Herrera’s work on the Port of Tacoma’s Upper Clear Creek Mitigation Site project was honored on October 26, 2016 with the Green Project Award for Innovation and Achievement in Sustainability at the Northwest Construction Consumer Council’s “Success Through Powerful Partnerships” program held at the Lynnwood Convention Center.
The Port of Tacoma’s new wetland mitigation site offers a successful solution for the Port’s environmental compliance needs and the health of local fish and wildlife. The project restores a functioning floodplain ecosystem including reintroduction of Clear Creek, side channels, back channels, and ponds; reestablishment of the connections between the stream and the surrounding floodplain wetlands; restoration and creation of a forested and scrub-shrub wetland mosaic; and restoration of a forested riparian buffer. Herrera assisted the Port of Tacoma with design, permitting, and construction oversight of the 44-acre project within the lower Puyallup River valley bottom near the cities of Tacoma and Puyallup.