Shirley Doolittle-Egerdahl
Shirley Doolittle-Egerdahl grew up in the 60s spending summers at the family cabin on Paradise Lake in northern King County. Her great-great-grandfather, Henry Davis, homesteaded the land-grant parcel that includes the lake. Her mother is Barbara Jean Norelius-Doolittle, who wrote the Davis family history that accompanies her interview. Early on, Shirley joined the environmental movement in various local groups trying to slow and mitigate development in the Upper Bear Creek area, and she continues living on the family parcel where she owns and runs Tadpole Haven nursery. She is an active member of WaterTenders, having served as President for several years.
Narrator: Shirley Doolittle-Egerdahl
Date: June 11, 2020
Interviewed by: Gary Smith
Place: Tadpole Haven Native Plants
TRANSCRIPT:
Gary Smith: Here we are at Shirley Doolittle’s Tadpole Haven on June 11, recording from her recollection of family and activities in Northern King County. It’s hard to see. Okay. Okay, I’d like to start off with Shirley Doolittle-Egerdahl, uh, who has filled out the forms and is ready to answer some questions about her family history here in Northern King County and probably some also in Southern Snohomish. So, Shirley we’re going to talk first about Bear Creek. Do you happen to know how Bear Creek got it’s name?
Shirley Doolittle-Egerdahl: No. (laughs)
GS: That’s fine. So when you got here, and as far as your family ever talked about it, it was Bear Creek.
SD: Well, actually I never really heard it called Bear Creek. I, I heard it called the inlet and the outlet.
GS: Oh sure, explain that.
SD: Because we’re at Paradise Lake.
GS: Uh huh.
SD: And my great-great-great grandfather homesteaded around Paradise Lake.
(equipment background noise)
GS: Okay Shirley, go ahead.
SD: So we just called the crick, the crick, or the inlet or the outlet. I didn’t even know it was named Bear Creek until, I don’t know, maybe when I was a teenager. So when I was a little girl in the early sixties, we, our summer cabin was out here and, so I spent summers out here, and got to know the place pretty well.
GS: Pretty nice place. How would you identify the headwaters of Bear Creek, obviously it’s up north of where we are, uh, near Paradise Lake. Have you ever been up in the area that you might call headwaters?
Time Stamp: 2’22” describing Bear Creek headwaters
SD: Uh, yeah, well, I mean, the, probably the ultimate headquarters are on the, on the other side of highway 522, but uh, and I haven’t really wandered around there, I’ve been on some of the places that are further upstream and above the Lloyd place, and uh,
GS: Is it identifiable as a creek up there, or is it more wetlands?
SD: The Lloyds, in the Lloyds, it’s a full blown creek, and uh, and, I’ve got a friend that has horses so we’ve, we’ve traipsed around in the woods on horseback and seen little, little streams that I know are feeding in to the, in to Bear Creek.
GS: Some of them had names, probably ...
SD: I don’t think so.
GS: No. And then even deeper history, uh, do you now if there were Indian tribes that left any structures near the lake or the creek in this area?
Time Stamp: 3’30” describing Indian contacts
SD: Oh, I never heard about any structures. I did hear, in fact, um, yeah, just reading it in this little story that my mom put together about Paradise Lake and the family history, um, that when my grandparents built the house out here, right over where the garden is, um, they found a lot of arrowheads and uh, spear points and things, and my dad talked about finding arrowheads in, you know, just laying around. So we know that Native Americans were here and there’s even a story, one story, that I know about, about an elderly Native American that paddled his canoe out from Lake Washington all the way up to Paradise Lake, which must have been in, in the 30’s, and uh, he wanted to come take a look at where they used to go hunting when he was a boy. So that’s pretty cool.
GS: He didn’t say anything about fishing? That wasn’t part of the story?
SD: No. My aunt remembers him saying that he called this the Happy Hunting Grounds, but she was just a little girl, probably. Apparently that’s the story ...
GS: Well, uh, talking about your aunt or whoever goes back the furthest, uh, what pioneers, uh, in your family uh, settled the area?
