Urban Waterway Restoration:  Lessons Learned from the Duwamish River in Washington State

Thursday, September 22, 2016 11:00-12:00 PDT

Planning, designing, permitting, and building habitat restoration projects can be challenging under the best of circumstances, but is especially difficult in highly developed urban watersheds. Despite the difficulty of creating habitat in these areas, restoring habitat may be necessary for purposes of mitigation, recovery of listed species, or restoring natural resources injured by an oil spill or release of hazardous substances. In November 2015 NOAA sponsored a workshop for restoration practitioners involved in habitat restoration in the Lower Duwamish River, a commercial waterway and Superfund site in Seattle, Washington. Presenters at the workshop included public entities like the City of Seattle, City of Tukwila, King County, and the Port of Seattle, as well as private entities such as the Boeing Company and Bluefield Holdings. They shared experiences gained during the planning, designing, permitting, construction, and post-construction phases of habitat restoration projects, focusing on problems encountered and how they were addressed. Design and construction challenges included soil/sediment contamination, existing infrastructure, unexpected discoveries, archaeological/cultural considerations, and a lengthy permitting process. Post-construction issues have varied by project and included intense herbivory from geese and nutria, large amounts of debris stranding on sites, greater than anticipated small boat-wake energy resulting in erosion, groundwater seeps, and impacts from homeless encampments. This presentation will focus on lessons learned that may be applied to urban waterway restoration efforts across the country, particularly those associated with high levels of sediment contamination.

Event: Restoration Webinar Series – September 22, 2016
Description: Urban Waterway Restoration: Lessons Learned from the Duwamish River in Washington State
When: Thursday 22 September 2016, 02:00 PM – 03:00 PM
Time Zone: (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US and Canada) (Please note that Daylight Saving Time (+01:00 hr) is in effect during this time)

To register now, please visit the following link:

https://nctc.adobeconnect.com/e1fgut5efor/event/registration.html

Speaker: John Kern, John received a Masters in Oceanography from Oregon State University. He worked as a research technician at both the University of South Florida and the University of Texas Marine Lab as well as with three state agencies in Louisiana before joining the NOAA Damage Assessment Center in St Petersburg, Florida in 1994. In 2003, John joined the NOAA Restoration Center in Seattle, Washington where he continues to work.

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https://nctc.adobeconnect.com/e1fgut5efor/event/event_info.html