Duwamish Alive! clean-up event breathes new life into historic King County waterway

Restoration efforts merit special recognition from federal conservation group

Braving Saturday’s cold, wet conditions while battling invasive weeds and gathering truckloads of trash, hundreds of dedicated volunteers working together made the Duwamish River a healthier place for fish and wildlife, and people, too.

The volunteers, including King County Executive Ron Sims, were taking part in Duwamish Alive!, an annual event that’s part work, part celebration, and all in honor of one of King County’s largest waterways.

“On-the-ground habitat protection and restoration efforts such as Duwamish Alive! are an essential part of our ongoing work to make this river whole again,” Sims said. “Seeing this level of commitment first-hand, I am confident that we will succeed in healing the Duwamish River.”

Eight separate habitat restoration sites within the Duwamish watershed were rehabilitated today. In addition to picking up garbage and ripping out invasive plants, volunteers further improved habitat by planting thousands of native trees.

The Duwamish River is home to a large population of federally protected chinook salmon and other salmon species, plus birds, mammals and other fish and wildlife.

Nearly two dozen participating Duwamish Alive! partners, including government agencies, community groups and corporations, received the Coastal America 2007 Partnership Award, the highest honor the federal government gives to such groups for efforts to protect, preserve and restore America's coastal heritage.

Duwamish Alive! partners received the award for identifying a critical community need, developing key partnerships, and for involving the community through environmental stewardship and community involvement in their work to protect and restore the river.

King County has worked for decades to restore the Duwamish and Elliott Bay – to restore habitat, improve water quality and cleanup contaminated sediments. The county has invested more that $250 million to date and committed an additional $170 million to pay for cleanups, CSO control projects, monitoring and restoration efforts that are returning the Duwamish to health.

Information about the Coastal America Partnership is available at http://www.epa.gov/owow/oceans/partnerships/ (external link).

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