King County Sierra Club

Washington State - Cascade Chapter

South King County Group

Our Positive Impact

Tenth Semiannual Restoration at Soos Creek Park

On Saturday, May 17, 2008 the South King County Group, in cooperation with Friends of Soos Creek Park and King County Parks, held its 10th semiannual restoration work at Soos Creek Park, a beautiful ribbon of greenery running through Renton, Kent, and Covington that provides exceptional wildlife habitat in an otherwise urban setting. This now completes our fifth year of restoration work at the park.

Twenty volunteers braved ~90 F temperatures to uproot invasive Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius) making good progress on various infestations near the park’s northend. Unfortunately, Scotch Broom, a woody shrub with small yellow flowers that grows to up to 10-ft tall, was introduced as a garden ornamental by early settlers of the Pacific Coast. Our restoration work was well augmented this time by 10 students from Tacoma Community College doing restoration work as part of their biology curriculum. They did a wonderful job and we wish them well as they will soon embark on various majors at four-year schools.

The project has been a great success on many levels as it has proven to be a great vehicle of outreach to people both within and outside the club to the great benefit of not only the park, but also the Sierra Club and its goals. Over the course of the project’s history, we have been joined by numerous local park users, 2 soldiers from Fort Lewis, a group of MBA students, a high school class, various Cub Scout troops, and several club members who have never attended a Sierra Club meeting of any kind, but are drawn to this kind of work. In addition, the project has been covered twice in the Kent Reporter which reaches 31,000 homes in the area.

We expect to continue this work in the years ahead to expand our positive impacts on this beautiful and accessible park, and ensure that the gains we’ve already made are sustained.

Des Moines Beach

The Des Moines City Council was poised to okay plans to build a dock here, which would have served as a conveyor belt across the beach and through several miles of the Des Moines Creek basin, carrying arsenic-laden barges across Puget Sound (endangering marine mammals and the normal flow of marine traffic) and then sending that fill through the fragile environment of Des Moines Creek to the boondoggle that is the third runway.

The project would have ruined this vista and done irreparable damage to the ecosystem of the shoreline and the creek.

Concerned community groups (RCAA and CASE) informed citizens of the plan, prompting letters to the editor and calls to city council members. The plan was soon stopped.

Herons Get Maximum Protections

in Exchange for Herons Forever Dropping Superior Court Appeal

The most recent proposal resulted in an agreement providing critical protections for Renton’s Black River herons. The conditions help buffer the impacts of a housing development. on the hillside next to the colony. The portion of the hillside where the construction is to take place has been cleared and graded but no additional work has begun as of yet.

The agreement was finalized in 2005 by the Renton City Council and signed by (soon-to-be former ) Renton Mayor Kathy Koelker.

The South King County Group and many other organizations have supported Herons Forever in their tireless efforts to protect this truly important heron colony. We are pleased with the outcome and hope this compromise is good for the herons. This is the best deal for Herons Forever, King County taxpayers, and the herons themselves short of the developer simply not developing.

The Renton City Council and the developer, Donald Merlino, should be credited for working hard to achieve these strong protections for the herons. We hope this does what’s needed to ensure that residents throughout the region continue to enjoy this unique area and these spectacular birds for generations to come. This agreement shows that protecting natural areas and continuing to provide housing can go hand-in-hand. It takes work, but it’s worth it for people to enjoy an extraordinary wildlife sanctuary that makes this region special.

Herons Forever agreed to drop their appeal in Superior Court in exchange for stronger protections for the herons. The developer agreed to accept these conditions in order to move forward with his development. The Renton City Council approved 16 conditions for the proposed 65-house Sunset Bluff development. The final agreement strengthens these conditions by providing for the following:

Getting the contaminated runoff from SR 900 (Sunset Blvd.) and the hillside directly above the development tightlined into the Sunset Bluff water detention pond for treatment. This is a new condition.

Installing fencing that genuinely keeps people and their pets out of the protected area below. The city agreed to allow an 8-foot cyclone fence to surround the development, which they needed to authorize. The emergency access road will be locked, which the developer originally did not agree to. In its March decision, the council had approved a 6-foot wood fence, which would have had a useful life of about five years. The cyclone fence is expected to last at least 20 years.

Creating a real buffer of trees and shrubs on the developed property. The final agreement includes a landscape plan that specifies exactly what trees and shrubs will be planted and where. Trees will be planted, as opposed to scattering tree seeds. We built in a requirement for replacing those that die. There were two significant downsides to the council’s original March condition: (1) The council specified seeds. Few tree seeds develop into actual trees, and (2) The developer could have dropped a few seeds on the ground and would have been technically in compliance.

So many people and organizations made this possible through their support, persistence, and patience throughout this challenging process. Suzanne Krom, President of Herons Forever, deserves all our thanks and admiration for her long, hard, and now successful fight. Her concern and care for this colony made this all happen.

Herons Forever is currently evaluating the impacts of a rezone and subsequent development of two more parcels next to Sunset Bluff. Action is expected by April 2008.

Maury Island

An ongoing challenge is expanded mining on Maury Island and its impact on the local aquifer and our Puget Sound ecosystem. Glacier Northwest, a local gravel mining company, wants to increase their output from Maury Island to over 300 times the currently permitted level, and barge the fill across Puget Sound. Were this to be permitted, Maury Island's sole aquifer would be imperiled. It would be dangerous to disturb the arsenic on the ASARCO site; and one of the largest healthy stands of madronas in the Northwest would be cleared.

This activity would also destroy eelgrass and other near-shore aquatic life, as salmon migration corridors have been identified within and adjacent to the project and reserve sites. Damage to Puget Sound's shorelines, especially eelgrass beds, is a critical survival issue for salmon. Salmon from as far away as the Skagit River use this shoreline.

Other reasons why gravel mining on Maury Island should not be increased:

1) Orca whales feed in Vashon-Maury Island waters, including the project area; their fishing and travels would be disrupted by the noise and traffic of the dock, loading, and barging operations.

2) Oil spill risks increase with more vessel traffic. The same species that are vulnerable to disruption from construction and operation of the dock and mine (including salmon and orcas) are harmed by oil spills.

3) Puget Sound's health is in jeopardy. Rather than more damage to its shorelines and waters, we need to improve and restore its water quality and its habitats.

Pictured, above right: The South King County Group sponsored an outing to Vashon and

Maury Islands to learn more about the Glacier Northwest gravel mining operation.

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