U.S. Army divers are working all week to retrieve several hundred old tires from the waters off Saltwater State Park in Des Moines. By Friday, the 15 divers from the U.S. Army Dive Company based in Fort Eustis, Va., hope to have removed 500 tires, which are sunken in 50 to 60 feet of water over 55 acres off the shore.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife collaborated with federal, state and private organizations on the cleanup project, the first large-scale tire removal in Puget Sound.

“Everyone has contributed a little to make this happen,” said Greg Bargmann, WDFW marine ecosystem manager. “This is a model we need to use if we want to clean up Puget Sound.”

The tires were placed in the water during the 1970s as artificial reefs – a common practice.

“It was a good idea at the time,” said Jeff June, a project manager with the Northwest Straits Commission, a civilian group that works to survey and remove lost fishing gear. However, tires are far from ideal materials for reefs, June added.

“You want a rocky reef with lots of nooks and crannies. With a tire, the center gets filled with sand, and it’s a big slab of rubber,” he said.

More important, the toxic preservatives in the rubber leach into water over time, with potential hazards for fish and the people who eat them.

The U.S. Army Dive Company is a unit within the 6th Transportation Battalion (Truck), performing beach survey and reconnaissance, obstruction marking, and removal, recovery and demolition.

The divers concentrated on an area 600 feet long by 300 feet wide, where most of the tires are located. Working in teams of two, the divers strung the old tires along a wire cable, which they connected to deflated beige lift bags that can carry up to one ton, or 10 to 12 tires. Support boats dragged the inflated bags – with their 30-year-old cargo – to the ship, where a crane hoisted everything on board.

A 52-minute session underwater Tuesday afternoon yielded a clump of 12 tires, covered with translucent orange-and-white sea anemones that resembled deflated balloons, rust-colored algae, barnacles and even a crab (it was tossed back in the water).

Once collected, the tires will most likely be chopped up and dumped at a landfill, since their condition makes them difficult to recycle. The Army Dive Company will then move north to the San Juan Islands and Cherry Point, Whatcom County, collecting derelict fishing gear such as old nets and crab pots that fishermen have lost.

“It has the full flavor of a military operation,” said Ginny Broadhurst, a marine specialist with the Northwest Straits Commission.

Sgt. Samuel Carter, an Army reservist out of Tacoma, said the project required intense coordination among numerous agencies. “I have spent the past seven months burning up my cell phone, going to meetings,” he said.

And the soldiers got experience, too.

In addition to the Army Dive Company, 54 mostly Tacoma-based personnel of the U.S. Army Reserve provided landing craft and gear.

“It’s a real-world mission instead of moving fake cargo,” Carter said. “It’s training; the Army is spending the money anyway, so we might as well do something good for the environment.”

To replace the tires, the state Parks and Recreation Commission will build a 300-foot artificial reef with large natural rock boulders, concrete and fake kelp to attract marine life. The agency is still seeking a permit for the structure, but hopes to finish construction by February.

Joyce Chen: 253-597-8633