Atkinson Donates Oso Wetland Site to Snohomish County

Oso, WA – The catastrophic Oso landslide on March 22, 2014, damaged the roadway, wiped out a neighborhood, and took 43 lives. As part of the design-build SR 530 Emergency Roadway Reconstruction project, Guy F. Atkinson Construction purchased a 36.3-acre private property within the slide area from Gary “Mac” McPherson to develop a wetland mitigation site. 

Atkinson and designer Jacobs worked with the Washington State Department of Ecology, Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Snohomish County, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA fisheries, and the Stillaguamish Tribe to design and permit a 12.2-acre combined wetland, stream, and buffer area – with the remaining 24.1 acres preserved as open space. 

In December 2015, Atkinson donated the Linda Lee McPherson Mitigation Site – named for the wife of Mac McPherson who was killed in the slide and a longtime librarian and Darrington school-board member – to the Snohomish County Parks Department as a set-aside land trust with preserved area for future wetland development.