Everett area could get nearly $4 million for habitat restoration

Proposed settlement available for public comment through March 2

Port Gardner Bay and Lower Snohomish River Estuary looking south 

from Everett's Preston Point.  Source: Port of Everett, 2017

A proposed settlement, now available for public comment, could provide nearly $4 million to fund restoration sites in Port Gardner Bay and the Snohomish River damaged by industrial pollution.

Three companies – Kimberly Clark, Jeld Wen, and Weyerhaeuser – voluntarily entered into a consent decree with the Port Gardner Trustee Council to compensate for natural resource damages.

The Trustee Council, consisting of state and federal agencies and tribal governments, is part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration process that we and other natural resource trustees use to restore, recover, or protect natural resources and habitats affected by contamination. In Washington state, more than 600 acres of habitat projects have been built due to Natural Resource Damage settlements with polluters.

The Trustee Council, which includes Ecology, Fish and Wildlife, the Tulalip and Suquamish Tribes, U.S. Departments of Justice and Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, evaluated the injury to aquatic natural resources in the Everett area, as allowed under state and federal regulations.

The Trustees intend to use the settlement funds for the Blue Heron Slough Restoration Project, a proposed restoration on Steamboat Slough and Union Slough in the Snohomish River estuary, which will restore about 340 acres of intertidal, marsh, and riparian habitat and benefit birds, fish, and other aquatic life. The project was chosen as part of the Restoration Plan of 2016.

The proposed settlement consent decree is now available for public comment through March 2, 2018. You can review the proposed consent decree and provide comments at the Department of Justice website. If you would like more information about the settlement, contact Jeff Krausmann at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at jeff_krausmann@fws.gov or 360-753-6053.