October 12, 2022
With the opening of the Duwamish River People’s Park and Shoreline Habitat, the Port is working with the community to help mitigate over a century of industrial pollution on the Duwamish River. And we will continue advocating for changing the world, supporting the environment, and fighting for environmental justice.
So we’re shouting from the rooftops about two new career opportunities as a Basin Steward for the Duwamish or Lower Green River with King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, Division of Water and Land Resources.
What does it take to be a Basin Steward?
If you like to apply your technical knowledge, work directly with community stakeholders, and build mutually-beneficial partnerships, you should become a Basin Steward. You’ll be responsible for connecting people and resources in an assigned geographical area.
1. You love Pacific Northwest native flora and fauna as much as you love digging out Himalayan blackberry and Scotch broom.
2. Public service is your thing!!
King County, the Cities of Seattle and Tukwila, the Port of Seattle, and local community groups will be on your speed dial. Who else gets to talk to such a diverse group of stakeholders so regularly?!
3. You love a good challenge and get excited about creating healthy habitats in an urban environment.
You envision a Duwamish where a working waterfront and salmon habitat co-exist.
4. You love watching grass grow — and other native plants — to make an urban area healthy.
Watching grass grow is one of your favorite hobbies — and native trees, shrubs, and emergent vegetation too! Watch all your plant friends establish and mature into something bigger than yourself (literally and figuratively).
5. Racial equity, environmental justice, and cultural significance are a few of your favorite things.
Does this sound like you? Well, what are you waiting for?
The Port of Seattle, King County, City of Tukwila, and City of Seattle jointly fund the Duwamish River Basin Steward position because of the benefits it brings to the river, the watershed, and communities closest to the river.
For the Port, supporting a basin steward advances several of our sustainability and equity goals. A basin steward position will increase engagement with near-Port communities, improve river habitat, and improve community access to Seattle’s only river.
The steward position funding builds on our record of support for the Duwamish River. This summer we opened public access to the newly restored 13-acre shoreline habitat at Duwamish River People’s Park. This former Superfund Cleanup site is now one of the largest completed habitat restorations on the Duwamish River in a generation.
We are beginning work on a new 10-acre habitat restoration in the East Waterway at Terminal 25.
Bonus: This is a hybrid position with King County with teleworking complemented with onsite work and meetings as needed. The application deadline is October 30, 2022 at midnight.
Top photo credit: "salmon migration" by USFWSAlaska is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
