Aerial view of Duwamish River today at the northwest corner of Boeing Field. Eighty years of intense industrial use have left residue throughout the Duwamish corridor - contamination resulting from discharges, spills, dust, and dredging. Contamination is especially hazardous in the corridor because the pollutants move via groundwater and surface water runoff, reaching the river and Elliott Bay, and entering the food chain through fish and other wildlife. The Duwamish River runs through the heart of this corridor. It is an important spawning ground, where 26,599 salmon were harvested in 1990.
Loss of habitat is a major cause of depleted salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest.
The restoration and revegetation work will recreate estuarine wetlands and create intertidal habitat, to benefit juvenile out-migrating Chinook salmon. This project will provide a soft bottom, off-channel, intertidal environment, which is necessary to juvenile salmon for feeding, acclimating to salt water, and finding protection from predation. Linda Hammons, project coordinator for the city of Seattle, said the project location extends other restoration projects in the same area. It is just north of Kellogg Island, a substantial remnant of the once extensive wetlands that characterized the mouth of the Duwamish River and also adjacent to Terminal 107. The Port of Seattle, which owns both Kellogg Island and Terminal 107, has set aside and undertaken habitat restoration activities on both sites to benefit fish and wildlife.