Mark Powell’s blog posts from the journey

Getting to Know the Duwamish The Source of the Duwamish River

JUNE 8TH, 2015 JUNE 15TH, 2015

I’ve heard a lot about the Duwamish River, but what is it The headwaters of the Duwamish River are not easy to find. really like? Is it a dead river? What do we use it for? Is there Start with a map and you’re in trouble—you need some hope for the future? local knowledge first. The Duwamish River is called the Green River upstream from the Seattle Sounders’ practice I’m swimming the Duwamish to see the river for myself. field in Tukwila. In a strange twist, the White River used to I’ll start in the mountains where the Green River forms be the source of the Duwamish before farmers and flooding the headwaters of the Duwamish. By this October, I hope diverted the White River south to Tacoma in the early to reach Harbor Island where the Duwamish joins Puget 1900s. Sound. The Duwamish River begins as the Green River in the Join me in your own journey of discovery. We’ll look mountains southeast of Seattle. Fly east from SeaTac airport underwater and on land as we explore some of the river’s and you’re above it in minutes. But if you want to touch the stories. water, you’ll face a long drive on bumpy gravel roads. The I grew up on Oregon’s rivers, and I’ve spent a lot of time actual headwaters require a hike of several miles along the around water all over the world. From high mountain Blowout Mountain and Pacific Crest trails. creeks to the deep sea, water has always attracted me. Now I I drove two hours from Seattle and hiked another half want to find the heart of the Duwamish, a river I see almost hour to reach the slopes above the Green River. I found the every day but hardly know. I’m just getting started and I’ve source of the Duwamish, some wet seeps near 5000 feet already found more than a few surprises. I can hardly wait elevation on the west-facing slopes of Blowout Mountain. to see what comes next. There will be no swimming today. I was wondering if there would be a pool big enough to get in, but the river starts small and on this hot afternoon it’s little more than wet spots and a trickle.

Looking down the valley, the top of the Green River flows through a lovely forested valley. There are few signs of people other than some logged areas and some roads. Just uphill, the Pacific Crest Trail separates the Green River drainage from the Yakima drainage to the east.

How many people in the Seattle area know that the headwaters of Seattle’s Duwamish River are this beautiful and serene? Water that enters the Green River up here is taking a path that has changed little since the last ice age. There could not be a more dramatic contrast with the WATCH VIDEO other end of the river where the Duwamish enters Puget Sound. I’m eager to get in the water and explore the changes downstream.

1 Sunday Creek Kanaskat-Palmer Park

JUNE 29TH, 2015 JULY 7, 2015

One challenge in swimming the headwaters of a river is The upper Green River is so nice that it provides drinking deciding where to get in the water. Too far upstream and water for Tacoma. The river is closed in Tacoma’s section you’re sitting in a wet puddle, too far downstream and you to keep the water clean, and sadly I don’t get to swim there. miss part of the river. The Duwamish headwaters above This 23 mile section of the river includes the large Howard 2000 feet elevation are barely wet so I decide to try a spot Hanson dam (235 feet tall) and reservoir. further downstream near the ghost town of Lester. The river downstream from Lester is closed to public access because Swim Duwamish starts again near Kanaskat-Palmer State it’s Tacoma’s water supply. I make the drive with my family, park, downstream of the 23 mile closed area. Scouting 1 hour from Seattle on I-90 and 45 long minutes on rough the river before swimming I find a good sign—a bobcat gravel roads.I’m rewarded by my first look at the upper patrolling the riverbank. Green River where it’s joined by Sunday Creek. This looks like the right place. The river looks big enough to float me, but just barely. And the river is beautiful.

I get in the water at a railroad bridge upstream from Lester. It’s the train route over Stampede Pass, a route still used today. As soon as I get in the water I’m entranced. The underwater view is so different than looking at the river from above. How many people know what it looks like to get underwater in a crystal clear mountain stream?

