Roger Dane

October 20, 2020

Q: How do you describe waterway preservation? Restoration?

A: The environmental efforts on Bear Creek are a combination of preservation and rehabilitation. While we casually refer to that combination as “restoration,” that term is a bit less accurate. Given the level of development in the basin, there’s no way to truly restore the stream to predevelopment conditions. However, a combination of preserving key sites along with rehabilitating others should do wonderful things for the stream system.

Preservation efforts within the city limits on Bear Creek have primarily centered on the Keller Farm. The City has also had success acquiring property or easements to much of the riparian buffer along Bear Creek.

Q: What was your role as an observer and participant in restoring the creek?

A: I was the Natural Resources (now Utilities Engineering) lead for the Lower Bear Creek Rehabilitation project. Large projects like that typically also involve staff from the Construction Division and the Planning Department.

I was also involved with some of the discussions around preserving the Keller Farm, and initial permitting meetings regarding the Keller Farm mitigation bank.(1)

Q: What role does City of Redmond play in the reaches of the creek within city limits?

A: There are several different departments and divisions within the City that work together and have influence over a variety of aspects related to Bear Creek. Planning enforces protection of riparian areas and associated wetlands (including mitigation where required). Stormwater is working to ensure that new projects meet requirements for flow control and water quality treatment before releasing to the stream. The groundwater group has an innovative program to encourage stormwater treatment before infiltration. (org chart?)

To me, another indirect measure is the trail system in and near riparian areas. Hopefully, providing access to scenic riparian areas helps foster stewardship.

All those things are largely separate from the extensive preservation and enhancement efforts led by Utilities Engineering.

Q: Do you see the tribes playing any role in recent creek restoration work?

A: The tribes play an important role in reviewing projects proposed in or near streams throughout the region. In Redmond, the Muckleshoot Tribe is the primary contact for fisheries issues. They have a strong desire to see salmon runs restored and push for each project to provide maximum environmental lift.

Q: What NGOs are relevant to the creek? (WaterTenders, AASF, others?)

A: WaterTenders has been the key NGO partner that I am aware of. Trout Unlimited has also been involved, especially in regard to the Lower Bear Creek project. Peter Holte has been much more involved in outreach efforts with local groups and individuals and might be a good contact on this topic.

Q: What do you know about WRIA-8 and how do you see its role on Bear Creek?

A: As I understand it, the WRIA-8 staff (as opposed to the geographic area) were funded under an agreement reached shortly after the Chinook listing.(2)  Jurisdictions that encompass parts of the Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish watershed contribute to support certain King County staff to advocate for salmon conservation in the watershed.

WRIA-8 staff are a tremendous resource for other local jurisdictions - super knowledgeable and well connected, with expertise in all different disciplines. WRIA-8 staff also administer much of the grant funding that supports restoration efforts.

WRIA-8 staff also creates a good umbrella for coordinating acquisition and restoration efforts. Redmond staff meets with the King County basin steward periodically to share knowledge and discuss priorities, especially near the City/County boundaries.

Q: Most successful restoration project on Bear Creek? Least successful?

A: Maybe the “most successful” is often the most recent, but for me, it has to be the Keller Farm. There’s been lots of other good work on Bear Creek within the City limits, but Keller Farm stands out due to the large scale and landscape setting. The location (at the confluence with Evans Creek) is a key rearing area for young salmon. The size of the preservation and enhancement efforts (both the WSDOT site and Keller Mitigation Bank) make it unique within the City of Redmond.(3) 

I’m not sure I see any of the restoration efforts as “least successful”. They certainly vary in scale and the type of project. Often existing constraints result in compromises, but even small planting projects can, and do contribute to a better whole. An example might be the corridor between Redmond Way and Union Hill Road.(4)  Existing development restricts the natural buffer available for restoration. Still, a series of invasive weed control and planting projects have been completed over about the last 10 years. Mechanisms for implementation have varied from volunteer plantings, Parks projects, outside agency mitigation for off-site impacts, and both mitigation and enhancement plantings completed by Utilities Engineering. On their own, any one of those projects might not make a big difference, but put them together (and add several years of growth), and it has largely transformed that corridor.

