May 20, 2023
Washington Public Ports Association awards 2023 Community Engagement , Environmental Stewardship, Creative Partnership and Job Creator Awards
OLYMPIA, Washington—Each year the Washington Public Ports Association (WPPA) recognizes ports across the state for extraordinary accomplishments in the categories of job creation, community engagement, creative partnership, and environmental stewardship at the association’s Spring Meeting in May.
2023 Community Engagement Award
This year WPPA is pleased to announce the Port of Benton as our winner for Community Engagement Award winner for its Van Giesen Rail Crossing project. This award recognizes port staff’s dedication to sharing proactive and useful information with their community through consistent and thoughtful engagement during the port’s work on two rail crossings in the City of Richland.
As the port approached the project at their urban rail crossings, their goal was to complete the project on-time, safely, and with a well-informed public who knew what was happening in their area. They started with a goal of receiving fewer than 25 complaints from the community, a target they easily achieved. The port issued pre- and post-construction press releases and proactively engaged with local media to share project details. Port staff hand-delivered press releases and detour maps to neighboring residents and businesses, kept those same neighbors informed through social media posts throughout the project, and monitored for feedback shared on social media and other outlets throughout the project.
The port’s goal-oriented and thorough process resulted in the successful completion of this project and praise from community partners, who commended the port’s proactive approach to outreach on social media.
In our work to undertake economic development projects that support our communities, it is key for ports to ensure that community partners are informed of port projects in advance. The Port of Benton’s outreach for this project epitomizes that approach, and we are very pleased to recognize them with our Community Engagement Award.
2023 Environmental Stewardship Award
This year WPPA is pleased to announce the Port of Tacoma as our Environmental Stewardship Award winner for its Lower Wapato Creek Habitat Project. This advance mitigation project, located at 1131 East Alexander Ave. in Tacoma, is a shining example of how Washington ports are contributing to the critical, statewide efforts to restore salmon habitat.
Sitting within view of the container cranes at the Port of Tacoma, the fish-bearing Lower Wapato Creek was previously channeled through two undersized fish-barrier culverts and an artificially straight trapezoidal ditch. Working in partnership with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, the Port of Tacoma replaced the fish barrier and ditch with a fish-passable bridge and about 1,900 feet of meandering stream channel. In so doing, the project created 10 acres of wetland and 8.5 acres of upland buffer, a valuable type of habitat in short supply within Commencement Bay.
The Port of Tacoma undertook the project in partnership with the Puyallup Tribe, whose Historic Preservation Office provided archaeological monitoring for the project’s excavation work. This partnership also identified and preserved dozens of culturally significant and mature trees within the site, which sits downstream of a Puyallup Tribe fish and wetland habitat near Freeman Road.
Pursuing environmental sustainability projects, especially those that impact fish passage, is key to developing projects that keep our communities working while minimizing environmental impacts. The Port of Tacoma’s approach at Lower Wapato Creek epitomizes Washington ports’ commitment to environmental stewardship, and we are pleased to recognize their work with our Environmental Stewardship Award.
2023 Creative Partnership Award
This year WPPA is pleased to announce the Port of Kennewick as our Creative Partnership Award winner for their tireless work on the restoration and development of the port-owned Clover Island in Kennewick. The port’s proactive tribal engagement produced a multi-partner effort that secured state and federal funding to bring new recreational space, sustainable development, and ecological restoration to Kennewick’s riverfront.
The creative collaboration that WPPA is recognizing in 2023 began in 2008, when the Port of Kennewick began conversations with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) about Clover Island. This early engagement—asking the CTUIR to be partners in envisioning the work instead of making unilateral decisions, then seeking their support—led to the 2013 signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the CTUIR Board of Trustees and the Port of Kennewick’s Board of Commissioners to formally partner on topics of shared interest.
The US Army Corps of Engineers specifically identified the collaboration between the Port of Kennewick and CTUIR as a factor in awarding the project construction funding out of a national field of deserving projects. Since construction first began in 2010, multiple phases of Clover Island improvements have received Port, city, county, state, and federal funds. In early 2023, the final phase of construction concluded. In all, the project restored and stabilized nearly a mile of Columbia River shoreline, installed an art installation recognizing the Tribes’ historic ties to the area, built a US Coast Guard-approved lighthouse, renovated a boat launch, and installed or repaired many other public recreation amenities.
These actions taken by the port over a sustained time period epitomize the commitment of our ports to develop projects with community benefit. We are happy to recognize the Port of Kennewick for these remarkable accomplishments achieved through creative partnership.
2023 Job Creator Award
This year WPPA is pleased to announce the Port of Everett as our Job Creator Award winner for their Norton Terminal project, which transformed an abandoned and contaminated site into an environmentally improved terminal supporting jobs and economic opportunity in Everett and Snohomish County.
The Norton Terminal sits on a 66-acre waterfront site which has been vacant since 2012, when the paper mill that occupied the site for 90 years was shuttered. The port purchased the site in 2019 and, in collaboration with the previous owner and the Washington State Department of Ecology, cleaned and capped the site and installed stormwater infrastructure. The $40 million project to build the Norton Terminal also included the adaptive reuse of an existing 360,000 square foot warehouse. The project was supported by a federal BUILD grant and by grant funds provided by the Washington State Department of Ecology.
The terminal opened in December 2022, making it the first all-new cargo terminal to open on the West Coast in more than a decade. Together with the port’s South Terminal modernization, the terminals support over 1,050 direct jobs, more than 1,300 indirect jobs, and more than 1,950 temporary construction jobs.
The opening of Norton Terminal was momentous enough to garner recognition from our State’s Senior Senator, Patty Murray, who said: “Here in Washington state, our waterways are a cornerstone of our economy, our communities, and our way of life. Our ports create jobs, improve supply chain efficiency, and help move our state’s world-class products and goods out to the rest of the world. The Norton Terminal is going to be a key part of that and serve as a major driver of jobs and economic activity in Everett and Snohomish County.”
And according to the Port of Everett’s CEO, Lisa Lefeber: “With most trade-compatible properties along our national waterways already spoken for, it’s extremely rare to see an all-new cargo facility come online and add much needed capacity to a strained logistics chain—but we all have a front row seat to witness it here.”
Job creation and economic development is the core mission of Washington port districts, and the Norton Terminal project is a perfect example of how ports undertake that mission. We are pleased to recognize the Port of Everett with this award.
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As a state legislative and regulatory advocacy organization, the Washington Public Ports Association (WPPA) fosters public policy for ports to achieve their goals. The WPPA was formed by the Legislature in 1961 to represent public port districts throughout Washington, serving as the focus through which ports work cooperatively to develop policy direction, share information, and address issues on economic development, trade, transportation, and environmental stewardship. Public port districts offer a wide range of locally governed services, including marine terminals, barge facilities, industrial development, marinas, airports, railroads, and tourism promotion. Learn more at washingtonports.org.
Eric ffitch
Washington Public Ports Association
T: 360-763-1179
