Custom Plywood Mill

A Puget Sound Initiative site - Reaching the goal of a healthy, sustainable Puget Sound.

Custom Plywood Mill, a waterfront site in Anacortes that was used as a mill and box factory, has undergone extensive clean-up under the state’s Puget Sound Initiative. Historical operation at the Custom Plywood Mill Site includes lumber and milling practices beginning in the early 1900s. Custom Plywood operated at the Site from 1984 until 1991, but all operations ceased following a fire in 1992. Wood waste and chemical contaminants were found in upland soil, groundwater and sediment on the Site, which consists of upland, wetland, intertidal and subtidal in-water areas.

In March 2008, Ecology and the Potential Liable Person (PLP) - GBH Investments LLC entered into an Agreed Order for site cleanup. The Agreed Order required the PLP to develop a Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS) work plan to evaluate the nature extent of Site contamination, an RI/FS Report, and a draft Cleanup Action Plan (CAP) for both upland and in-water remediation.

To date, two remedial action phases have been completed at the Site:

Phase I, 2011: Interim remedial action was completed in the upland area. This phase removed contaminated soil and properly disposed of the soil off-site. A wetland mitigation area and vegetated buffer zone covering 12,000 square feet was created in the upland area. The remaining upland portion was hydro-seeded with grasses, and a stormwater bio-swale was built along the southern section.

Phase II, 2013: Interim remedial action was completed over 10 acres of inter-tidal water. Due to navigational hazards, marine pilings and construction debris were also removed. Marine sediment contaminated with dioxins/furans and wood waste were removed and disposed of off-site. Habitat-friendly shoreline was tripled in length by building a new aquatic spit, also known as a jetty extension, that helps prevent wave erosion. The wetlands restored in 2011 were connected to Fidalgo Bay.
Since 2013, Ecology has monitored the beach, epibenthic zooplankton, forage fish spawning, nearshore fish, advanced eelgrass transplants, and wetland mitigation area (wetland, backshore, and upland buffer) of nearshore habitats under the Conservation Measures and Monitoring Plan (CMMP).

Phase III, underway: The final phase of cleanup began in 2021. To clean up dioxins/furans and surficial wood waste in over six acres of sub-tidal area the following activities were performed:
• Dredged approximately 0.4 acres of sediment with more than 25 parts per trillion (ppt) of dioxins/furans and disposed of that sediment off-site.
• Placed a thin-layer cap of two to four inches of sand over approximately 1.6 acres of sub-tidal area within the eelgrass bed.
• Placed a thin-layer cap of four to eight inches of sand over approximately 4.4 acres of sub-tidal area without eelgrass.

 Follow-up monitoring over a five-year period, both in-water and in the wetland area is currently in progress.

Public Involvement Materials

Technical Documents