Time Stamp: 5’03” describing the Henry Davis land grant
SD: My great-great-great grandfather, Henry Davis, came here and uh, the story that I heard is that he was a Welsh, he came from Wales, moved to Pennsylvania, and then some of the family moved to Colorado and he came out to the West Coast and um, he was mining coal and black diamonds and met a guy who was um, wanting to give up this, this piece of land. He had started to homestead, but he changed his mind, and um, so Henry Davis took over part of the homestead and another miner took over the other half, so there was uh, about eighty acres in the original homestead that my great-great-great grandfather homesteaded.
GS: And that was in his name solely as a land grant?
SD: Yeah. Yeah. That was in the early 1890’s.
GS: Okay. Um, was that the reference that they made themselves that they homesteaded the land? Is that how they talked about it?
SD: I think so. I mean I think that’s the only term I’ve heard.
GS: And did it require putting a structure on the property?
SD: Oh, legally?
GS: Mm Hmm.
SD: As far as I know, yeah, I mean, that was what I always heard.
GS: What was the first one that they built?
SD: Well, Henry Davis built a house, and a barn, and ...
GS: How close to the creek or the lake were they?
SD: Well, they were over, over um, where the cottage house is now.
GS: What’s their last name?
SD: Pat Hagland owned that piece.
GS: Okay.
SD: But um, but there are, he was married to my second cousin and she bought that piece of land and she passed away and he remarried so technically he’s not related, but, he’s like a shirttail cousin.
GS: Uh huh.
SD: And, uh, I actually I just was running across the information about ...
GS: So we can locate that in your mom’s uh,
SD: Yeah.
GS: ...uh, record of events?
SD: Yeah, okay. So he started this homestead on 76 acres that included Paradise Lake about 1885, so the, that, the homestead papers came, you know, when the seven years they had to work, improve the land or whatever.
GS: Mm hmm.
SD: So he cleared the brush, dug drainage ditches, so that’s how he managed the farm. So, the garden, a pasture and a cemetery, and a church, and ...
GS: So that’s the start of the Davis family, which then passed on land uh, to uh, a family that married in by the name of Doolittle. Is that right?
Time Stamp: 8’20” describing Henry Davis when he went to “boondocks”
SD: Uh yes, so, um, his, so he was already in his fifties, Henry Davis was already in his fifties when he homesteaded. That takes a lot of guts to start something like that at age 50. And this was really out in the boondocks, but his granddaughter uh, and, two granddaughters came out here to live with him, from Colorado, and uh, and then she married Fred Grant Doolittle, and that’s where the name comes from.
GS: That’s a good start, uh, on the family names. Do you know any other pioneer families like the Griffiths or the Lloyds, at least by name?
SD: Yeah, I know them by name and I um, it seems like uh, I forget is it the ... I think it might be one of Danny Griffith’s relatives, that, um, part of the cemetery association ...
GS: For which jurisdiction, or what church, whatever it is?
SD: It’s the Paradise Valley cemetery association, and um, well I guess, uh teenagers are probably not going to find this the most scintillating information, but um, the Paradise Valley Cemetery is actually the Maltby Cemetery ...
GS: Oh.
SD: ... which has, you know, this incredible reputation, which makes me jealous, but (laughs), anyway...
GS: Reputation as what, historic?
SD: No, as scary.
GS: Oh. (laughs)
SD: Like the third scariest place in the nation, or was rated that once.
GS: Oh, okay.
SD: Yeah, I mean it makes the, you know, supernatural places. Anyway that’s just up the hill where all my relatives are buried, and, so there’s some good stories around that, but that’s where, that was part of our property, and got used for a cemetery ...
GS: And you’re pointing up across Paradise Road, is that right?
SD: Yep, uphill. Well obviously. If it was downhill it would be in the lake.
GS: In the lake! Now uh, you mention drainage ditches, uh, as part of the farming, um, what other impacts did the settlers have, in your family and others, that might have affected Bear Creek, or the lake?
