King County has nearly completed a 225-foot bulkhead removal project at Piner Point on the southern-most tip of Maury Island.

The $240,000 project, expected to end this week, stands as the county’s biggest effort at bulkhead removal. The county decided to take down the structure after it bought both beachfront and uplands property at Piner Point, now designated as a county natural area.

Greg Rabourn, the county’s Vashon-Maury Island basin steward, said he’s pleased the project is almost complete. Bulkheads halt natural processes considered critical to shoreline health; erosion, for instance, helps to rebuild beaches depleted by wave action, and downed trees drop insects into the water, food for a variety of small fish.

“I think this is a great step,” he said. “It’s great to remove this bit of human infrastructure and allow for these natural processes to take place.”