WATCH VIDEO

The upper Green River is fun. The water is cold, but the I was disappointed to skip part of the river, but seeing the view easily makes up for the shock of getting in. The river is bobcat is a nice reward that leads me to forget about what full of small fish, mostly small trout and salmon. Progress I’m missing. swimming downstream is slow because the water is shallow and I’m forced to bump along over rocks in some sections. The river is bigger here with deeper pools and more large I’m also fascinated watching the fish and capturing them on fish. There are some whitewater sections that are fun for video. They make darting movements to dodge away from rafting and kayaking when winter rains fill the river and the the camera, to find a new spot to hover, and sometimes to water flows faster and higher. But during this dry year the grab a bite of food. river has dropped to low flow levels more typical of August, so the rapids are small and slow. Still, in order to stay safe, I drift downstream with the current where the water is deep I avoid the whitewater by swimming the edge or walking enough to float me. Where the water is too shallow to float, around the rapids. I stand up and walk. There isn’t much swimming happening today. There are a couple of deep pools, some of them as Kanaskat-Palmer State Park is a great place to swim. Today much as 10 feet deep. I pass several major logjams, being I saw a magnificent adult steelhead, maybe a 10 pound fish. careful to avoid getting trapped underneath. The current is Here’s a picture, make sure to look for it in the video along not really swift enough to carry me anywhere I don’t want with lots of large whitefish. to go, so there’s no real danger. If the river was carrying more flow, the water would be deeper and faster and much more dangerous.

I find my family waiting where Sunday Creek joins the Green River, at our planned finish. My daughter is taking video and my son scrambles across a log to give me a high five. I’m excited; my first Duwamish-Green swim is a great success. I can’t wait for more.

2 The bedrock banks, boulders, and tumbling water here WRIA 9 make for an especially fun swim.The variety is interesting and makes lots of nice fish habitat. JULY 15, 2017

I saw my first person swimming today in the cool 57 The Green and Duwamish Rivers are home to spawning degree water, although he didn’t stay in very long.Further and migrating salmon that return yearly from the ocean to downstream in the warmer water I know I’ll see a lot more resume the river part of their life cycle. It’s a real treat to see people getting wet, especially if this heat wave continues. them, sometimes a lot of them, when I swim down the river.

Yesterday I was privileged to join the watershed restoration group WRIA 9 on a tour of restoration sites and celebrate progress. I was the one in the wetsuit coming out of the Duwamish River at Duwamish Waterway Park to offer my testimonial on the great restoration work that’s been done, after seeing some of it from a fish’s-eye view.

But we’re not finished yet. Both the winter steelhead and chinook salmon of the Green and Duwamish Rivers are considered (at a federal level) to be a threatened species. The high levels of toxic runoff that enter tributary streams, and rivers themselves, are threatening the Salmon species of There is a swarm of river insects emerging from the water the Green/Duwamish Watershed. Industrialization, habitat and triggering a fish feeding frenzy. Trout and young loss and impairment, and damage done to their ecosystems salmon are literally jumping out of the water chasing the contribute to the major threats facing Green/Duwamish mayflies as they come bursting out of the water. These salmon. mayflies are a sign of clean water, they can’t live where the water is polluted. They spend most of their lives underwater clinging to rocks and then “hatch” out of their larval stage to become flying adults that do nothing but mate and lay their eggs back in the water.

The river is so clean here that the toxic pollution in the Duwamish seems like a very distant problem. Yet this water is the same water that will soon make it downstream to the Lower Duwamish. The steelhead in the picture above started its life here in the Green River, migrated downstream to the ocean to live for 1-3 years, and then swam through the Duwamish again to get home to spawn. Our steelhead knows the rivers are connected. It’s time to Is anything being done about this situation? Yes, the people get out when I reach the last raft takeout at the downstream of the watershed, tribes, and government agencies have end of the park.Too bad, I’d like to go deeper into the gorge joined together to tackle the problems and help restore but it’s dangerous for swimming and today is not the day. salmon populations. More work is ahead of us, but one important lesson from swimming the rivers is that we should be hopeful. Despite everything that’s been done to the Duwamish and Green Rivers, they’re still alive.