Time Stamp: 10’47” about “drastic changes” from logging and from bridges over Bear Creek
SD: Yeah, I would say that there was drastic changes that came because of settlers, settlement, I mean it must have been totally devastating for the ecology here for awhile because uh, there was a, a road built, no, a railroad built on the other side of the lake, and I’m not sure, I can’t remember where Siler’s Grave (?) goes exactly .. I don’t think that’s Silers Grave, but, it went to a um, a mill that was somewhere on the far side of the lake but I don’t have a clear picture of where it was exactly.
GS: It wasn’t on your property then?
SD: No.
GS: So, it was east of your property?
SD: Yeah, east. And um, maybe a little bit south. But the railroad is what, is what that road is that’s back there, 119th it’s called in Snohomish County and then I forget what it’s called inside of King County, but, um, my cousin lives on that little road. So it goes right next to the lake, and, and sort of parallel to the lakeshore for awhile.
GS: That, that’s not where the railroad was?
SD: It is.
GS Oh, it is, okay.
SD: Yeah.
GS: Okay.
SD: And it went across the creek.
GS: Okay.
Time Stamp: 12’13 focusing on coal-fired trains dumping their ash into Bear Creek
SD: There was a trestle, um, that was described in here, actually. And they would dump the coal ash in the lake, in the creek, as they were crossing the trestle, and so that, and that raised the level of the lake, actually. And um...
GS: Now this is second hand told to you by your aunt, maybe?
SD: My father.
GS: Okay.
SD: Yeah. Obviously I wasn’t around.
GS: Right.
SD: But yeah, that raised the level of the lake, and everyone, you know, that was close enough to be able to log and get their logs taken to market, everyone logged every stick they could off of their land at that time, and this was in the early 20th century, but I’m not sure what year.
GS: At least a hundred years ago?
SD: Yeah. I’d say so. And um, and they, and people, you know, they, they thought they’d never get a chance to sell their timber again if they didn’t sell it right then, because, the railroad and the mill were temporary, and so they, they, they sold, they sold it, and everything was scalped from here to who knows where.
GS: Was there ever any mention of flooding or water pooling?
SD: As a result of that?
GS: Yeah.
SD: I didn’t hear about anything.
GS: Okay. Okay. But the lake did rise between, obviously there was enough, uh, fill that it had an effect on that, and probably on the creek also.
SD: Yeah.
GS: You said that they dumped it in the creek or the lake?
SD: The creek.
GS: On a trestle that went over the creek.
SD: Yeah, in the outlets.
GS: Outland?
SD: Outlets.
GS: Oh, the outlet down south.
SD: So they dumped it in the outlet of the creek.
GS: Okay. I think it’s enough history. We’ll talk later about it separately. So uh, I’m going to put a little marker in here.
SD: And there was a, they raised fish ...
GS: Oh.
SD: ...here.
GS: Aquaculture?
Time Stamp: 14’21” focusing on fish farming, sports fishing and hunting at Paradise Lake Resort
SD: Yeah, well, for um, I think they raised it, raised the fish so that they could um, yeah, I don’t think it was just to eat, trade out, I think it was to stock the lake.
GS: Uh huh. But they did it in the lake?
SD: They did it in the inlet, up the creek.
GS: Okay.
SD: And uh,
GS: Do you know what, what species?
SD: Well, it was trout.
GS: Trout. Yeah. And did they talk about eating fresh trout?
SD: Yeah, so, I can’t remember if they used that for food or if they just raised the fish and then released them, because there was a resort here, starting in the late ‘20s, they were making money on the place.
GS: Did they talk about fishermen, or women coming in?
SD: Yeah. Yeah. And duck hunters.
GS: Uh huh. And this goes back to the ‘20s you said?
SD: Mm hmm. Yeah. They built a lodge here uh, in 1935.
GS: Do you remember a name?
SD: Paradise Lake Resort. Paradise Lake Lodge.
GS: Was there a membership, or just pay as you go?
SD: Pay as you go. And, you know, there was a lot of, yeah, it was pretty popular, um, you know, and yeah, organizations would rent it for their affairs.
