Community Conservation Explained: Saving the Duwamish River

The Duwamish River in Seattle is healing before the city’s eyes. In 2001, the Duwamish was designated a Superfund Site by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—a program designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances. After nearly a century of contamination via industrial activity, the Duwamish had become one of the nation’s most toxic hazardous waste sites. The Seattle community and Duwamish tribe worked together to revive the river utilizing community conservation. The river is now the cleanest it has been since the industrial revolution.  

Community Conservation 

Today, the community is working to connect the river to its rich history and healthy future. The goal is to “create a river for all”, said James Rasmussen, former Duwamish tribal council member and current Superfund manager for the Cleanup Coalition. As wildlife begins to return to the river’s waters and banks (though salmon never left), Rasmussen says the work will continue. Like the river itself, “we have to keep moving”. 

Like the river itself, “we have to keep moving”. 

River cleanup is one approach to community conservation. Community conservation promotes long-term conservation by engaging with, and providing benefits for local communities. There are a variety of ways communities can contribute to conservation. Typically, elements of development, engaging communities, and devolving control over natural resources are combined to create success with this method.   

A study published in the Environmental Evidence Journal stated that community conservation “can be an effective conservation tool” to protect biodiversity. The most effective community conservation projects are well designed and cater specifically to the local personality.  

The Public Policy Option

The resources that can be provided by the government to assist in environmental conservation, specifically river cleanup, are distinctive in the benefit to the community.  

Government action in conservation results in programs like The Lake Champlain Basin Program, a Congressionally-designated initiative to protect Lake Champlain and the surrounding watershed. Government action can also take the form of broad policy. 

After the Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire from industrial pollutants in 1969 (though not for the first or last time), public outcry spurred the creation of the Clean Water Act of 1972 by the EPA and Congress. This law protects all American waters—regardless of size or significance—from pollution. The Clean Water Act removes pollution from point sources: single, identifiable pollution sources.  

With the act came the inclusion of federal precautions, ensuring the states and federal government shared the balance of responsibility for clean water in the United States. 

Other federal precautions include the designation of Superfund, like the Duwamish River. The EPA’s Superfund program is “responsible for cleaning up some of the nation’s most contaminated land and responding to environmental emergencies, oil spills, and natural disasters”. Superfund is a part of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), passed by Congress in 1980. 

Conservation in tandem

 The Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition is just one success story. The Hudson River in New York became a Superfund site in 2002. There are so many PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) from chemical dumps that the fish have developed a genetic mutation that makes them immune to the chemical compounds, according to National Geographic. The fish still pose a great risk to both humans and the surrounding wildlife, 20 years later. 

While state and federal regulations aid in protecting water sources, they are not successful in comprehensive conservation. Superfund sites like the Hudson River could greatly benefit from local governments and communities taking initiative.

Community conservation is a multi-faceted solution that thrives through contributions of both locals in the community and government officials. Community investment will grow, and the waterways of America will benefit. The characteristics of community conservation can empower locals to become advocates for conservation.  

Coordination between government regulation and community conservation will lead to the greatest impact to protect waterways.

It is worth noting that community conservation requires support from federal and local governments. Coordination between government regulation and community conservation will lead to the greatest impact to protect waterways. With appropriate assistance from the government, locals and the land can begin to heal. 

More Resources 

To learn more about community conservation and the history of the Duwamish river in Seattle, read The River That Made Seattle: A Human and Natural History of the Duwamish by BJ Cummings. The River That Made Seattle explains the history of the Duwamish and the people whose lives have been intertwined with the river. The book was published this summer. 

You can also read about the incredible work of the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, the Duwamish Tribe, and their mission to “advocate, promote, and empower”.