King County moves to save beaches

Important pockets of undeveloped shoreline around Puget Sound will be saved in a multiagency initiative announced yesterday by King County Council members.

A half-dozen stretches of beach and shady riverbank, from Federal Way to Shoreline, will be preserved next year to protect spawning grounds and habitat for juvenile salmon and other fish, county officials said.


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The Puget Sound Shorelands Initiative marks a new focus on the nearshore marine environment after years of attention on streams and lakes.

"The Sound is in trouble," said Larry Phillips, chairman of the council's budget committee.

The six sites are being acquired through partnerships with environmental groups, non-profit organizations and other government agencies. King County's first-year contribution of $1.2 million comes from the fraction of property taxes -- less than 1 percent -- earmarked for land conservation.

The initiative is tackling these projects in 2003:

Expand Richmond Beach Saltwater Park in Shoreline. The purchase of 1.2 acres of land owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway would nearly double the amount of beachfront property. The acquisition of slightly less than an acre of uplands would connect the park to a wooded conservation area owned by the city. The cost is estimated at $202,000.
Buy 680 feet of shoreline in the Salmon Bay Natural Area, between Hiram's at the Locks restaurant and the train trestle near the Ballard Locks. More than 3 million smolt migrate through the locks each year. Estimated cost: $250,000.
Acquire wooded land along salmon-bearing Hamm Creek, which flows into the Duwamish Waterway south of Seattle. Estimated cost: $150,000.
Save Grandmother's Hill, a site on the Duwamish River sacred to some Native Americans that includes 600 feet of shoreline. The plan would require replanting the bank, but preserves more than 10 acres of land being considered for development. Marine fossils millions of years old have been found there.

The project will cost about $2 million, with $200,000 coming from the county's tax fund next year.
Preserve 275 acres with a mile of shoreline on Maury Island that is threatened by industrial development. The land contains high bluffs that feed the sandy beach, supporting eelgrass used by salmon for food and shelter. The cost is $5 million, with $250,000 coming from the county.
Buy up to 20 acres of shoreline in the Hylebos Creek watershed near Federal Way. Decades ago, there were runs of thousands of salmon and cutthroat trout in the creek, according to a conservation group. The land, which will cost about $190,000, is also used by seabirds.

Saving undeveloped shoreline is cheaper and less risky than trying to repair damaged areas, officials said yesterday.

The actions are the first to be taken by the new initiative.

The county plans to continue its work on marine areas by helping on a massive endeavor called the Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project.

"This is very much like a large quilt," said Noel Gilbrough, a project manager for the Army Corps of Engineers, which is helping lead the Nearshore Project.

The targeted parcels are "a big piece of this quilt to bring salmon back."

Adult salmon need the nearshore areas during their migration back into the Sound in order to spawn. King County scientists are finding that juvenile salmon spend time along the region's beaches eating insects before heading to sea.

"They don't sprout wings and fly over Puget Sound to the ocean," said Tom Dean, restoration project manager for People for Puget Sound, an environmental group working on the initiative.

P-I reporter Lisa Stiffler can be reached at 206-448-8042 or lisastiffler@seattlepi.com

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