GS: Is there anything left of that structure?
SD: No. It was burned down. I watched it burn down in 1962 maybe? And um, yeah I think, I don’t know the real reason I, it was demolished. I was told it had termites, and, but, um, I, I’m inclined to think it may have had something to do with uh, my great-Aunt, um, uh, sad loss of her husband, who was an alcoholic, this would have been my great-Uncle, and died of asphyxiation at the lodge.
GS: Not in the fire?
SD: No, no. He died of uh, he was in his car with the motor running.
GS: Oh. Oh.
SD: Because he, she wouldn’t let him in the house if he came home from the bar at night, so he had to sleep in the car and it killed him. And I think that, the memories associated with that might have been the real reason. The resort was done, you know.
GS: And that was in what period? The ‘50s?
SD: Uh, well the, yeah, the lodge burned in 1962 and I think Uncle Henry died in the late ‘50s. I’m not sure exactly when.
GS: So that’s a Henry Doolittle, not a Henry Davis?
SD: Yes.
GS: Okay. Thank you. So we are moving in to the modern period.
SD: Yeah.
GS: Which I guess is pretty modern. When is the current, was the current house and nursery building built on this property? And perhaps your son’s house as well?
SD: Yeah. Well, let’s see. This, this little a-frame was built in 1964, I believe, and um, and there was a building that was about same size as this new house, where my son lives. It was a cabin, uh, where we spent our childhood summers.
GS: Same ...
SD: That was built in 1960.
GS: Same foundation? Or different?
SD: Yeah, basically the same foundation. Same footprint. And then that was, that was built 2011 I think.
GS: What was built?
SD: The, the existing house.
GS: Oh. Okay.
SD: On that footprint.
GS: And how far is that from either the creek or the lake?
SD: Well, couple hundred, two hundred yards probably.
GS: Okay. And because you’re, uh, a gardener and, and nursery owner, uh, I assume this is a grade that would carry water down to the lake?
Time Stamp: 19’38” about environmental damage from farming and recreation on the property
SD: Yeah. Yeah. So it, um, it percolates slowly down there, but the, the ground, the subsoil is all sand, it’s just pure sand, and there’s hardly any topsoil because, they, well, this is another effect on the lake, ecological effect – my relatives had a lot of ecological effects, I think. (laughs). Because this was all forest, of course.
GS: Right.
SD: And, um, so this area was bulldozed and the extra stuff which was all the topsoil of course, they shoved in the lake. They bulldozed it into the lake. And ...
GS: Why would they have done that? Do you have any idea?
SD: Well, it might be they were ... I don’t know, I don’t know why.
GS: Were they creating a, a bank, or some ...
SD: They did create a beach.
GS: Uh huh.
SD: I think it was just, you know, I mean all the lakes around here are just swampy edges all the way around, and we’ve got some solid ground on there, and that’s probably why. And, um, also when I was a kid I remember this, and you, it’s probably still some remnants of it, they actually built a beach down there. They, they sunk, they built a, a board beach, and they sunk it with sand that they hauled in. Maybe that was what they used, you know, maybe, after they bulldozed the field, that’s what they used to sink their wooden beach, and uh, so it, it had a nice sandy beach. (laughs)
GS: Was the boardwalk sort of along the ...
SD: It wasn’t a boardwalk, it was sunken.
GS: Oh, I see. That was the base.
SD: That was the base. Because it was a mud bottom lake.
GS: I got you.
SD: Which made for a very interesting drop off. (laughs) Dramatic drop off.
GS: So, after that all took place, and you were a child, right?
SD: Right.
GS: Had it already been done before you came along?
SD: Yeah, the, the building of the beach happened in the ‘30s or ‘40s.
GS: Okay. So at the time you remember seeing it, the lake was, was no longer quite natural, um, I’m wondering about how you would remember the wetlands, uh, the area around the lake in terms of whether it might still be percolating naturally, as you said, or whether there was also a lot of impacts outside the lake, and particularly along the creek, if you recall anything.
