The Port of Tacoma this week posted to its Flickr page ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/portoftacoma/ ) photos of progress related to the Hylebos Creek habitat restoration.

The Port bought the former Parsons property on Marine View Drive in 2005 for future habitat mitigation and restoration. Its tidally influenced location at the mouth of the salmon-bearing Hylebos Creek makes it valuable for restoring interconnected habitat.

While plans for the property are divided into five separate projects to fill current or future habitat restoration requirements, designs took into account the whole parcel to provide the greatest environmental benefit. When restoration is complete, the property will provide about 25 acres of freshwater and intertidal marsh, forested upland and riparian habitat along Hylebos Creek. It also will include public access that allows the habitat to be viewed from a platform overlooking the site.

Construction on the habitat site required removing contaminated material, reclaiming the gravel mine and planting native trees and shrubs. To date, work on site has included removing 254,531 tons of contaminated or unsuitable material (the material was was sent to LRI’s Hidden Valley facility for disposal); removing about 7,000 tons of concrete; moving 70,000 cubic yards of on-site soil to reclaim the former gravel mine; and planting 35,000 native trees and shrubs — including willow, maple and Douglas fir trees, elderberry, Indian plum and oceanspray shrubs, and grasses and clover.

For more information, vist http://www.portoftacoma.com/hylebos-creek .