BEFORE THE PORT OF TACOMA BEGAN WORK ON THE GOG-LE-HI-TE II SITE, THE AREA WAS LITTERED WITH TRASH FROM ITS DAYS AS A MUNICIPAL DUMP. Now, the site is dug out and filled with water for juvenile salmon to acclimate to the salt water before journeying into Commencement Bay.
The Port of Tacoma is finishing up its work on the 6.84-acre Gog-le-hi-te II wetland mitigation site along the Puyallup River. Over the next few weeks, volunteers will plant seeds that will grow into native grasses and other riparian plants around the site.
The Gog-le-hi-te II is located near the mouth of the Puyallup River, where it connects with Commencement Bay. The manmade wetland area, a former municipal dump, was cleaned up and dug out to form an enclosed, protected area for aquatic and other water-loving animals.
“It’s designed mostly for migrating juvenile salmon as they come down the river,” said Bruce McDonald, manager of the project for the Port of Tacoma. “It gives them a place to osmoregulate – to acclimate from a freshwater environment to a salt water environment. There used to be deltas that did that but over the last 100 years, the Puyallup delta has mostly gone away…My expectation is that [Gog-le-hi-te II] will make for a stronger run (of salmon).”
Already, animals have begun to take advantage of the site.
“It’s already populated by birds and the like,” Bruce McDonald said. “The other day I was out there and there were four great blue herons. It’s being used by the fish and the birds.”
Bill Sullivan, the Tribe’s director of natural resources, said the project reconnected natural oxbows back to the Puyallup River. Historically, the oxbows have been disconnected for flood control purposes.
“The greatest value is for the down migrating young salmon who need a place for growth…before they just get rushed out into Commencement Bay,” he said. “The primary aspect of this project is more for salmon than any other (animal).”
The Gog-le-hi-te II project is a collaboration among the Port of Tacoma, the Puyallup Tribe, the city of Tacoma and the Army Corps of Engineers. The total cost of the project is $11.7 million. The city of Tacoma gave about $2 million to the project for cleanup associated with its former dumpsite. The Port of Tacoma put in the rest of the money.
Overall, representatives of the Tribe and the port agreed the collaboration was effective.
“It’s been fantastic. [The Puyallup Tribe has] been really cooperative,” Bruce McDonald said. “Everybody recognized how valuable a project this was and everybody did what they could to make this a success and I think that shows.”
Bill Sullivan also spoke highly of the collaboration, saying that in his 20 years working with the port, the Tribe has maintained a good relationship.
The Port of Tacoma Commission at the end of last month deeded the Gog-le-hi-te II site to the Tribe, which now has the responsibility to maintain the site as necessary.
“They’re required to pick the garbage out and deal with invasive species and replant things if needed, but the concept is that it’s planted so it doesn’t require a lot of maintenance,” Bruce McDonald said.
The Gog-le-hi-te II project is just up the river from Gog-le-hi-te I, a similar project that was completed in 1986. The Gog-le-hi-te II project was required by regulating agen-
cies as a way to offset habitats destroyed by the Port of Tacoma’s widening projects along the Blair Waterway.
Another site, which sits between the Gog-le-hi-te I and II projects, is a possible site for future mitigation projects. Although the Port of Tacoma has not identified a project at the Gog-le-hi-te III site, the Tribe looks forward to moving ahead on it.
“Certainly from the Tribe’s position we’d support that (project) whole-heartedly,” Bill Sullivan said. “To have one large site interconnected certainly will be a valuable project, so we certainly support it getting done sooner rather than later.”