SD: Well, uh, we would often paddle a canoe up the inlet, and, um,
GS: Heading north.
Time Stamp: 21’52” describing wetlands converted to hayfields and subsequent restoration of wetlands
SD: Yeah. And there’s, there were a lot of beaver dams. Beavers were always building, and there were a couple of bridges, and at one time the, there had been a bridge, a wide as a road bridge, to get horses across the bridge.. across the creek, to the hayfield, because they actually, I don’t know if they just used some native grasses or sedges as the hay, or if they brought in something, there’s no evidence of timothy, or anything like that, but um, they had a hay, something called the hay field, which was on the other side of the creek, which ever since I was a kid has been wet, wet, wet, you know, it’s wetlands, so that may, that may have been drier, you know, before the railroad came, and dumped the ash in the lake and raised the level of the lake. So, because at one point it was dry enough to, to farm hay and of course there were those drainage ditches, but I don’t know where they were.
GS: They’re gone now.
SD: Yeah. And so when I was a kid when you paddle up the creek, on the right side anyway, the east side, it was, it was like a field of sedges. And that has since grown up so there’s lots of willows and hardhack and puddinberry, you know, and all the native wetlands plants.
GS: Mostly native, not exotic.
SD: It’s all native, yeah.
GS: Okay.
Time Stamp: 23’45” describing wetland vegetation “the way it should be”
SD: I mean there’s, there’s a little bit of purple loose strife and yellow iris in there, and you know, but it’s mostly the way it should be.
GS: Does the phrase kettle lake mean anything to you?
SD: Yeah, and I think this is one of those.
GS: I heard it’s a rather well, identified in, uh, natural kettle lake. Does that sound right?
SD: Yeah. That’s what I believe, yeah.
GS: Okay. Now you talked about some of the ...
SD: But I’m not old enough to remember that (laughs).
GS: Uh huh. There was no longer ...
SD: Formation of the kettle lake (laughs).
GS: Right, (laughs) no I don’t mean originally, but it still is a kettle lake, right?
SD: Right.
GS: They seem to talk about it that way. So these different impacts, uh, have, that’s a very interesting story, when do you recall any restoration efforts starting here on your property or nearby?
SD: Oh. I don’t think there was any restoration effort, you know, until like the ‘90s, anywhere around that I can think of.
GS: So there was no effort, for instance, to clean out any of the debris that might have been put in to Bear Creek? You’ve never heard anything about that?
SD: No.
GS: Okay. That’s fine. Okay so we get in to the ‘90s. I’ll put it in terms, well, you could start with your personal, uh, participation, but I believe there are also citizen groups that were interested in restoration in this area, particularly in Bear Creek.
SD: Yeah, in the, in the ‘90s, yeah, I’m sure the interest, yeah, I know Watertenders was active, and I wasn’t active in Watertenders, um, during that period. I wasn’t out here that much, really.
GS: Well let’s go ahead and talk about Watertenders, and then there’ll be a few questions at the end. I don’t want to take too long here. When did you join the organization?
SD: Hmm. Well it was in probably mid ‘90s.
GS: And when did you become an officer?
SD: Boy. When was that?
GS: You probably remember when you were president?
SD: I don’t know. (laughs). Yeah, when was that? That was in the early 2000’s I think.
GS: Right.
SD: But, um, yeah.
GS: Early 2000’s.
SD: Yeah and I don’t...
GS: For how many ... go ahead.
SD: And I don’t know that I was on the board before I even became president ...
GS: Oh I see.
SD: I think I just ... I just got elected, and I was foolish and took it on (laughs).
GS: How many years did you do that?
SD: Actually just a couple of years.
GS: And then you became secretary, is that right?
SD: Um, yeah, I remained on the board.
GS: Okay. Um. How fast did Watertenders grow in terms of membership, do you remember numbers at all?
SD: I don’t really remember numbers, um, I know, you know, when we would have meetings over at Terry’s house, maybe because she made soup (laughs), we’d have, you know, occasionally twenty-five people there. Which seems like a pretty good group.
GS: Uh huh. And pretty stable, the group that would be there regularly?
