoration is the new brand for the Green the Green Network. This collaborative effort is the largest of three different riparian restoration partnerships operating in the watershed. The Green-Duwamish Urban Waters Partnership is a founding organizer of the group and funder of the rebranding and communications strategy. This work has included developing a webpage for the partnership. Since its inception in 2015, Green Duwamish Restoration has help restore 383 acres and 51,724 linear feet of shoreline, removing invasive species and planting over 113,993 trees and 159,490 shrubs.

Green-Duwamish River Watershed/Seattle (WA) — A major report has been released for the first phase of work looking at the economic outcomes of ecological restoration. This project is led by American Rivers and supported by the Green-Duwamish Urban Waters Partnership, among other partners. The work aims to identify return on investment of public funding from tax increases due to restoration and reforestation and begin to include increased tax revenue in the suite of ecosystem services. Additionally, efforts have begun to collect data on “green-gentrification,” and to better understand the role of ecological restoration in community displacement. The next phase of the work has started and EPA Region 10 Office of Water recently joined as funder along with the Puget Sound Partnership.

July

Green-Duwamish Watershed/Seattle (WA) — The Urban Waters Partnership has been helping to organize a collaborative community-driven research team over the past year to look at air quality indicators in river adjacent communities. The Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition released the initial results from that study, found here. Potentially harmful pollutants were found in elevated levels in moss in the neighborhoods sampled. Project partners are now working on additional analysis, community outreach and additional data collection.

Green-Duwamish Watershed/Seattle (WA) — Key Urban Waters Green-Duwamish partners presented on a webinar on June 24, 2020, about the role that institutional controls play in EPA clean-ups. Speakers Cliff Villa, Piper Peterson and James Rasmussen used the new institutional controls for fishing on the Duwamish River as a case study while discussing lessons for communities developing their own strategies to protect the health of fishers at contaminated sites nationwide.

May

Green-Duwamish Watershed (WA) - King County Flood Control District approved a supplemental budget reimagining the Districts role including - 1) funding construction of the Lones Levee setback, 2) increasing funding for the Cooperative Watershed Management grant program, 3) and establishing three new grant programs for urban stream flooding, coastal erosion and flooding, and fish passage. Urban Waters Fed Part., Green-Duwamish worked developing and advocating support for this shift.

Green-Duwamish Watershed (WA)— The Port of Seattle Commission gave its approval to move construction forward on a new 13.5-acre park along the Duwamish River at Terminal 117. The site was part of the Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund site. It will create upland habitat and restore extensive riparian habitat, and provide public access to a viewpoint pier, artwork, walkways, and elevated viewpoints of the river. The park will also serve as a habitat mitigation bank site for future restoration efforts.

March

Green-Duwamish Watershed (WA)— In February, state congressional members, both U.S. Senators and ten House representatives, signed a letter sent to leadership of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to further progress towards fish passage at Howard Hanson dam on the Green River. The USACE 2020 workplan issued mid-month includes $3 million to start planning for fish passage.

Green-Duwamish Watershed (WA)— The King County convened Our Green Duwamish’s stormwater network and the Urban Waters Federal Partnership to develop a process for formalizing their partnerships with other networks in the watershed. Work includes developing goal and strategy alignment highlighting co-benefits and cross purpose actions.

Green-Duwamish Watershed (WA)— For the first time, the Green-Duwamish applied for U.S. Geological Survey Urban Waters Cooperative Matching funds. Project proposal includes matching funds from the Washington State Department of Ecology. The critical project scope is to assess groundwater recontamination of the lower waterway during the multiple hundred million-dollar cleanups.

2019

Green-Duwamish Watershed/Seattle (WA)— Paulina Lopez of the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition was awarded the 2019 Urban Waters Learning Network Award in the category of Water Quality and Monitoring. Her nomination was submitted by the Green-Duwamish Urban Waters Federal Partnership. Paulina has been a strong participant in the partnership since its beginning in 2013.

Green-Duwamish Watershed/Seattle (WA)— This month, Green-Duwamish Learning Landscape, an applied research collaborative, launched a Green-Duwamish Urban Waters Federal Partnership-led project. Working with municipal land managers and Forest Service scientists, local youth corps organizations will collect data along the river in their communities. The collected data is expected to lead to targeted on-the-ground environmental improvements in the lower river valley. Data collection and analysis will continue into the summer.

