Last Thursday, February 24^th, over 180 thought leaders from government, business, academia and the non-profit sector gathered at the Mountaineers for the inaugural Puget Sound Green Infrastructure Summit. The idea behind this first-of-its-kind gathering started as brainchild of our 12,000 Rain Gardens Program Manager, Aaron Clark, but the resulting event was thanks to the hard work of our host committee and event sponsors. Our overarching question was simple, but vast.

How can we work together to incorporate green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) into the gray of our cities? 

GSI includes tools and strategies that help our cities mimic the natural functions of the forests that used to cover our region.

This is important for many reasons; the primary being that polluted runoff from hardened surfaces – roads, traditional pavement and compacted soils – is, according to the Washington State Department of Ecology, the biggest polluter of our Puget Sound. Bringing green into the gray also helps mitigate the impacts of climate change, improves property values and creates wildlife habitat.  A recent report by the Nature Conservancy of Washington shows that human health and our ability to concentrate and manage stress is directly tied to our access to green places.

Puget Sound Green Infrastructure Leaders

Throughout the day’s many presentations and workshops it was clear that people were thirsty to collaborate and work across sectors.  It was apparent that challenges exist, but the overall energy was optimistic. We were able to talk through the strengths and weaknesses of each sector as we identified new perspectives and different opportunities to collaborate.

The event take-aways include:

1.      Our urban water challenges are big (see infographic).  They are  bigger than we have the resources to deal with in government  or through regulation. Private sector funding and innovation are needed.

2.      We are exploring new territory – Nobody has figured this out.  Anywhere.  But urban water quality is a problem across the country and we in the northwest have a history of innovation and commitment to environmental responsibility that sets us up to be solutions leaders.

3.      Design-thinking is going to be a critical part of this problem-solving process as we attempt to work through a watershed-wide approach. The design industry has a problem solving mindset that will be critical to success in cross-sector discussions, coupled with the ability to provide on-the–ground experience and feedback about projects that are working and those that are not.

4.     There is a common perception that Puget Sound is not in trouble, but that it is getting cleaner – we need to do a better job of presenting the facts and solutions. We must articulate ways to, “prevent pollution of Puget Sound,” instead of talking about ways to, “clean up Puget Sound”.

5.      Our GSI challenges can become “green collar” job and we heard about ideas that marry our goals for natural infrastructure with affordable housing. Nature helps all of us.

6.      We need to adopt a “patient urgency” to aggressively accelerate this work as we coordinate and listen so we can bring a more varied group of interests into the fold and we move forward.

We are in the process of analyzing the comments and feedback from the summit and will be sharing our findings and next steps soon! 

Learn More: Event photos  Everett Herald Editorial #GraytoGreen #BoeingPartner

A big thank you to our Host Committee, Sponsors and all who participated!

The Nature Conservancy in Washington, Washington Environmental Council, MIG SvR, Seattle.Gov, Washington State University, Boeing Company, The Russel Family Foundation, Cascadia Consulting Group, King County, WTD, Hitchcock Delicatessen & Charcuterie, Caffe Vita, Hilliard’s Beer, Salmon-Safe