SD: Yeah. Yeah.
GS: Aside from member dues were there any fundraising efforts?
SD: Not major.
GS: Okay. Any law suits that the organization started?
SD: Oh, that the organization started?
GS: Right.
SD: No. I don’t think, I think they stayed clear of legal, getting in to legal, I mean, I remember one board member being, I mean, just acting petrified when somebody threatened to sue.
GS: There were some administrative actions though that, uh, trying to get a change in ordinance, or uh, permit, uh, protest. Do you remember any of those?
SD: Well, I think there was, uh, yeah, I think they were successful in getting um, the local jurisdiction and local powers that be to um, to follow up on some complaints, you know. I don’t think that you know, Watertenders, I don’t think ever put their name on a lawsuit that I’m aware of. But I think that was a fear of, um, the individual board members getting sued.
GS: Do you remember an action of probably in the first decade of the 2000’s, where they were trying to get uh, action down at the mouth where the creek goes in to the Sammamish River, to stay away from the highway, from 202?
SD: Um, I remember that there was something, and I don’t remember the details of it.
GS: Okay. Were there any other successes that you remember that Watertenders was able to avoid further damage to the creek in particular?
Time Stamp: 29’52” focusing on tennis court development being “snuffed out”
SD: Well I remember there was somebody was going to build a tennis court, and ...
GS: What period, do you remember?
SD: That was like, um, that was maybe ten years ago, or something.
GS: Oh. Fairly recent.
SD: Yeah. Upper Bear Creek. And that was, that was knocked out. So that was nice. Because we, you know, it just took a few people coming to meetings, and you know, before the developer I think got discouraged.
GS: Were there any what you would call failures, failed attempts to do restoration on the creek?
SD: Well, okay so, Watertenders was involved with uh, doing uh, pretty good size restoration project in Coal Creek natural area, and um, there was a home owner there that had sort of usurped part of that area for their own use, and um, that was going on while I was President of the organization and caused a lot of conflict and, and uh, distress because um, yeah. So, because the, the neighbor to the, to the Coal Creek natural area had the ear of one of the council members, and uh, so that council member was upset with all the members of Watertenders that wanted to stop this fella from using public land for his own use, and so that, that caused a lot of grief, and ...
GS: Were they not able to get the fellow to stop?
SD: Well, what eventually happened was that he kept mowing the area that uh, was supposed to be the restoration area. So he actually mowed down trees that Watertenders had planted so he could have a parking area, and um, and he wound up not restoring that area, but restoring a, but, putting in a bunch of trees in the, in the, area close to there, close to the driveway that he shared with the County, and uh, so, I mean, some work was done, and uh, yeah.
GS: Not a big success?
SD: Not a big success, but, you know, there are some trees there that weren’t there, so that’s good.
GS: And uh, looking ahead do you see any future role for Watertenders?
Time Stamp: 32’50” forecasting the future of Watertenders as an online group watchguarding Bear Creek
SD: Uh, well I think that that’s the issue with Watertenders is that they need to um, there’s certainly a role for citizen groups, and uh, you know, I think that we could be a, we could revive ourselves a little bit and be a group that promotes people’s interest in their local creek, in the Bear Creek Watershed, and uh, you know, maybe be like um, I mean at least, I mean, the minimum that we could do is be, you know, have a Facebook group or something where we exchange information about the creek, and about the, you know, the fish in the creek, and, you know, people who say, “hey, so and so, my neighbor is doing this construction thing and is it legal and what do I do?” You know, that could be a way back in, so that, because we’ve uh, there’s been a lot of blood, sweat and tears in that group and it’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears to start a new group, and, you know, get the 501C3 (??) designation. That’s costly and time consuming and so, I think if, if we can keep the group going, and you know, we’ve got the name, we’ve got the reputation, we’ve got the history, as sort of, it could be a little bit of impetus for somebody who wants to be active again.
GS: Are you aware that they’ve lost the website? Watertenders.org?
SD: Oh. I don’t think so.