Who’s doing the work? Washington state has 62 Water Resource Inventory Areas (WRIA). WRIA 9 is the Water Resource Inventory area of the Green/Duwamish watershed and the critical habitat for the Green/Duwamish Salmon population. WRIA 9 has made it a goal to protect and repair the ecosystem needed for Salmon to thrive, by “making our watershed fit for a King”. Since the WRIA 9 recovery plan was adopted 9 years ago, they have accumulated $137 million in funding for restoration efforts. Through WATCH VIDEO the implementation of the WRIA 9 program, they have 3 reconnected floodplains, restored marine shorelines, Flaming Geyser State Park removed or set back levees, and planted riparian areas. In addition to all of that, the program has acquired land for JULY 21, 2015 protection. By doing so, WRIA 9 is working “…improve the ecological health of the watershed, contribute to the The Green River Gorge is beautiful, but dangerous. I’ve been recovery of Puget Sound as a whole,” and recover the warned that it’s not safe to swim this section, so I’m only salmon and steelhead. entering at a few safe places. I may come back later to swim more of the gorge if I can get some expert advice. The gorge The WRIA 9 recovery plan has already completed 23 is a miracle within King County, with high canyon walls, a salmon habitat projects, and has 18 currently underway. beautiful wild river, and some rapids that can be exciting In addition to this important and impressive progress, during high water. One photo caption calls it the “Grand organizations such as Green Seattle Partnership, Earthcorps, Canyon” of the Green and I have to agree. Whale Scout, the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps, and more are working with local volunteers to restore and protect our local Salmon habitat, and give them a fighting chance. Please support them and consider joining their volunteer efforts.

It’s hard to imagine that the Green River Gorge is connected to the Lower Duwamish. Yet the water in the gorge will flow down to the Duwamish in about two days! There could not be a sharper contrast between two sections of river. While shooting some video, I swam in the gorge one day and the Discussing the ongoing restoration efforts along the Lower Duwamish right after. I went from being showered Duwamish River with the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps and by a high waterfall in the pristine gorge to bumping WRIA 9 tour members. alongside rusty barges and huge cranes in a noisy, gritty urban port. Is it possible to reconcile these two opposite poles that are the Duwamish?

There are lots of fish here, including some big ones. I also saw a family of river otters, a frog, and a crayfish (aka crawdad—looks like a small lobster) eating a dead fish. The river otters were funny, two little ones climbed onto the back of the bigger otter (mom?) and they swam away. I tried to get them on video, but they escaped my camera.

River insects are also interesting. Most of the plant life in a

4 small river grows on the surfaces of rocks. Insects are the Duwamish Downstream grazing animals (herbivores) that eat the plants and provide food for predators like fish. I’ve been seeing grazing insects JULY 29, 2015 since I started my swim, and today I settled down to get some good video of them. Here the main insects are caddis I see more signs of people along the river downstream flies. They’re related to moths but the caterpillar (larval) from Flaming Geyser State Park. The river runs through stage lives in water inside of protective cases made out of backyards and farmers’ fields, and a few people wave when small rocks glued together with silk. In the close-up video they see me swimming. I stop to talk with one group sitting you can see their legs and mouths as they scrape algae off in chairs on a gravel bar, they’re surprised to hear my Swim rocks to eat. Duwamish story.

Moving downstream, the river comes out of the gorge and Most of the people that I talk to along the river know their enters Flaming Geyser State Park, a lovely place with great favorite places well, but they don’t know areas further river access. That’s a bit unusual for the Green River. It’s upstream or downstream. A fisherman and a swimmer that been difficult to find good places to get in and out of the I met both said they come to the river a lot, but only near river. where they live. They don’t feel connected to the mountain headwaters and they really don’t feel connected to the People are out enjoying the river thanks to the good access polluted and developed Lower Duwamish. at Flaming Geyser State Park. There are quite a few groups of people floating downstream in inner tubes and small rafts, often carrying drinks. It’s no surprise to find a few bottles and cans on the bottom of the river.

There are some fantastic areas along Green Valley Road where King County has acquired land for the Green River Natural Area. Metzler Park has about 20 parking spaces and is a short walk from a beautiful swimming hole. There are huge “gallery” cottonwoods and maples along the river that I wonder if the people floating above know that there are look to be at least 100 feet tall. I didn’t know such a place lots of fish swimming just a couple of feet below? It’s an existed in this small agricultural valley. It’s one of the rare interesting contrast to look at the different worlds of people easy access points in this part of the river. It’s a change to and fish. From the view of a fish it’s hard to recognize the be out of the fast water, bedrock, and boulders of the areas people, they’re just floating blobs with paddling hands. upstream. I know the river changes here, and I expect to see more habitat damage caused by people. Yet I’ve gotten I’m propelled mostly by moving water here. There are only so attached to the river that I’m not eager for such sights. a few big pools where I have to swim to move downstream. There is good and bad ahead, and I’m in this swim to see But this will change soon. The Green River flattens out and everything. I’m all in. slows down after Flaming Geyser. There is a transition here in the river’s path down from the high mountains to Puget Sound.

