Henderson Marsh on the North Spit soon will have more than ducks dabbling around the wetlands.

The land is part of the 1,300-acre package the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay is moving to buy from Weyerhaeuser Co. The tract, which covers about 472 acres, includes a large flat previously filled area and a marshy creek along one side.

The port commission has agreed to have Portland-based David Evans and Associates survey the wetlands. The port is hoping to have the property listed in the governor's Industrial Site Certification Program. It offers industrialists a one-stop shop for shovel-ready sites.

Consultants can charge up to $53,000 to scientifically evaluate the marsh to figure out what kind of mitigation might be needed if the port filled the whole site - and how much that might cost.

“The concept we're talking about right now is all or nothing,” port Executive Director Jeffrey Bishop said. “If you can't fill it, there's no project.”

The state could reimburse the port for up to 85 percent of the consultant costs.

Henderson Marsh has been tied to a concept the port has dubbed the Oregon Gateway. The port wants container/cargo import facilities right next to the proposed liquefied natural gas import terminal. An unidentified, big, foreign company is studying whether a container shipping terminal might be feasible. The company's interest in 800 acres has prompted the port to stop marketing all of the North Spit property. It's also led to a confidentiality agreement for port officials.

“When you deal with a private sector company ... generally they don't want their sensitive information released,” Bishop said.

If the company decides it's a business worth pursuing, company officials will decide when to go public, he added.

But for Henderson Marsh, developing the property might not be as simple as filling and building. There is some debate over Weyerhaeuser's original mitigation plan for the site due to changes over the years in the Clean Water Act.

While the port moves to give life to proposed developments, Bishop told commissioners Thursday that Project TK, a proposal to build a high-grade silicon manufacturing plant on the North Spit, is dead. The company, Tokuyama Corp., notified the port it has opted instead to expand its facilities in Japan.

Despite all the talk about North Spit industrial possibilities, Tim Rodenkirk, a representative of the Cape Arago Audubon Society, stood up at the meeting to encourage port officials not to forget the environmental potential out there.

“Coos Bay is just a birder's paradise. We just have a gold mine,” he said.

Rodenkirk lamented a decision last April, when no trespassing signs were posted along the popular trails in the area of Weyerhaeuser's former effluent lagoon and nearby wetlands.

He told port commissioners the site had been a cornerstone in local bird counts. It also was a destination for visitors year-round and during the annual Oregon Shorebird Festival, which he indicated might move to another community.

Rodenkirk asked the port to open a line of communication with his group about use of the land. Port Commissioner Caddy McKeown suggested port staff look into ways to talk with the group. Bishop also responded that it was Weyerhaeuser's decision to lock out the public.

“I'll make it clear that the port has not supported or requested it be closed,” Bishop said.