PORT TOWNSEND — In a second drive to clean up toxic creosote-tainted wood pilings and debris along Jefferson County’s shores, state Department of Natural Resources officials are attacking the marine threat with volunteer hands and a helicopter to airlift it out.
Work this week focuses on debris at Fort Worden and Fort Flagler state parks, said Lisa Kaufman, Resources restoration manager of the Orca Straits District Northwest Region.
Explaining that pilings removal would not resume until July 15 when the salmon migration window closes, Kaufman said an estimated 1,139 cubic feet and 18.2 tons of treated material would be removed at Fort Worden.
At Fort Flagler, an estimated 1,153 cubic feet or 20 tons of treated material would be pulled, totaling 36.6 tons for both parks.
“This is debris that breaks off from elsewhere and washes onto beaches from docks, piers and ferry terminals,” Kaufman said Tuesday, standing on the Fort Flagler State Park shore on Marrowstone Island, fronting Kilisut Harbor.
There, she was supervising two heavy-lifting workers from the Washington Conservation Corps.
About eight Resources representatives combed the Fort Worden shores Monday and Fort Flagler’s beaches Tuesday to gather, tag and stack debris for a helicopter that will airlift the debris for proper disposal by rail at the Roosevelt Landfill in southern Washington.
The helicopter is scheduled to begin its debris airlift work after 9 a.m. today.
It will operate north of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center.
The airlift will resume Thursday morning on Fort Flagler beaches.