River Network River Hero Award

James Rasmussen, wins 2019 River Network River Hero Award. James played a fundamental role in EPA’s formation of the Duwamish Superfund Roundtable, which will inform the next phase of the Cleanup Plan.

Green Duwamish Revegetation Communications Strategy

In 2019 the Green the Green network completed a Communications Strategy funded by the Green Duwamish Urban Waters Federal Partnership. This strategy will help coordinate revegetation efforts and communications amongst dozens of organizations and agencies throughout the watershed. The contractor completed a communications strategy for the Network that the UWFP-GD is now working with partners to implement. This includes audience targeted strategy and messages, as well as Network-wide branding and communication tools and approaches.

The Green Duwamish Learning Landscape (GDLL)

The GDLL is a Forest Service- led partnership focused on cross sector collaboration for projects in the watershed. 2019 saw the implementation of multiple projects using this collaborative structure, demonstrating the value of such a collective approach. The UWFP-GD continues to be a convening partner and organizing agent for this partnership.

Riparian Restoration ROI Study with American Rivers

UWFP-GD is partnering on a study that will analyze the impact that floodplain restoration projects have on property values to determine the effect on communities’ tax base and revenue. Results will be filtered by land use in order to better understand the impacts based on level of development. Information developed during this study may also shed light on the impact that restoration plays in gentrification, displacement, and access to open space. Results will inform decision makers on the full cost calculation when making land use decisions for sustained community benefit.

Using Trees and Moss as Air Quality Indicators - Community Study

With UWFP-GD as the lead and providing funding for participation members of the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps among other partners learned about the relationship between trees, moss, and air quality, and were trained in the moss sampling process and protocols. They then collected more than 60 moss sample from street trees and prepped them for laboratory analysis. The samples are being analyzed for 29 different heavy metals potentially impacting the community. These results will indicate where there may be different concentrations of atmospheric pollution that could impact the health of residents in the Lower Duwamish Watershed communities. The process is a learning tool for local schools, youth groups, and community, and an action-oriented tool for local air pollution management.

Desimone Oxbow Study

At 45.4 acres, the largest potential site to restore shallow-water estuarine habitat on the Duwamish is the Desimone Oxbow. Its space is currently used as a parking lot and storage yard, however its location in the transition zone make it uniquely suited for restoration. The Forest Service PNW Research Station, a constituent of the UWFP-GD, engaged an engineering student team at Seattle University to evaluate how green infrastructure can support salmon population recovery in the Duwamish River. The team developed three conceptual design alternatives for redevelopment, each addressing the need for shallow-water tidally inundated habitat, with two of the three designs incorporating commercial development. They also produced a summary of estuarine habitat restoration on the Duwamish, an analysis of opportunities and constraints, including relevant regulations, preliminary plans for each design alternative, and recommendations for next steps in the planning and design process.

2018

Green-Duwamish Watershed Symposium

The 2018 Green-Duwamish Watershed Symposium will give exposure and promote connections amongst the broad and diverse work being done within the watershed and the opportunity to network with individuals across fields, locations, cultures, organizations, and settings. The Workshop will be held on February 26, 2018 at Green River College, Auburn, WA.

2017

Building Green Infrastructure Careers

The Duwamish Infrastructure Restoration Training (DIRT) Corps focuses on building stronger communities by growing green infrastructure careers through on-the-job training for Duwamish Valley young adults.

Follow the Duwamish Infrastructure Restoration Training (DIRT) Corps. for more information about watershed restoration events and activities.

Green Wall Cleans Air in Lower Duwamish Valley

The South Park neighborhood of Seattle is celebrating the completion of a green wall designed to address air quality in the highly-industrialized area of the lower Duwamish Waterway.

A blog post on the project can be found at the Just Health Action website.

Watershed Restoration Events

On April 22, 2017, the Duwamish Alive Coalition hosted its spring watershed restoration event, including opening remarks from local and regional environmental groups and congressional representatives. The program included volunteers working at 15 habitat restoration and river cleanup sites across the watershed, a leadership group flying over the whole watershed, and a closing ceremony featuring the Mayor of Seattle.

Visit the Duwamish Alive Coalition website for more information.

