Ports are leading the way in making progress on salmon and orca recovery regionally, as demonstrated by the Port of Tacoma’s recently completed Upper Clear Creek Mitigation Bank project. Mitigation banks “’generate’ or ‘bank’ wetland and fish habitat credits in advance of development projects. The wetland and fish habitat credits may be used to offset unavoidable impacts to wetlands or fish habitat from projects after going through environmental and permitting review,” according to a July 20th write up on the project.

This project is only the second joint wetland and fish conservation bank in the Puget Sound region. The first one was sponsored by another port—the Port of Everett.

Ports take their generational stewardship responsibilities seriously, and actively look for ways to ensure the environment is preserved and protected for their communities for the long term. These kinds of projects demonstrate what kind of innovation and leadership ports are capable of on the environmental front.

(Photo courtesy Port of Tacoma staff)