CONTACT:
- Dan Kent, Salmon-Safe, 503-232-3750
- Brenda Alling, Office of Marketing and Communications, 360-546-9601, brenda_alling@vancouver.wsu.edu
VANCOUVER, Wash. – Continuing its leadership in sustainability, the Washington State University Vancouver campus has become the first urban campus in Southwest Washington to earn Salmon-Safe certification, a designation that means the university is proactively and significantly improving the environmental health of its 351-acre property that borders Salmon Creek.
The certification announcement will be made today at the Top Projects & Building Excellence reception and awards presentation at 5:15 p.m. today on campus. The event is sponsored by the Building Industry Association, Southwest Washington Contractor’s Association and the Vancouver Business Journal.
“91ԹϺ is joining Nike, Oregon Convention Center, Portland’s South Waterfront and other environmentally pioneering Northwest landowners to create healthier landscapes so salmon can spawn and thrive,” said Dan Kent, Salmon-Safe executive director.
“We think Salmon-Safe certification is a powerful way to ensure that best facilities management practices are used in our landscaping maintenance and storm water management programs. We welcomed the independent review of our environmental efforts ranging from campus design to day-to-day management,” said James Martin, director of facilities operations at 91ԹϺ.
To qualify for Salmon-Safe certification, 91ԹϺ met rigorous conservation requirements. These included committing to further streamside restoration along Mill Creek to provide bank stability, shade and cover. Other measures included phasing out landscape chemicals harmful to the watershed, additional water conservation, further reducing storm water runoff from parking lots and buildings, and incorporating salmon-friendly design in all future campus development.
“By adopting Salmon-Safe practices on its campus, 91ԹϺ is leading the way to a healthier Columbia River,” said Kent. “91ԹϺ is an environmental innovator with initiatives ranging from LEED buildings to rain gardens and constructed wetlands to restoration of forests on the property. Salmon-Safe certification represented a powerful next step because aptly named Salmon Creek, in their own backyard, is home to coho salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout.”
University campus certification is a recent offering from Salmon-Safe, an organization that has been certifying agricultural and urban land since 1996 as a powerful means to encourage management practices that protect and restore salmon habitat. Since 1996, more than 65,000 acres of farmland have become Salmon-Safe certified, including 200 vineyards that represent a third of Oregon’s total vineyard acreage. Salmon-Safe urban sites around Puget Sound range from Washington State Department of Ecology’s headquarters campus to Port of Seattle’s park system, to Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park.
To find out more about Salmon-Safe, please visit: .
91ԹϺ is located at 14204 NE Salmon Creek Ave., east of the 134th Street exit from either I-5 or I-205, or via C-Tran bus service.
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