Q: Any new prospects for restoration on Bear Creek?

A: There is always more work to be done, but completion of Lower Bear Creek rehabilitation (5) and the Keller Farm projects addresses the two biggest (and highest priority) City projects identified on the main stem of Bear Creek.

The Evans Creek relocation is currently in design and scheduled for construction in the 2023-25 timeframe. That’s another project with the scale and landscape setting where it should be a real success. It also builds directly on previous projects and will enhance habitat connectivity.

In the lower reaches, there may be additional small projects over time, or mitigation projects as required.

Geographic foci (to separate urban and rural effects on the creek and its restoration)

Q: How do you picture Bear Creek’s watershed (and do you include Evans Creek)?

A: Yes, Evans is part of the greater Bear Creek system. The character of Evans is a bit different from the lower reaches of main stem Bear, with more extensive wetlands surrounding the channel. Years ago, one of the fish biologists working the fish trap on Bear Creek said that Evans was the primary coho producer in the system.

One of the other things that makes Bear Creek unique and special is the headwater drainage from some large natural areas. The Redmond Watershed Preserve has some of the highest quality tributary streams in the urban lowlands. Headwater streams originating in the Watershed include Mackey, Seidel and Colin Creeks.(6) 

Q: How/where do you divide Bear Creek on its run from Snohomish County to the Sammamish River?

A: The WRIA-8 reach map (7) is very logical in the way it divides the channel according to habitat types. As it should be, given that it resulted (I think) mostly from the EDT modeling. On those maps, there are a number of different reaches in the lower channel, and then north of the city limits they illustrate longer reaches of relatively consistent habitat conditions.

Q: How do you see the creek and riparian areas differing in its upstream and downstream areas?

A: Of course, the main focus for Redmond are those areas within the city limits. Within Redmond the Bear/Evans confluence seems rather unique from the lower reaches. That’s probably in part due to greater modifications of the lower reaches. The newly restored Keller Farm should be an amazing natural area as the plants become established, Perrigo Creek is daylighted and new flow patterns emerge. Those flat confluence areas should result in some of the best salmon rearing habitat in the whole system.

Q: When and where did restoration work start, separating that into those upper and lower areas?

A: So far as I know, the realization that Bear Creek is really special and consequent preservation efforts started long before the Chinook listing. Back in the early 1990’s (?) the waterways 2000 planning effort developed strategies for preservation and enhancement.(8)  City and County codes also started placing wider buffers to protect the stream from development.

Preservation efforts in the upper reaches by King County have been opportunistic. They have preserved a number of important parcels, and continue to work on acquiring key sites.

Within the city limits, there were some small projects (mostly mitigation) completed on the lower reaches. The first big project was when WSDOT relocated and enhanced a segment in the late 1990’s.(9)

Additional questions about Lower Bear Creek

Q: What history do you know on the Bear Creek reach on Keller Farm before CoR acquisition?

A: The interpretive signs at Millennium provide the best history of the Keller Farm that I know of. The information (and photos) presented on those signs was developed with the Keller family. Unfortunately, those signs are deteriorating and the information may not be well archived.

WRIA-8 staff have noted that both Bear and Evans Creeks were likely straightened through that confluence area. That also idea seems to mesh with what is shown on the GLO maps as compared with the recent stream locations. At Keller Farm it appears that the north/south leg was straightened almost due north/south to where it meets Evans Creek. In addition, both Evans Creek and Bear Creek were pushed to the south end of the flat valley bottom land. Tom Hitzroth had some additional information on historic channel locations in that area.

Q: What impacts to the creek did the settlers have, including clear-cuts, pollution and planting?

A: I’m not sure about details on any of the early impacts to Bear Creek. No question that one of the biggest impacts to streams throughout the region was logging. Of course, wetlands were drained for farming and other uses, and streams channeled into ditches. After the flat valley bottom land was ditched then drain tile was installed to keep the farmland (like at Keller Farm) dry enough for farming. The early tile was made of cedar planks, later replaced with clay tile and more recently plastic. I think Tom noted that in addition to drainage, the stream ditches may have been used to float logs out to the main channels where they could be taken to mills.