The flatter landscape below Flaming Geyser provides people with more options for using the land. Farm fields surround the river just downstream from Flaming Geyser. It’ll be interesting to see how the river changes as the landscape changes.

WATCH VIDEO 5 Swimming with Sheida and Martha, “It’s powerful. It’s powerfully strong even at this mid- summer flow. It’s the connector of the snowcaps to the Leaders of the Puget Sound Partnership white caps. It’s pretty cool, just coursing behind levies and AUGUST 6, 2015 trailer parks and parks. I hope they know they’ve got this wild outside in their backyard because it’s wild. We saw There’s nothing like getting immersed in your work, mergansers, we saw kingfishers, and a mink.” -Martha especially when your work is saving Puget Sound. Getting Kongsgaard, Chair of the Puget Sound Partnership underwater helps us see things from a fish’s point of view Leadership Council and it’s good fun on a hot day. Just ask Martha and Sheida, The three of us saw some great things, and also a few signs our first guest swimmers. that there’s more work to be done. But the message of the Do they look like they’re having fun? It was great to have day was hope. We saw enough good signs in the Green Martha and Sheida join Swim Duwamish. Their work River in Auburn that we have hope for Puget Sound. Here’s leading Puget Sound restoration includes projects on the a picture of one reason for hope. I wonder how many people Green and Duwamish River. We swam by the Reddington in Auburn know that they have mink as neighbors? levee setback project, completed in 2014, that created new floodplain and fish habitat across the river from Isaac Evans Park in Auburn. WATCH VIDEO

Swimming with Adult Salmon

AUGUST 28, 2015

When I started Swim Duwamish, I thought I would be lucky to see some adult salmon swimming upstream in the fall. Have I ever been lucky!

As I write this, the Duwamish and Green river are swarming with salmon. My father would have said the salmon are “thicker than fleas on a dog.” I’ve seen many Why restore Puget Sound by working in the Green River in thousands of salmon, and even touched a few. This year’s Auburn? Because Puget Sound is much more than saltwater, pink salmon run in the Duwamish/Green is predicted to be it’s also the rivers, floodplains, and watersheds upstream. more than 600,000 fish. I can believe that prediction based What happens in Auburn and the Green River—along with on what I’ve seen. the entire landscape around Puget Sound—will set the future for Puget Sound. If you love orcas and salmon, then you love the Green and Duwamish River.

“I was just surprised at how beautiful and crystal clear and sublimely peaceful it is with all the damming, rerouting, destroying, and polluting that’s been done to this waterway. It’s still here and it’s still coursing through our cities. I hope more people come out and realize what we have.” -Sheida Sahandy, Puget Sound Partnership Executive Director

As I move downstream, the salmon seem to move downstream to get away from me. But since they’re swimming upstream now, they will only go so far downstream. Then they get bold and start streaming upstream past me in large groups. That’s what it looks like to me, and two men scavenging in the river confirmed that. They thought I was a seal when they first saw me, but they were even more surprised to find out I was a person swimming the river. 6 I saw these salmon in Kent, just downstream from Van I Touched a Salmon! Doren’s Landing park. The access to the river is not great in this area, the banks tend to be steep with thick blackberries SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 and without developed trails. That doesn’t stop everyone, I’ve seen a few people fishing and I expect to see more as I I touched a salmon. I was swimming underwater with move downstream. Swim Duwamish and the city of Kent thousands of wild pink salmon and reached out my hand. did a media event at Van Doren’s Landing, but that’s another There was a crowd of fish and they couldn’t all dodge away. I story for the next blogpost. For now, take a look at this touched one and it felt electric. short, ten second video clip of salmon “thicker than fleas on I think the excitement came from being in the salmon’s a dog.” world. I was swimming alone in the murky darkness of the Duwamish River and the river was alive with thousands of wild pink salmon. It was a bit spooky, they appeared as if from nowhere.