GS: So what about, besides Watertenders, do you know of any other organizations, either in King County or in Snohomish, and I know one was the Upper Bear Creek Community Plan that was... do you have any knowledge of that?
SD: Uh, I don’t know if they’re still ...
GS: When does that go back?
SD: Upper Bear Creek Community, isn’t it an organization that ...
GS: I suppose.
SD: I think it was like, wasn’t it started by the County?
GS: Probably.
SD: Yeah. And I don’t know much ...
GS: But it was citizen based, as I understand it.
SD: Yeah, and they would hold programs with the Water District, and um, and cover a wide variety of topics from, you know, the latest, you know, pep talk by the Sheriff, to, you know, the state of salmon in Bear Creek, you know?
GS: You mention the county, King County, taking the initiative on that. Um, do you know that, if Snohomish County has done anything relevant to Bear Creek history here?
Time Stamp: 36’05” focusing on Paradise Valley Conservation Area as “a rip-roaring success”
SD: Well, yes. I mean the huge thing is that they um, the Paradise Valley Conservation Area, and there were members of our group, Terry Lavender was involved, and Jeff (?) was involved in getting that, the land, that was where the Lloyd Family had settled, which was over, I think, over eight hundred acres all together. So they kind of helped get that deal put together so that the Lloyds were happy that the place would be preserved and it was important to them that, you know, some of the farm buildings be preserved, and that’s been a rip roaring success, I think, because the, you know, all eight hundred acres are, are preserved as either conservation area or park and so a lot of people use the trails, and the east side is, it’s got some trails that, it gets little use because it’s officially closed and that, so that protects the creek, and, uh Farmer Frog is now at the farm site, and ...
GS: Who is that?
SD: Farmer Frog is the organization that um, well, I don’t know a lot about it, but, um, I think they teach people to do organic farming and, um, yeah, they’re a good organization.
GS: You’re in a good position to say, is there any tangible or visible evidence of the benefits of PVCA on your land, because you’re just south of it here.
Time Stamp: 39’05” describing Quinn’s Crossing and the Echo-Paradise community group fighting against the “Street of Dreams” development
SD: Oh yeah. Well, I mean, the creek comes right from the PVCA – right through the PVCA, and, you know, anything upstream affects us here, and, so I’m just delighted that that land, that land was worth so much, you know, and it could have been turned in to hundreds of houses. Hundreds. I mean, you know, even at four per acre, that’s thirty-two hundred (laughs) or something like that. Yeah, so, um, I’m really grateful about that.
GS: Would you, uh, I know the headwaters may be above PVCA even but ...
SD: Right.
GS: It’s the major part of the drainage that becomes visible for the creek.
SD: Yeah. That’s right. And then part of the headwaters are in what’s, a neighborhood called Quinn’s Crossing.
GS: Okay.
SD: Which is above uh, just uh, north of that point. I can’t remember. But it’s above the PVCA.
GS: Okay.
SD: And uh, and that was the Street of Dreams in 1998.
GS: Oh, Yeah.
SD: When was that anyway? No, must have been later than that. But, anyway, um, I think the fact that the PVCA was there ...
GS: Mm hmm.
SD: ...helped us in our cause to limit the number of houses that were put in to Quinn’s Crossing which was built, um, like the, the aquifer comes to the surface there, and um, you know, all the run off runs in to Bear Creek basically, and so we got the, you know, the Echo Paradise community group of which um, I was a part...
GS: When did that start?
SD: Oh boy.
GS: (laughs)
SD: I don’t know.
GS: Roughly.
SD: Man.
GS: Before Watertenders?
SD: No. It was put in to place to fight that Quinn’s Crossing.
GS: Oh, Okay.
SD: And so that was whenever that happened. And the Street of Dreams. When was the Street of Dreams? Maybe that was 2008.
GS: Okay.
SD: I don’t know. But um,
GS: Um. Do you see any new initiatives coming for restoration, uh, I guess the first issue would be whether there’s new threats to the creek, uh, that you’ve heard about, other new developments going on in this ...