Q: What history do you know on Lower Bear Creek near the confluence prior to CoR acquiring it from Redmond Town Center?

A: The old GLO maps (10) illustrate that Bear Creek flowed through what is now Marymoor Park pre-settlement. The outfall would have been somewhere near the existing entry drive. (11)  At some point the channel was relocated by farmers into something like its current location. Much later (1960’s?) when SR-520 was built WSDOT armored the banks in the lower reach.

I’m not sure when the golf course was built, but I remember it being there in the 1980’s before Town Center was built.

Q: Did Indian tribes have permanent structures near the creek?

A: None to my knowledge in the location of the existing lower reach.

Q: Please tell us about the city’s acquisition of Keller Farm and the Redmond Town Center property.

A: Mike Haley led the RTC acquisition, and I’m not familiar with the details.

Cathy Beam and Jon Spangler led the Keller Farm acquisition. I believe discussions with the Keller family took place over many years and ultimately succeeded. The City was seeking to acquire the whole ~110 acre farm. WSDOT stepped in to construct a mitigation project on ~30 acres east of Bear Creek. That project was installed around 2013 and is maturing into a really nice mosaic of wetland and riparian habitats.

Q: Is there a connection between the restoration project at the confluence and the Keller mitigation bank, especially regarding the creek’s value as a natural resource in its lower reaches?

A: All of these projects build on each other, so each additional project provides more than just additive benefits to in-stream habitat and the environment. The large scale of the two projects you mention also should result in real benefits. A third thing to note is that connectivity between habitats is vital for fish and other wildlife.

Q: How do you see the work of King County on Lower Bear Creek including cooperation/conflict w CoR?

A: As noted above, WRIA-8 staff have been a tremendous resource for the City. Also, King County completed a very successful mitigation project near Union Hill Road. (12 -- reference?)

Q: What future benefits do you see from the city’s work on Bear Creek?

A: One of the wonderful things about planting trees is that they get bigger and better every year. Most other constructed assets depreciate over time, but restoration projects generally improve year after year. Up in the Redmond Watershed Preserve, about a third of the area was logged a little less than 100 years ago. Those forest areas are just now starting to take on the characteristics of old growth forest, including lots of down logs and dead snags. It’s at that stage that streams start to receive the maximum benefit from those trees as numbers of natural fallen logs build up in stream channels.

On a shorter timeframe, on each restoration site growing native trees and shrubs should be beneficial for Chinook and other salmon. However, success with fish is hard to guarantee given outside influences like migration challenges, ocean conditions and harvest. Still, there’s no question that the restoration projects have lots of other benefits, including enhanced riparian buffer habitat for native birds, amphibians and other wildlife, and better trail experience for Redmond citizens.

Q: Anything else to add, perhaps including the city’s stormwater services in the Bear Creek watershed?

A: Gary – thanks for being an advocate for Bear Creek and its fish!

Endnotes

(1)  “Keller Farm Mitigation Bank” -- see http://www.habitatbank.com/bank/keller-farm-mitigation-bank

(2)  WRIA-8 founding agreement, reached shortly after the Chinook listing?

(3)  “Keller Farm Mitigation Bank” -- see http://www.habitatbank.com/bank/keller-farm-mitigation-bank

(4)  Bear Creek Park map showing the corridor between Redmond Way and Union Hill Road

(5)  Lower Bear Creek rehabilitation brochure?

(6)  Redmond Watershed Preserve?

(7)  WRIA-8 reach map? Instead, refer to King County maps provided by Denise DiSanto

(8)  Waterways 2000?

(9)  Lower Bear Creek Rehabilitation brochure and my LBC Timeline

(10) GLO is the General Land Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).  Instead, refer to “Bear Creek watershed maps” (last page) with reference to U.S. Geological Service online maps

(11) Willowmoor, the Story of Marymoor Park page # and/or Word doc with a copy of the page?

(12) Reference to mitigation project near Union Hill Road?