Madrona Woods creek again flows free

For decades, the cool, clear water from springs in the city-owned Madrona Woods flowed through stormwater pipes into Lake Washington.

But no more. Madrona residents are taking back their creeks.

Members of Friends of Madrona Woods, a nonprofit volunteer group, marveled Monday at water flowing down the steep ravine, through a new culvert and pond, under a bridge and into a newly created cove. Last month, creek and lake were reunited, representing an urban triumph for residents, park lovers and salmon, volunteers say -- and a model for reclaiming streams in other neighborhoods.

"It's significant, because it will once again be a complete stream in its natural state, reconnected to the lake," said Judith Starbuck, one of about 10 members of the Friends group who worked on the project for about 10 years. Volunteers, including neighbors, schools and youth groups, donated 1,600 hours this year to the project.

"It's finally going where it was meant to go," she said, adding that the group still seeks additional funding and physical labor to finish rerouting the rest of the creek, build a trail bridge and rip out invasive blackberry, ivy, laurel and holly.

Seattle landscape architect Peggy Gaynor, who has worked on rerouting creeks from pipes at Thornton Creek, Meadowbrook and Ravenna, said the Madrona project "is the most ambitious and complex project I've been involved with."

She believes it's the first completely neighborhood-driven project citywide that reconnected a spring-fed stream to Lake Washington in a completely natural condition.

"The past thinking on creeks was 'let's just get rid of them' by putting them through pipes and nobody even knew they were there," Gaynor said. "Friends of Madrona Woods wanted to reconnect the creek to nature; we're undoing the sins of the past and restoring natural resources."

Gaynor said the Madrona effort is unique because it will restore an entire watershed -- woods, creek and shoreline. It also has been completely administered by a nonprofit.

Years of volunteer efforts, fundraising and often backbreaking work finally restored the flow of Madrona Creek through a meandering channel and into the lake just south of the intersection of Lake Washington Boulevard and Madrona Drive. It was also a breakthrough for threatened chinook salmon.

"So much of Lake Washington is armored with bulkheads and riprap; having an actual creek connection with cool, year-around, spring-fed water into a shoreline area where salmon can rest, eat and hide from predators is really unique," said Polly Hicks, restoration ecologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle.

Kathy Minsch, manager of the aquatic habitat matching grant program with Seattle Public Utilities, said the city would like to see more efforts to restore the Lake Washington shoreline for salmon. The Madrona project has received two matching grants -- $151,000 and $80,000 -- through the program.

The public wins, too, volunteers say. Walking along a new path, visitors can see the lake, the Cascades, including Mount Rainier -- and hear the creek for the first time in years.

"These woods used to be dark, gloomy -- scary," group member Deirdre McCrary said, referring to 20 years ago when the area was frequented more by drug users than residents. "Kids didn't come here."

But Monday, walkers and joggers enjoyed the trail, so quiet at times one could hear the rippling creek and the cry of an eagle soaring overhead.

About one-third of the creek has been rerouted, flowing over rocks and waterfalls via a sculpted, serpentine channel carrying it via culvert beneath Lake Washington Boulevard and into the newly created cove.

A local contracting firm, Joseph McKinstry Construction, donated a footbridge, sparing the group the expense, near the shoreline.

The shoreline area is currently behind fencing to protect newly planted groundcover, bushes and trees and is expected to open to the public in February, Starbuck said.

Helped by city, county and federal grants as well as $48,000 in donations, volunteers hired contractors to help with some shoreline projects, including ripping out a decades-old bulkhead -- a major salmon barrier.

The group hopes to raise an additional $200,000 to reroute the remaining two-thirds of the creek, build several trail bridges, and complete and maintain the woods and restoration.

"We walk here every day; we've noticed the changes," said Jackie Hubenet, an owner-teacher of Jackie's School, leading a group of preschoolers along the lake.

The 4- and 5-year-olds have been learning about trees and "are happy the salmon have a place to rest now," said teacher Ellen Markman

"It's been exhausting -- a big, tough project," Gaynor said. "But it's satisfying knowing you're changing something for all time. It's one of those projects that is bigger than ourselves -- and creates something for future generations."

FOR MORE INFORMATION

To learn more about Madrona Woods, visit madronawoods.org.