Lower Duwamish Fishers Study

The final report for the Lower Duwamish Waterway (LDW) Fishers Study has been completed. As part of the Lower Duwamish Waterway (LDW) Superfund Cleanup, private and municipal entities collaborated to perform the Fishers Study.

Watershed Ecosystem Forum

Stakeholders gathered on February 9, 2017 for the quarterly Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 9 Watershed Ecosystem Forum meeting. Key agenda items included:

an overview of the 2017-2018 state legislative and congressional priorities,
an overview of the process to update the Salmon Habitat Plan,
a technical briefing on climate change effects on salmon.

Learning Network Blog on Community Engagement

Read Hannah Kett's blog on effective community engagement efforts to clean up the Duwamish River, titled: A Community-Driven Cleanup: Restoring the Duwamish River.

2016

A Measurable Difference

In the lower Duwamish Waterway, inclusive community engagement has made a measurable difference for the river and the nearby communities. It has inspired many to see what is possible for rivers that pass through industrial and low income areas in Seattle. River Network authored additional information on this accomplishment.

View the report here.

November 10th

The Water Resource Inventory Area 9 Ecosystem Forum met to discuss the proposed Duwamish River Shallow Water Habitat Creation project, a preview of the WRIA 9 2017-2018 State Legislative and Congressional Priorities, and proposed updates to the Habitat Plan including the Re-Green the Green Riparian Revegetation Strategy. This Strategy includes a list and map of priority areas for riparian tree planting, cost estimates, and an interactive map for tracking progress.

Re-Green the Green Riparian Revegetation Strategy.

November 9th

Stakeholders met to discuss the Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund Cleanup. The meeting's agenda included updates on the cleanup from the Washington State Department of Ecology, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition/Technical Advisory Group, and others.

October

On October 20th, officials from the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) joined state and local officials to announce new federal actions to help protect and recover the health of Puget Sound, one of the nation's largest estuaries. The action signals a firm commitment by the federal government to help restore the iconic estuary.

Spring

The location continues to work as a member of the Green-Duwamish Revegetation Working Group to develop a comprehensive revegetation strategy. The goals of revegetation are to reduce water temperatures to improve salmonid health and survival and to restore healthy native riparian vegetation to mitigate the effects of land use changes, invasive species, and climate warming on the Green River. The group meets monthly and the next meeting is scheduled for March 25th, 2016. A draft strategy is expected by May, 2016.

February 29

The Green-Duwamish Urban Waters Partnership program co-sponsored the first Green-Duwamish Watershed Symposium which attracted an overflow crowd of 250. The day-long event featured fast-pitch style presentations focused on sharing knowledge, building partnerships, and fostering collaboration across the whole watershed.

February 13

Members of the Green-Duwamish Urban Waters team presented at the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference in Portland, OR, which attracted over 2500 participants. Their panel focused on achieving multiple benefits from green stormwater infrastructure and was moderated by the location Ambassador. Presentations featured the power of collective impact in incorporating green infrastructure in urban communities, how green infrastructure is being used to address social and environmental justice issues, and understanding the inextricable link between nature and human health.

2015

Green-Duwamish Watershed Tour

On July 14, the annual Green-Duwamish Watershed Tour showcased the year in restoration with a particular focus on strategic partnerships and projects that yield multiple benefits, such as habitat restoration, social equity, and human health and well-being. The event was hosted by King County’s Salmon Habitat Restoration program and the USFS Urban Waters program.

Quality Water for Spawning Salmon

Across the Green-Duwamish River Watershed in Washington State, maintaining water quality for spawning salmon has long been a focus of federal natural resource agencies. Recently, through a series of meetings with tribal leaders and environmental justice stakeholders, the agencies have expanded their focus, exploring how public health and economic development concerns overlap with natural resource management.

Research Activities in Progress

Project and Collaboration Activities in Progress

2014

Duwamish Blueprint facilitation funded by the Green-Duwamish Urban Waters Federal Partnership. This Duwamish Blueprint (Blueprint) is a working draft that intends to provide guidance to governments, businesses, and citizen groups as they improve the aquatic ecosystem of the Duwamish estuary.

2014 Research Accomplishments Report from the Green Cities Research Alliance (20 pp, 1.5 MB, About PDF)