The fish swam away from me except when the river got crowded. Then they passed close by, seeming calm. I started imagining what it might feel like to touch a one. The first few times I reached out my hand, the salmon darted away. It seemed ridiculous, I was too clumsy and slow. These fish had survived predators much quicker than me.

Pink Salmon Joining the Fun

SEPTEMBER 10, 2015

The Mayor of Kent, Suzette Cooke, loves salmon and rivers. We got together and arranged a Swim Duwamish event in Kent, and both the mayor and the salmon cooperated.

The mayor and city staff, accompanied by KIRO TV and KOMO TV, joined me when I swam to Van Doren’s Landing Park in Kent. And the Duwamish River pink salmon joined the fun – there were thousands of wild pink salmon Then I reached into a crowd of fish swimming slowly across frolicking in the river. my path and it happened. These fish were closer, and I felt a surge of power as my hand touched the side of a fish and it We talked about river conditions in Kent, the city’s past bolted. I also extended my GoPro camera into the school of restoration work, and projects planned for the future. One fish. I felt a jolt and saw the camera push a salmon against of the big issues is trying to balance flood protection with the bottom of the river. I had accidentally trapped a fish habitat for salmon. Flood protection levees block the river with the camera. I saw its side shining white as it thrashed from meandering, building fish habitat, and spreading out free. Then they were gone. to slow down the flowing water during floods. So for fish it’s a good idea to move levees back away from the river Several times I felt a light flutter of fish brushing past me channel. But local property owners can be resistant, because as I swam through a school. As I swam downstream, the of worries about flood damage and losing property to the salmon would move away from me until their upstream river. The mayor talked about the need to find places where urge overcame their fear and they started streaming past fish habitat can be improved by moving back the levees. me. I swam inside schools of salmon as they parted to go around me on both sides. The biggest fun was seeing pink salmon swarming the river before and after the stop in Kent. Thanks to Mayor Suzette The most unbelievable part of my adventure was the Cooke, KIRO TV and KOMO TV for a fun event in Kent! urban location…just a few miles upstream from the highly polluted part of the Duwamish River in Seattle. Only 10 miles away from my office in downtown Seattle. This was not a remote salmon river in Alaska, and these fish had just WATCH VIDEO finished swimming upstream through some of the most polluted sites in the region. 7 Stormwater & Toxics

OCTOBER 5, 2015

I’ve been waiting for this. From the time I got into the river’s pristine headwaters, I was waiting for the Darth Vader of my journey. It’s time to swim through the Duwamish River’s toxic mess. This is the part of the river that scares people.

I found several storm drains pouring water into the Lower Duwamish. Some were carrying water that looked fine, but one was cloudy and smelled bad. I put my GoPro inside of Pink salmon still swim in the Duwamish River, in great one small storm drain and got an interesting video of the numbers. There’s work to be done restoring the river, and inside of the pipe. Finally, I came to the grand salon of the these salmon prove there is still hope for the Duwamish. Duwamish Diagonal, the largest storm drain in Seattle. It has two entrances leading to a very large pipe. Big enough to swim inside…and so I swam into the storm drain. This is probably not recommended, but I couldn’t swim this far down the river and dodge away from the problems. See Entering the Duwamish video below. SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

