It was an idyllic warm and sunny Wednesday afternoon for the 182 passengers who embarked on the first part of the four-part Port 101 series with the Duwamish River 101 tour.

The Argosy's Lady Mary departed Bell Harbor, Pier 66, cut across Elliott Bay, passed the west side of Harbor Island, and cruise up the river about half way between the 1st Avenue Bridge and the under-construction South Park Bridge before returning.

Representatives spoke from the Port, EPA, Duwamish River Clean Up Coalition, or DRCC, Environmental Coalition of South Seattle (ECOSS), Vigor Shipyards (formerly Todd Pacific Shipyards), LeHigh Cement, and Manson Construction.

Narrator Kathy Bahnick, with the Port, welcomed the audience with the proud reminder that the Port now celebrates its 100th year. Also with the Port, historian George Blomberg spoke of the city, the bay, and the river in those 100 years.

George Blomberg

"The landscape we see here today is dramatically different than it was 100 years ago," Blomberg began. "At low tide in 1898 you could have walked from West Seattle to downtown, across mud flats. Harbor Island is now right in the middle. And if I was standing where home plate now is at Safeco Fied, at high tide the water would have been four feet over my head. San Francisco, New York City, every major seaport in the world has been altered this way to create a threshold of commerce and transportation."

Today, commerce on the Duwamish River includes Nothland Services Tug & barge with 250 employees, Alaska Marine Lines and Manson Construction each with 200 employees, Ash Grove Cement and Certainteed Gypsum, and Western Towboat each with 150 employees, Delta Marine, LaFarge, SeaFreeze and many others.

"Seattle was hilly, adjacent to the harbor. A century ago they excavated nearly 50 million cubic yards off the hills of downtown Seattle and moved it into Southeast Elliott Bay to create level industrial land. Then they regraded and leveled the Duwamish Waterway and built Harbor Island for additional industrial land. The size of the manmade industrial area of the river is more than double the area of Elliott Bay."

He pointed out that the Duwamish River was a shallow, 19 mile long, meandering channel and has become a deep, straight five mile channel.

"One hundred years ago as the port (construction) began, if you asked folks at the port would they be participating in the development of public shoreline access sites, fish and wildlife habitat sites, and sediment clean-up sites, they might have thought that would be an unusual aspect of port business. But that's what we do today, balance economic development with environmental improvements. We've lost 99 percent of native habitat in the Duwamish basin due to development." The basin includes Lake Washington, Lake Sammamish, and the Duwamish River."

James Rasmussen

DRCC Coordinator James Rasmussen picked up on the theme of the Duwamish River's industrial and natural balancing act.

"This is a habitat where juvenile salmon hang out when they are coming down, and when they come up, they feed here," Rasmussen said of the river. "This is a salt water river, and once the salmon are in fresh water they no longer feed. They spawn and die. This is an important area here, through the Superfund Site. Habitat will increase again. There is a lot of habitat at (Terminal) T-107, Boeing Plant 2, T-117, and Boeing Slip 4 is a large habitat node.

"Come down and see why we want to balance these two things," he encouraged. "Visit the river.

"If I talk about community, I am not just talking about the people who live here, visit here, and tribal fishermen, I am also talking about the businesses here," Rasmussen said. "What we are trying to do with that balance is important for our economic welfare. If we can't find the answer here in the richest, most industrious port in Puget Sound, and one of the most important on the West Coast, than who will? We have to have clean and thriving salmon runs as well as industries that are clean and thriving.

"I've been working on this river for 30 years," he said. "If there was a spill on the river, it wasn't an accident. Iit was intentional. That's just the way we got rid of stuff. Today, if a spill happens on the river it's an accident. It may seem small to a lot of people but it's a huge difference here on the river. This river is immensely better than it was 30 years ago. We still have a little ways to go.

"My grandfather was an electrician at Todd Shipyard. He was very proud of that. He was also Duwamish. I am also Duwamish. This place is important to me, not only because of the changes that have happened, but because this is the home of my people. Native salmon are like my cousins, the eagle is kind of like a grandfather, the cedar trees like a grandmother, the seals, like nephews and nieces. And to see them come back here is incredibly wonderful. Clean businesses are more profitable, a lot more organized. Employees feel better working there so production is better. I firmly believe it can be done. We can balance these things. There isn't really a choice."

The remaining three tours include:

Cargo 101, Wednesday, October 5, Port Headquarters, Pier 69.
Airport 101, Wednesday, October 12, Sea-Tac Airport
Ship Canal 101, Wednesday, October 19, Fishermen's Terminal

For each:

*Check-in: 3:45 p.m.
*Program: 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m

Details on Port 101 tours: http://www.portseattle.org/seaport/cargo/port101.shtml

TO register: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e4on73ehc…