SD: Well, there’s a neighbor up the creek that has completely destroyed the wetland, and um, and I, uh, and I feel like there’s more algae in the lake. You’ve got goats right in the flood way, and um, he tore down a beaver dam on our property, and um, so, uh, and I, we did make some attempt at complaints, but um, I think I need to renew those. So that’s a, that’s one landowner, but one landowner can do a lot of damage. And uh, so that an immediate threat. I think Quinn’s Crossing is going to, uh, expand the number of houses. I mean they got such a bad name after um, there was a, there was an arson fire, that um, burned the houses that were part of the Street of Dreams, and so, so that place was sort of jinxed for awhile but now there’s been new, there’s been more houses built there and there’s um, you know, they will never be able to have the, I don’t know, fifty some houses they were originally ... I think they’re limited to thirty-eight or something.
GS: Was that fire within the last ten years?
SD: I think so. I think that was, it was after the Street of Dreams, when it was Street of Dreams.
GS: Okay.
SD: I’d have to look that up.
GS: So, let me ask you to step back maybe, consider an overview, at five thousand feet in the air. Looking the entire length of Bear Creek, how would you divide say, the uh, upstream from the downstream. You’re clearly in the upstream area. Uh, where do you think it changes its nature as a creek, going south?
SD: Oh, probably right about where, um, Kis was?
GS: Yes.
SD: Right about, right about in there is where you start to see it pretty built up around the creek.
GS: That’s Kis Farm, K-I-S Farm on Avondale.
SD: Yeah.
GS: And how do you see the restoration work, let’s say from Kis Farm north to where you are? There’s been a lot of activity, Watertenders, uh, and others initiated, the County’s been active with work parties, uh ... What do you know about the area south, well, if you want to come at it from that, okay, that’s in the Upper Bear Creek area, what, and what do you know about the area south of Kis farm? For restoration work?
SD: Uh, well let’s see, there’s ... I don’t know much about what’s currently ...
GS: In the south.
SD: ... going on ...
GS: Uh huh.
SD: I know there’s that one, the, um, there was a private, a lot of acreage that was put in to a, um,
GS: Mitigation bank?
SD: Yeah, that’s what I’m trying to think of. Yeah. And uh,
GS: Did you know the Keller Farm people?
Time Stamp: 44’43” quote on preservation of natural resources and mitigation of development
SD: No. No, I didn’t know them. But you know, the thing is about all the restoration work and, and the, the shape of, the health of our creeks and Puget Sound um, is, and you know this, you’re a fish guy, right? (laughs) You know the health of the creek starts on top of the hill, where they’re, you know, knocking down the trees and putting up houses and you know, paving paradise (laughs) and um, and that’s not just, that’s not an exaggeration, that is the truth, that if we really care about our creeks and our fish and our orcas and our quality of life and our children and our grandchildren, then we will be much more careful in the way that we build, and how big we make our homes and um, how destructive we are on, on the planet, because um, it does no good to just do restoration work right where the creek is. If it’s trashed above that, you know, if you’ve got gas stations leaking chemicals and people, you know, killing the weeds on their property, and washing their cars, and you know, any number of things, um, I mean it all goes in to the creek. You can only do so much with the restoration right in the creek. And so it’s an overall approach to development that’s needed.
GS: Well, that’s a great finale, Shirley, I think you said it well. And you’ve actually lived it here. So, uh, let’s hope you can pass, or that your son will be around to protect it in the same way you have.
Time Stamp: 46’52” Shirley’s final quote about “A lot of my family members. . .”
SD: Yeah, he’s, he’s learning. You know, he’s, um, a lot of my family members have been sort of oriented towards um, this is a piece of recreational property, and um, which it is, but uh, yeah, so I’ve been trying to, you know, steer them toward a more ecologically holistic approach to things that, actually the only way it can continue to be um, any fun to be here is to save, clean, and and uh, we’re a big part of that.
GS: Well the Davis cum Doolittle tradition goes on.
SD: Hopefully.
GS: Thank you very much, Shirley.
SD: Yeah, you’re welcome.
