Engineering With Nature a film 5 years in the making, follows the birth of what began as a neighborhood flood-control project initiated by the City of Seattle together with an assembled team of federal, state, and local partners, including numerous scientists and professionals. The resulting project has gone far beyond its original mandate.
Today, adjacent neighborhoods no longer flood annually and this urban creek is once again functioning as an integral part of a historic green corridor. A comprehensive monitoring program has shown the water is cooler and urban pollutants are being removed through natural processes with a cutting-edge engineered stream-bed (first of its kind). Further validation came when, for the first time in 20 years, Chinook salmon returned to spawn, just a few feet from their human neighbors.
The bigger story however, may well be that this visionary project is showing what is possible when the best of informed science, artful design, inspired engineering, creative construction techniques, and a respect for the Wisdom of Mother Nature come together in search of better solutions to the environmental challenge of our time - that of creating community resilience to Climate Change.
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