Something big happened as I swam through schools of salmon yet again. I passed the tiny remnant of the Black River in Tukwila and entered the Duwamish River. Swim Duwamish now enters the Duwamish after months spent swimming the river’s headwaters in the Green River! There is no plaque or other identifier for the start of the Duwamish River. Casually, I swam past the place where the Black River (and the flow of the Cedar River) used to enter the Duwamish. Now it’s a minor tributary, although its small contribution of water is brown and opaque and Toxics in the Lower Duwamish come from 2 sources. it muddies up the River. The Green River above this point Industrial dumping from past decades remains buried in was murky but I could still see the salmon. Entering the the mud. But the biggest source of new pollution is storm Duwamish, I can barely see my GoPro on the end of it’s 4 drains like the Duwamish Diagonal that bring polluted foot selfie stick. I don’t think I’ll be seeing as many salmon runoff into the river when rain falls and flows over oily in the Duwamish. roads and other hard surfaces. The Black River was once an important place. Before it was Fortunately, King County and others are working to clean eliminated by the lowering of Lake Washington in 1916 up polluted stormwater runoff, and you can help. Storm (with the construction of the ship canal leading to Puget drains and runoff are not the pretty part of the Duwamish Sound), the Black River was used and highly valued by local and Green River. But they’re reality, and an important part Tribes. Now it’s a small muddy inlet that feeds stormwater of the story. into the Duwamish. What little visibility I had upstream of the Black River remnant was noticeably reduced by this muddy inflow. WATCH VIDEO The Duwamish begins in Starfire Soccer Complex, the home of the Seattle Sounders soccer team. The river is hidden behind steep levees to stop flooding, so you can’t see the river from the soccer fields, and you can’t see the soccer fields from the river. This disconnect makes it harder to love the river, and harder to care about the river. I wonder how many people go to the soccer fields and don’t know there’s a river nearby?I saw quite a few fishermen, some with quite a few pink salmon. 8 Finishing Swim Duwamish the river mostly know their place, and don’t think too much about what happens upstream or downstream. And people OCTOBER 12, 2015 who love Puget Sound mostly try not to think about the polluted Duwamish River. One year ago, I committed to swim the Duwamish River from headwaters to mouth. On September 30, I finished As I swam through the Superfund site and actually swam the swim. From its start in the upper Green River to Puget inside Seattle’s largest storm drain, I saw that there are Sound, the Duwamish is much more than a Superfund site. no fences or boundaries separating these places from the prettier parts of Puget Sound. The Duwamish River is Puget Sound, and Puget Sound is the Duwamish. The Superfund site in the Lower Duwamish contains saltwater. With each tide, ocean water flows back and forth, bathing polluted sites and your favorite ocean beach in turn. As if that’s not enough trouble, every time it rains stormwater brings new pollution through streets, gutters, and pipes into the Duwamish and Puget Sound.

If you love Puget Sound, then you need to learn to love the Duwamish River. There’s no escape. Fortunately, good work is being done cleaning up and restoring the Green/ Duwamish River. I’ve seen it and if you’ve looked at our Swimming the river has been a great adventure. As I swam videos, you’ve seen it too. Suzette Cooke, the Mayor of Kent, downstream, I watched the river change from a small joined us amid the jumping salmon at Van Doren’s landing stream tumbling down a mountain to a salty industrial to talk about restoration and KOMO and KIRO shared the port. I’ve seen thousands of wild pink salmon—proof that good news. the river is still alive. And I’ve visited with many other fish, mink, river otters, a bobcat, and birds like osprey, The main thing I learned during my swim is that the kingfishers, herons and eagles. I’ve also met quite a few Duwamish River is still alive. The strong run of wild pink people enjoying the river—swimming, tubing, fishing, or salmon this year was a sight to see, and a reason to be just looking. optimistic. It’s hard to think of the river and pink salmon as being fragile if these fish can thrive despite all we’ve done. To celebrate the swim, WEC hosted a gathering of friends This is not to say that everything is fine. On the contrary, and media at our finishing event at Jack Block Park. It was steelhead and chinook salmon are in trouble in the Green/ a fun day, and the media coverage was great. The Seattle Duwamish and elsewhere. Yet not all the news is bad, and I Times front page story the next day was a great morning hope we don’t forget to celebrate what we have. Tim Egan, wake-up. Check out “Man swims 55 miles of Duwamish writing about the Duwamish River’s pink salmon in the River, finds it’s ‘still alive.’” The Times even produced a nice Duwamish in the New York Times, seems to agree. two minute video. Also attending and covering the swim were KIRO TV, KOMO TV, KPLU, and the Kitsap Sun One year ago, I set out to find the heart of the Duwamish (front page!). This level of interest proves that people care River. I found it in Auburn, Kent, and Tukwila, where I saw about Seattle’s only river. thousands of wild pink salmon. It’s an improbable setting, but it’s just the kind of new story we need to lead us into the future.

One thing I’ve learned is that many people don’t think of the Duwamish as a connected network of water from the mountains to the Sound. People who know anything about 9