Tacoma’s Quigg Bros. to remove creosote-treated derelict pier

OLYMPIA – In an effort to restore habitat around Maury Island Natural Area, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and King County Parks have begun to remove a derelict pier from the island’s Puget Sound shoreline.

Removal of the pier and its associated structures will be an important contribution to the state’s commitment to restore the health of Puget Sound. This project will improve vital shoreline habitat in King County’s 275-acre natural area, home to Madrone forests and habitat that supports endangered species, such as Chinook salmon, orca and bull trout.

Users of Maury Island Natural Area are advised that traffic on its access road will be heavy during the project and are cautioned to avoid the construction project area.

The site’s nearly one mile of shoreline is the longest undeveloped stretch of Puget Sound shoreline in King County. Along with the nearby 320-acre Maury Island Marine Park, this is the largest publicly-owned protected marine shoreline in all of Puget Sound.

The area also lies within DNR’s 5,350-acre Maury Island Aquatic Reserve, one of just 18 distinct Pacific herring spawning areas in Puget Sound. Herring eggs exposed to creosote have a high mortality rate. Herring are an important part of the diets of a number of species, including salmon, and migrating shorebirds.

Divers from the Washington Scuba Alliance removed hundreds of marine animals from the pier and transplanted them to nearby reef sites last week in advance of the project.

Funded by DNR’s creosote removal funds, the project will remove some 150 derelict creosote-treated pilings and 2,000 square feet of overwater structures.

Removal of these structures is an important part of the state’s commitment to restore the health of Puget Sound. Since 2007, DNR has removed more than 13,000 creosote pilings.

Creosote has been used for more than a century to preserve wood for telephone poles, railroad ties, piers and docks, among other applications.

Creosote-treated wood piles break up as they age and eventually end up on Puget Sound beaches, where they leach chemicals into marine waters and near-shore habitat. For more information on DNR’s creosote removal program, visit:

www.dnr.wa.gov/programs-and-services/aquatics/restoration/creosote-removal

Tacoma-based Quigg Bros., Inc. has been contracted for the $225,000 project. Work is expected to last through Sept. 20. The firm will remove the creosote-treated pilings and wooden pier, then remove steel pilings and a concrete structure before diving to remove submerged debris.

– Washington DNR