2025 Washington Brownfields Conference

“It’s like homecoming and freshman orientation rolled into one,” laughed a participant navigating the crowded lobby. “It’s wild, but good!”

It was indeed a homecoming for many community leaders and brownfield professionals, and an eye-opening orientation for those brand-new to brownfields. The 2025 Washington Brownfields Conference, our first major brownfields event in six years, brought together 160 people in Yakima.

“This has been in the works for a while,” said Ali Furmall, Ecology’s Brownfields Program Lead. “We’ve heard so many requests for opportunities to connect since COVID, and we’re glad to be co-presenting this event with NEBC. Our thanks to the NEBC team and session leads for pulling together content that focused on relationship building, and topics that local governments, Tribes, and nonprofits had asked to hear.” Furmall also expressed gratitude for the participants’ feedback from the team’s events in 2019 and 2024 that helped shaped this year’s conference.

Ecology site manager Mary Monahan added, “I’m really glad to see so many Tribal representatives today, sharing their own brownfield experiences from their communities.”

The two-day event kicked off with three workshops: Brownfield Fundamentals, Tribal Brownfields, and Advanced Brownfield best practices. The workshops were followed by tours at the former Boise Cascade Mill and Chuck Austin Place — two starkly distinct sites on the brownfield spectrum. One site is clearly not in use and is dotted with rusty, industrial structures. In contrast, the completed site has been transformed into a warm and welcoming housing development serving formerly unhoused veterans.

The conference’s second day featured sessions loaded with helpful information. Community leaders shared best practices for engaging communities, and Brownfield experts explained how to get technical assistance. Attendees heard from attorneys who outlined the historical laws that shape cleanups in Washington today and funding experts who explained how to combine resources and build “capital stacks.” Tribal members and partners shared what worked (and what didn't) when cleaning up brownfields in their communities.

It's the secret sauce

Stories of partnerships and persistence emerged in every conference session, and the keynotes were no exception. In their morning keynote, Palouse community leaders Michael Echanove and Doug Willcox swapped stories with moderator Sarah Sieloff as they described the years-long journey transforming an abandoned fuel depot downtown into the brewery and veterinary clinic. The Palouse team credits four key partnerships for their success — “a secret sauce,” as Echanove describes it. It starts with an engaged community of volunteers, supporters, and artists combined with a chamber of commerce working to make the community prosperous, livable, and exciting.

The other ingredients? Advocacy from the Mayor and City Attorney and their partners at Ecology, Commerce, and EPA. "Strong connections like these made an unexpected punctured underground storage tank just a minor blip on the road to cleanup and redevelopment," said Echanove. “We were so plugged in with our partners that it was a non-event; just took a couple of phone calls.”  

You don’t need perfect conditions to move forward — you need vision, persistence, and the right partners.

Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller further underscored the importance of effective partnerships in his lunchtime keynote and shared more keys to success.

He began by sharing the value in finding your champion. “Every successful project has someone who refuses to let the vision die,” he explained. He also highlighted the importance of building partnerships and considering unlikely partners. Could teachers have helpful insight for the project? Conservation groups? Small businesses? Bringing in partners with unique perspectives early in the process and giving them homework assignments makes a big difference! Sixkiller also advised mapping out the project’s strategy. A road map helps projects stay on track, even if conditions suddenly change.

Finally, Sixkiller emphasized the importance of sharing your story. The community of Oak Harbor is an excellent example. They so successfully engaged their community about the redevelopment plans for the Waterfront District that they needed to move their listening sessions to a bigger venue! “That’s what happens when people feel they’re part of the solution,” Sixkiller explained.

Learning is power

"Learning from each other is one of the most powerful things we can do at the conference today," said Director Sixkiller, "because it makes projects a little faster, a little easier, especially in times of uncertainty."

Michael Echanove and Doug Willcox would agree, because attending a conference in Wenatchee is what sparked their brownfields journey, years before the Palouse project came to fruition. “You can do this,” they assured. “If our small town can do it, yours can too.”

Remember that even in times of uncertainty — even when progress seems small — you’re bringing hope when you transform a brownfield.

“You’re creating stability, reclaiming land, restoring health, and reviving local economies. So, thank you for the big leaps, small steps, and everything in between. Thank you for bringing hope.” said Director Sixkiller.

Three ways to keep learning from each other

1. Download presentations on NEBC’s conference webpage.

2. Consider attending the National Brownfields Conference in Chicago this summer or Infrastructure Assistance Coordinating Council (IACC) Conference in Wenatchee this fall.

3. Host a brownfields workshop in your community! Contact Brownfields Lead Ali Furmall to learn more.