Trustees Sign Agreement to Cooperate on Natural Resource Damage Assessment Activities in Port Gardner Area, Snohomish County, Washington

The site of the former Weyerhaeuser Mill A in Port Gardner, Washington, now a bulk cargo and container storage area for the Port of Everett, is one of the identified historic sources of hazardous substances released into Port Gardner Bay and Snohomish River estuary. Photo credit: Washington Department of Ecology.

On July 3, 2012, the federal, State and tribal natural resource trustees announced the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement to cooperate on natural resource damage assessment activities associated with hazardous substances releases in Port Gardner Bay and Snohomish River estuary, Everett, Snohomish County, in northwestern Washington.

The natural resource trustees participating in this Agreement include:

• Tulalip Tribes;
• Suquamish Tribe;
• State of Washington, represented by Washington Department of Ecology;
• U.S. Department of Commerce, represented by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and,
• U.S. Department of the Interior, represented by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Memorandum of Agreement establishes a process for the natural resource trustees to coordinate, cooperate and facilitate natural resource damage assessment activities in the Port Gardner area, including: assessing of damages for natural resources injuries; planning, designing, implementing, maintaining and monitoring of natural resource restoration; resolving natural resource damage claims; and, efficiently managing natural resource damages recoveries for joint restoration actions.

The geographical scope of this Agreement includes the Port Gardner area and Snohomish River estuary in Snohomish County from the Snohomish River adjacent to the Lowell neighborhood north to Ebey Slough, west to Hat Island (also called Chuh-Chuh-Sullay Island or Gedney Island) and south to the Everett-Mukilteo shoreline.

Through the Puget Sound Initiative, Washington Department of Ecology has identified 10 contaminated sites as sources for hazardous substances releases in the Port Gardner area. These sites, which will be the focus of the trustees’ attention, include: Bay Wood Products; Jeld-Wen; North Marina West End; Everett Shipyard; North Marina Ameron/Hulbert; TC Systems; ExxonMobil ADC; former Weyerhaeuser Mill A; East Waterway; and, Everett Smelter Lowlands.

For a copy of the Memorandum of Agreement, contact Jeff Krausmann at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Washington Fish and Wildlife Office at (360) 753-6053 or jeff_krausmann@fws.gov.

Further reading:

• FWS News Release (dated July 3, 2012)