A five-month-long quest to swim the entire length of Seattle’s Green-Duwamish River has come to a successful end. Mark Powell, Washington Environmental Council’s Puget Sound Program Director, says it gave him new perspective on the river that runs through the industrial heart of the city.
Wearing a wetsuit and a waterproof camera on his head, Mark Powell swam nearly all 85-miles of the Green-Duwamish River. He documented the journey with underwater footage that starts at the crest of the Cascade Range and ends at the river’s mouth in West Seattle.
Applause rang out as he emerged from the water at Seacrest Park accompanied by kayakers and a canoe.
“I set out with the idea that I would hope to find the heart of the Duwamish River and I think it succeeded.” Powell said he found it when he saw thousands of wild pink salmon heading upstream.
“Swimming through schools of salmon so thick and so close, I reached out and touched a salmon with my hand. And I put my GoPro camera into the school of salmon and accidentally pushed a salmon against the bottom of the river; they were so thick and abundant.”
He also saw osprey, minks, river otters and a bobcat. He also saw as lots of evidence of underwater pollution, most of that coming from storm-water runoff that flows off the land. But Powell says he’s convinced, even after decades of industrial contamination, the Duwamish is recovering.
“That’s not to say that everything is fine on the Duwamish River,” said Powell. “There’s some other species of salmon that are not doing as well. There’s very well-known pollution problems. But the thriving, healthy, wild pink salmon runt me is the heart of the Duwamish River. The heart is still beating.”
Powell says he’s newly motivated to work for the continued cleanup and restoration of the entire Duwamish watershed and Puget Sound.
