Environmental Services

What’s good for the environment is good for all of us.

At the Port of Vancouver USA, we measure success in many ways—none more vital than our ability to keep our air, land and water clean. In fact, we’ve made ecological responsibility central to how we do business. We believe that environmental stewardship and economic development can co-exist, and as community citizens, we are committed to preserving natural spaces and managing resources wisely. The following four values outline this commitment:

Integrated Decision Making

We incorporate environmental costs, risks, impacts and benefits into our business choices, operating decisions and facility planning. Environmental responsibility is part of our corporate culture.

Sustainability

Sustaining our natural resources is important. We work hard to protect our air shed, lands and water. In everything we do, we strive to conserve energy, and we maximize the use of sustainable resources in the construction and operation of our facilities and the delivery of our services. The port formalized our sustainability efforts with the “We Can!” project by recognizing past sustainability accomplishments.

Pollution Prevention

The port avoids contamination of property through best management practices and effective safeguarding programs. We continue to efficiently remediate cleanup sites to the benefit of the environment and for future industrial use and job creation. We also work with tenants to emphasize ongoing environmental responsibility.

Compliance

We meet or exceed regulatory requirements in the construction and operation of our facilities and delivery of our services.

Wetland Bank

Columbia River Wetland Mitigation Bank

The first of its kind in Clark County, the 154-acre Columbia River Wetland Mitigation Bank is a partnership between the port and Clark County Mitigation Partners, LLC, the private-sector entity responsible for planting, monitoring and maintaining the bank. Located on the north side of Lower River Road on the port’s Parcel 6, the bank provides a highly effective way to preserve valuable habitat and ensure responsible development by improving wetlands in the Lower Columbia River watershed.

Typically, mitigation banks consolidate multiple smaller wetland mitigation projects into a larger, potentially more ecologically valuable site. Such consolidation encourages greater diversity of habitat and wetland functions. It also helps create more sustainable systems. Specifically, the port project enhances approximately 78 acres of wetlands, creates an additional 25.5 acres of wetlands and improves other natural areas, including songbird habitat.

Units of restored, created, enhanced or preserved wetlands resulting from wetland mitigation banking are expressed as “credits,” and can then be purchased by both public and private sectors to offset development impacts to wetlands within a pre-approved service area. The service area for the Columbia River Wetland Bank extends from the Cowlitz River to Bonneville Dam and extends inland up the Columbia River tributaries to where the tidal influence from the Columbia River ends.

Contact Habitat Bank NW for more detailed information on purchasing credits.