On September 19th, eighty Puget Sound region environmental leaders and design specialists joined us for the unveiling of the Aurora Bridge Bioswale Design in Fremont. Hosted by Salmon-Safe and Milstead Coffee and sponsored by the Boeing Company, the event was a celebration of the future Aurora Bridge Bioswale and its benefits to salmon and Puget Sound.
For more than 80 years, polluted runoff from Seattle’s Aurora Bridge has been discharged untreated to Seattle’s Lake Washington Ship Canal, impacting migrating salmon and other aquatic life. This inspired environmentally innovative developer Mark Grey to join forces with Salmon-Safe to convene a multiple organizations in a partnership to treat runoff through rain gardens, including a three phase project at his Salmon-Safe certified Data 1 development project (Phase 1) adjacent to the bridge and his upcoming projects, The Watershed Building (Phase 2) and The Aurora Bridge Bioswale (Phase 3) an 850 ft2 bioswale under the bridge, along the Lake Washington Ship Canal in Fremont.
In addition to the reception at Milstead, our team also presented a Green Infrastructure workshop and tour for 40 students, teachers, and parents from the B.F. Day School. The school offers a strong curriculum for sustainability and urban ecology and was one of the first in Seattle to build a rain garden at its facility.
The Aurora Bridge Project Team is led by Salmon-Safe and includes KPFF for civil engineering and Weber Thompson for landscape design. Outreach partners include The Nature Conservancy, Stewardship Partners, Groundswell Northwest, and The 2030 District.
Skanska Seattle and Portland Practices Make a Zero Sediment Runoff Commitment to Salmon-Safe
Salmon-Safe welcomes Skanska to our Contractor Accreditation program. Skanska is the first construction practice in the U.S. to make a regional commitment to achieving Salmon-Safe accreditation across its Northwest operations. The Seattle and Portland offices are leading the way in a practice-based approach, applying best construction site management practices with the goal of achieving zero sediment runoff. First piloted a decade ago in the Sammamish River watershed, Salmon-Safe’s construction management accreditation is the nation’s first independent accreditation program to recognize construction firms’ excellence in water quality protection practices.
Salmon-Safe Launches new Designer Accreditation Standards for Practice-Wide Watershed Commitment
Salmon-Safe’s new designer accreditation represents a commitment by professionals in a design practice to key principles related to urban watershed stewardship. Through thoughtful site planning, implementation of low impact design solutions and use of eco-friendly materials, site designers have the opportunity to contribute to the restoration of our urban watersheds. In this newest accreditation program from Salmon-Safe, we seek to partner with design consulting practices working on buildings, streets, parking areas, and related infrastructure with the intention of protecting downstream water quality and habitat while helping to restore urban ecological function. To learn more visit: https://salmonsafe.org/certification/designers/ OR contact Puget Sound Director, Ellen Southard, (206) 579-8645; ellen@salmonsafe.org