Saving Puget Sound > Dupont area agreement

DuPont area gravel-watershed-shoreline agreement

A settlement agreement announced January 25, 2012, allows the planning process to help restore Sequalitchew Creek and Edmond Marsh just upstream from Puget Sound in DuPont, Washington, to begin while allowing CalPortland Co. to submit a new gravel mining proposal for the area.

Any mining proposal will be subject to additional environmental review, public comment, and local, state and federal permit requirements.

The agreement has been signed by the City of DuPont, Department of Ecology, CalPortland Co., and a broad-based environmental coalition representing: Nisqually Delta Association, the Washington Environmental Council, People for Puget Sound, the Anderson Island Quality of Life Committee, and the Tahoma and Black Hills and Seattle Audubon societies.

The agreement accomplishes major goals for the area:

• Begins the process of restoring Sequalitchew Creek and Edmond Marsh.
• Preserves a mile of Puget Sound shoreline and bluff north of DuPont.
• Allows CalPortland to submit a new gravel mining proposal. Any such proposal will be subject to additional environmental review, public comment and local, state and federal permit requirements in addition to the requirements of agreements reached in 1994 and 2011.

The 2012 agreement also calls for the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group, one of 14 regional enhancement groups formed by the state Legislature in 1990 to directly involve communities, citizen volunteers and landowners in salmon recovery, to lead a multi‐stakeholder effort to develop a restoration plan for the Sequalitchew Creek Watershed. After a year‐long process that included asking for and incorporating public comment, a set of recommended restoration actions was adopted Dec. 17, 2013 by the Core Group. The Core Group includes representatives from:

• City of DuPont
• Joint Base Lewis McChord
• Washington Department of Ecology
• Environmental Caucus
• CalPortland Company
• Nisqually Tribe
• Sequalitchew Creek Watershed Council
• Pierce County

The Core Group’s recommendations for a Restoration Plan are available on DuPont’s website: http://www.ci.dupont.wa.us/files/library/e832f41419f73cdc_o.pdf 

Find out more:

• Jan. 25, 2012: DuPont approves watershed restoration and mining permit application agreement
• June 30, 2011 City of Dupont Town Hall Q&A
• June 30, 2011 PowerPoint presentation
  
• June 24, 2011 News Release (pdf)
  
• Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
  
• Settlement Agreement Summary
  
• Settlement Agreement