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ROAD ABANDONMENT PROJECT AT CAREY CREEK
Project Starts: July 9th
This project will affect trail/road use. Please plan to use the new trail bridge acros Carey Creek and trhe new Mt. Beaver Trail andy stay out of the construction zone. Thanks!
Questions? Call Doug Chin- Project Manager
206-296-8315
Mark Your Calendars!
Next Work Party Scheduled- October 13th complete with Dutch Oven Cooking provided by Buckley & Wells!
More Details in Next Month's Newsletter!
Submitted by Scott Sangster
The Tahoma Chapter completed construction of a bridge in the Taylor Mountain Forest. The group won two grants totaling over $28,000, shepherded the project through two years of permitting and this November cut the ribbon on the new 35 foot bridge over a salmon spawning stream. The Chapter donated over 700 hours of volunteer labor to the project.
Each winter most trails in the Taylor Mountain Forest are closed when the weather turns wet. Only forest roads and a few sturdy trails are left open. One trail, the Carey Creek trail, follows an old railroad bed and is sturdy enough for winter use except where it crosses a salmon spawning tributary of Carey creek. Rather than close the whole trail to protect the stream, the Tahoma Chapter located in the Maple Valley/Hobart area, proposed to bridge the stream, thereby protecting the salmon and keeping the trail open.
The group won a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s King County Community Salmon Fund. It took two years to obtain necessary permits. Once the permits were in place, construction moved rapidly. Chapter members organized four weekend work parties and completed the project on schedule. The bridge opening was celebrated November 11 when the group cut a symbolic string of baling twine with a pair of loppers.
"This was a huge project for our group", said Cathy Petrie, Tahoma chapter president. "We have lots of experience and enthusiasm working on trails but this project was a stretch for us. I’m really proud of the way the members of the Tahoma chapter took on this huge project and look at the fabulous bridge we built"!
The creation of this Carey Creek tributary bridge project was made possible by grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s King County Community Salmon Fund and in part through a Rural Community Partnership Grant awarded by the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks. Northwest Trails, Inc., a professional trail building company, supplied the engineering expertise and all of the heavy construction. Berrydale Forest, a Christmas tree farm and nursery in Covington donated native plants to re-vegetate the stream banks. Chapter members donated over 700 hours of volunteer time to clear the site, pour concrete footings, install decking and rails and replant stream sides and disturbed areas. Other contributors to the project were Horses for Clean Water, Salmon Tenders, Hobart Rural Association and Friends of Taylor Mountain.
Project coordinator for Backcountry Horsemen, Rick Zeleznik, praised all of the volunteers, city, and county officials who assisted the chapter. "This bridge is in the Taylor Mountain Forest, which is administered by King County. It is in a corner of the Seattle Watershed administered by the City of Seattle and the bridge crosses a stream, which involves the State Department of Fish and Wildlife. All of these agencies had their responsibilities and requirements but they really wanted to see us succeed".
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