Encouraging private investment in Duwamish River restoration

As a landowner on the Lower Duwamish River, the Port of Seattle has successfully completed numerous fish and wildlife habitat restoration projects, including creation of valuable estuarine wetlands and riparian buffers. These projects were funded, almost entirely, with public financing (i.e. tax revenue). On November 3, 2015, President Obama issued an Executive Memo which directed that public agencies should encourage private investment in the restoration of America’s natural resources. At small scales, private capital has been engaged in the restoration market on the Duwamish for several years, through the King County Mitigation Reserves Program, City of Seattle In-Lieu Fee Program, and Bluefield Holdings, a habitat banking firm that specializes in Natural Resource Damage (NRD) credits. For its part, the Port of Seattle is working towards a goal of constructing 40 acres of habitat restoration projects by using traditional and non-traditional funding mechanisms, which may include public-private partnerships and for-profit conservation banking. Following construction, restoration sites would remain publicly-owned and managed in perpetuity through a non-wasting stewardship endowment