FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington Public Ports Association recognizes the Port of Skagit with 2025 Environmental Stewardship Award
SPOKANE, Washington – Every year, the Washington Public Ports Association (WPPA) recognizes ports across the state for their extraordinary accomplishments in the categories of job creation, community engagement, creative partnership, and environmental stewardship.
This year, the WPPA is honored to present its award for Environmental Stewardship to the Port of Skagit for their leadership in, and promotion of, the Vessel Turn-In Program (VTIP).
Like many of our port members, the Port of Skagit understands the challenge and threat that abandoned and derelict vessels can pose to public health and the environment. These vessels often show up at port-owned marinas, abandoned in public waterways, in other marine habitats, and in landfills. They often discharge hazardous waste – from toxic chemicals to petroleum products – into those sensitive environments and are costly to clean up if a responsible party can even be identified.
In Skagit County, the Port of Skagit has taken on significant responsibility for addressing the challenges that come from the abandonment of derelict vessels. Starting in 2024, the Port partnered with the Department of Natural Resources and others to bring more boats into the Department of Natural Resources Vessel Turn-In Program (VTIP) and allow more boats to be safely recycled. Eight different organizations and entities, with the port, worked together to launch the program in July 2024 with a special community event that included a tour of vessels that had previously been turned in, brief presentations from project partners, and a demonstration of the vessel deconstruction and recycling process.
Vessels at the end of their use were able to be voluntarily turned in for free and transported to the Port of Skagit’s La Conner Marina to be deconstructed and recycled. The end result? In just four short months: 49 vessels were voluntarily turned in; and 109 tons of total material was successfully recycled, including 80 tons of scrap wood, 19.8 tons of metal, and 6.7 tons of cardboard. Successfully preventing vessels from being left on aquatic lands and potentially harming water quality and threatening public safety and health.
Ports are committed to environmental stewardship, and tackling big environmental issues like derelict vessels often requires creativity and partnership. These are two qualities that the Port of Skagit showed in developing its voluntary vessel recycling program and event and we are glad to present them with our 2025 Environmental Stewardship Award.
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As a nonprofit trade association representing Washington’s independent port districts and their partners, the Washington Public Ports Association (WPPA) fosters public policy that supports our members and helps them execute their community-supported goals. The WPPA was charged by the Legislature in 1961 with acting as the coordinating agency for public port districts throughout Washington, serving as the focus through which ports work cooperatively to develop policy direction, share information, and address issues on economic development, trade, transportation, and environmental stewardship. Public port districts offer a wide range of locally governed services, including the operation of marine terminals and barge facilities, tourism promotion, development of industrial parks, management of public access points, marinas, airports, railroads, and more.
Contact: Eric ffitch, Executive Director
360-763-1179 cell
effitch@washingtonports.org
