What Trees are at Risk from proposals to expand SeaTac International Airport?

Port of Seattle documents, including its Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) and Real Estate Strategic Plan (RESP) reveal that this agency proposes to swap out trees for industrial structures on dozens of acres in neighborhoods of SeaTac, the city that hosts SeaTac Airport. Multiple additional projects, including a proposed extension to Des Moines Business Park West (500 trees proposed for replacement with a 402,000 industrial building) would remove even more trees.

Neighbors of the SeaTac Airport need their trees. For decades, the Port has stripped this community of its health-giving forest. The City of SeaTac already has one of the sparsest tree canopies in the region, ranking 40th out of 45 King County cities. And Public Health Seattle King County has recommended more trees and green space in airport communities to protect residents from pollution that is shortening lifespans and causing widespread harm to human health.

See below for a table and map of known Port proposals and a list of sources on which we base our estimate of 80+ acres of tree loss in our community - even if North SeaTac Park is saved (and an additional 31+ acres of loss if the Port’s earlier recommendations for developing in the park go forward.)

Map of Selected SAMP and other Tree Loss Proposals

This map was created by adapting an excerpt of the City of SeaTac’s zoning map. Text boxes and red circles were added. This is a partial list of Port construction projects. See sources below. Click for larger view.

Sources

The Port has shifted a number of its deforestation proposals (for example, within North SeaTac Park, south of the park, and in SW SeaTac) from its Real Estate Strategic Plan to its SAMP. That is noted in a footnote on page 14 of rhe Port’s 2020 Real Estate Strategic Plan. The most current SAMP documents known to the Defenders do not yet show that these projects are part of the SAMP.

  1. Seattle Tacoma International Airport Sustainable Airport Master Plan Near Term Projects Environmental Review Process Scoping Information Documents prepared by Landrum & Brown Inc. for Port of Seattle, July 2018 (p. 11) (https://sampntpenvironmentalreview.org/wp-content/uploads/SAMP_NTP_EnvrReview_ScopingReport_FINAL_Attachment1.pdf)

  2. Port of Seattle 2020 Real Estate Strategic Plan, August 2021. Pages 14-15. (https://www.portseattle.org/sites/default/files/2021-10/2020_Real_Estate_Strategic_Plan.pdf)

  3. Real Estate Strategic Plan: Port Commission Study Session, July 26, 2016, p 16-23. (https://meetings.portseattle.org/portmeetings/attachments/2016/2016_07_26_SS_5_supp.pdf)

  4. Port of Seattle SeaTac Airport IDIQ - Westside Maintenance Campus, WT America, accessed 3/29/24. Will include a vehicle fuel rack, airfield deicer storage, and an approximate 135,000 square feet multi-bay building enclosing a Consolidated Resource Recovery Facility (CRRF) for consolidating airport waste materials. This multi-acre site will be located “on a set of tiered platforms moving down the hillside” which is now covered in pine trees that catch airport pollution. (https://wtpartnership.co/our-team-experience/seatac-westside-maintenance-campus/)

  5. City of SeaTac Zoning printable map: Accessed 3/29/24)at https://www.seatacwa.gov/our-city/maps-and-gis/printable-maps