How a Collaborative Design Assist Approach Supports Rebuild of a Tribe’s Fishing Port While Maintaining Operations

Commercial, ceremonial, and subsistence fishing is integral to the culture of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe (MIT). Tribal ancestors fished the greater Puget Sound area for centuries. Today, the tribe supports this connection to their past in part through ownership of a single undersized fishing port along the Duwamish River in Seattle, Washington. This paper will explore the implementation of the design assist project delivery model to design and construct a port improvement project. The tribe utilized the design assist model to collaboratively develop a design and delivery strategy with engineers and the contractor that avoided impacts to fishing operations and maximized infrastructure improvements. This project had unique permitting considerations related to the port’s location within a migration corridor for endangered species, the Lower Duwamish Superfund Site, and that it is Tribal Trust property surrounded entirely by the city.