Lundeen Creek Restoration Project celebrates with
ribbon cutting

City of Lake Stevens and County work hand-in-hand BY PAM STEVENS | EDITOR Volunteers help pant trees and shrubs last Saturday for the Lundeen Creek Restoration Project.

After years of working together, the City of Lake Stevens, Snohomish County, community volunteers and property owners along the creek have worked in harmony to create new stream channels and plant new vegetation along Lundeen Creek.

“We looked at this site for many years and tried to create fish habitat along the road but it never worked,” Scott Moore of Surface Water Management said.

Until now, that is.
Last Saturday, April 5, the City, County and many volunteers continued to plant trees along the channels that flow into Lake

Stevens celebrating with a ribbon cutting ceremony in which both Mayor Vern Little and Snohomish County Surface Water Management Director David Brookings held huge scissors and cut through blue ribbons as the sun came out and onlookers cheered.

“It’s been a great partnership with the City and the County,” Mayor Little said.

Saturday was the third of such plantings but a lot of work was done even before community members could start planting the new vegetation along the stream channels.

With the depletion of Kokanee and Coho salmon and even Cutthroat trout, and chronic flooding and drainage problems, both the City and the County knew something had to be done.

Their objectives included reducing the constant flooding and drainage problems for property owners, improve water quality in the Creek and to restore and even enhance the habitat for salmon and other native species.

“This is a continuing project,” Moore said. “The excavation and the stream channels are done but we are still doing all of the planting work.”

To date, the Restoration Project has constructed 1,300 feet of new stream channels; restored 1,100 feet of existing stream channels; revegetated over three acres of land, which included weed removal and the planting of hundreds of native shrubs and trees.

Conservation easements were also established through cooperation of over a dozen property owners in the area and hundreds of Kokanee salmon have already returned to Lundeen Creek to spawn.

Volunteers have included hundreds of people including scouting groups, city council members, the Mighty Marlins Swim Team from Marysville and many other citizens who worked to create a better environment.

In February, Girl Scouts from Troop 50830 were on hand to plant trees and shrubs while learning a valuable lesson.

“It was fun to plant the trees and help the fish,” eight-year-old Katie said. “The trees will also help bring clean air.”

Kamille Girard, a 17-year-old swimmer from the Mighty Marlins explained that this was her first time helping out.

“I’ve never done this before and I thought it would be fun dealing with nature and getting my hands in the dirt,” she said. “I’d do it again.”
Lake Stevens City Council members Tom Hartwell, Mark Somers and Kathy Holder were there along with Public Works Director Dave Ostergard.

“”I think it’s really important to restore our streams and habitat and to make up for lost time,” Hartwell said.

More vegetation will be planted throughout the 2008-2009 planting season and a small amount of additional restoration work will be conducted this summer.

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