— by Katie Wilkins, Orcas Issues reporter —
The Port of Orcas has published an invitation for bids for its wetland and buffer mitigation plan at the airport. Proposals are due by May 14, 2019. Port employee Tony Simpson stated that it “would be great if someone local could successfully bid this project.”
The wetland mitigation plan was necessitated when the port hired WH Pacific to remove trees and vegetation from an area of port property between Mt. Baker Road and Enchanted Forest Road in the fall of 2017. The goal was to comply with FAA requirements on obstruction-free zones approaching the airport runway. Because the impacted 2.66-acre area is a designated wetland, the Department of Ecology requires that the immediate site receive restoration plantings. It also requires wetland enhancement plantings on another 5.32 acres on the west side of the airport property, to compensate for loss of wetland function on the cleared site.
Wetland Resources, Inc., based out of Everett, prepared the current mitigation plan, which the Department of Ecology has already approved. The port is seeking a contractor to carry out the plan. The project includes plantings of native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, and will span 10 years including maintenance and monitoring of plant survival rates.
The plan recommends that planting be completed in the early spring or late fall, so the window for successful planting for this spring is rapidly closing. Deer fencing and a plan for delivering summer irrigation to the site for the first couple of years while plants are getting established will also be a necessity. Contact the Port of Orcas directly for more details, including a copy of the complete Wetland and Buffer Mitigation Plan.
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So if one is so inclined to go to the county website you will find the contract from consultants WH Pacific for “contract bids” (not to do the actual work) on tree removal & wetland plantings! Bids due by Aug. 15, 2017.
Published in The Sounder & The daily Journal of Commerce.
https://www.portoforcas.com/dev/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Orcas-Island-Airport-Obstruction-Removal-Contract-Documents.pdf
It states quite plainly, Contractors & subcontractors agree;
b. To comply with all the requirements of Section 114 of the Clean Air Act, as
amended, 42 U.S.C. 1857 et seq. and Section 308 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq. relating to inspection, monitoring, entry, reports, and information, as well as all other requirements specified in Section 114 and Section 308 of the Acts, respectively, and all other regulations and guidelines issued thereunder;
Then on Sept. 8, 2017 the actual contract went to Oceanside construction of Bellingham & was approved and signed by Mr. Simpson, Airport Mgr. on Sept. 12. 2017.
https://www.portoforcas.com/dev/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2017-09-12-Orcas-Island-Contract-Complte-Signatures.pdf
The discrepancy for me at any rate is; why is there nothing in the “second & final” contract about the re-planting of the wetlands?
Thereby begging the question’s…. what happened in between? Did we pay a consulting firm for a contract which was later changed and by whom?
Or was it simply the wording of WH Pacific?
In Section 1; The work contemplated consists of, but is not limited to;
1. Tree Removal
2. Clearing and Grubbing
3. Tree Removal in Wetland areas
4. Environmental wetland plantings
The signed final contract is different in that it only says;
Obstruction Removal, doesn’t add-up.