I've spent eleven years working in the West Hylebos Wetland. Most of those years were spent working in the park when it was under State jurisdiction. During the years that the State had control of the park nothing got done unless a hardy group of volunteers got together and did it themselves. The West Hylebos Wetland was like one of the poor-step-children of the State park system. After all of those years, getting things done using a volunteer work-party has become second nature to me. That's why I rushed to the park as soon as I could after the storm, surveyed the damage, and starting working to get some volunteers together to help clean up the mess. I've got to stop doing that! It's totally unnecessary now. The City of Federal Way takes it's park responsibilities very seriously! Jason Gerwen, of the City of Federal Way Parks and Recreation Department, is always on the ball. When something needs to be done, he makes sure it gets done properly, and in a timely manner. I received an email from Dana Buck, one of the park grounds-keepers, last night, letting me know that the City had sent six truckloads of workers over to the park yesterday and that they'd cleared the boardwalk of all of the big stuff. My hat's off to you and your crew, Jason!
That does not mean that the park is open to visitors yet, despite the fact that I met several people walking the boardwalk today in defiance of the closure signs. This man walks the trail every afternoon and has ignored the signs telling him that the park is closed. If you choose to ignore the signs and are injured in the park as a result, you are liable for your own injuries. Please stay home until we let you know that the park is safe to visit.
The trees that had fallen and were blocking the trail at the head of the ess after the third bench have been removed. What's left of the tree was popping with black-capped chickadees today.
Melting snow has left the hardhack near the meadow surrounded by a lake of ice water.
Although the sign-in kiosk and the sign at the head of the trail have been freed from the fallen branches of the crab-apple tree, there is no clipboard on the kiosk on which to sign-in. Note to Jason: Someone is using the little plastic information holders on the sign-in kiosk as an ashtray. They're full of cigarette butts. It would probably be a good idea to just remove them, if that's possible.
The fallen trees in the meadow have not yet been cleaned up, although I know that Scott and Dana Buck are working hard to get that done.
Marlake is no longer frozen, so the buffleheads...
and ring-necked ducks have returned.
The trail leading around the back side of Marlake is completely blocked by fallen trees, such as these two willows, and is impassible. The coyotes and river otters have recently visited that side of the lake, but it's impossible for a human to get through all of the debris.
The grey gravel trail through the orchard is still blocked by fallen trees and branches and several of the fruit trees in the orchard have been splintered or lost limbs.
Widow-makers are still hanging from some of the trees. These will probably not be removed, so it's always wise to pay attention when you're walking the boardwalk and be aware of what's hanging over your head.
A lot of the larger debris that has been cleared from the boardwalk has been thrown to either side of it, crushing areas that are usually covered with false-lily-of-the-valley, salmonberry, and hardhack. It'll be interesting to keep an eye on these areas over the next couple of years to see how well nature recovers from all of this trauma.
Although the large trees and branches have been removed from the boardwalk, the boardwalk is still covered by a lot of smaller fallen debris. There are also sections of the boardwalk that are still covered with snow. This makes for very treacherous walking. It would be very easy to slip and fall on this stuff and, if you fall and break a limb halfway down the boardwalk, who's going to hear you cry for help? Be safe. Stay off of the boardwalk until the debris has been completely cleared.
Besides, there is one section of the boardwalk that was torn up by a falling tree and has not yet been repaired.
Here's a view of the underside of that torn-up section.
When I was there, Tom Boyd and Joe Sonnen were hard at work trying to repair the damaged section. They really had their work cut out for them!
Fallen trees over the Brooklake bridge have snagged one-another on the way down, ending up forming a teepee-like construction. Another tree started falling near the Brooklake spur, pulling some of it's root-wad out of the ground, before it's upper limbs became enmeshed in the small-stubby branches of a neighboring tree. How long this tree will be able to maintain it's precarous grasp before finishing it's fall and smashing into the boardwalk is anyone's guess. When I looked at the tree from one angle, I decided that it would miss the boardwalk if it continued falling, but when I looked at the same tree from the opposite side, it looked to me as if it would slam into one side of the boardwalk if it fell. All I know for sure is that I sure don't want to be standing under it when it decides to finish it's trip.
The face of the West Hylebos Wetland has been altered significantly by the violence of this storm. The beautiful arch with the robin's nest in it is gone now. I loved pointing that nest out to visitors and telling the the story about the baby robins who hatched so close to the boardwalk. A tree that fell long ago and had been propped up at an angle used to be a favorite place for tree-frogs to sit. That tree is gone now. Another tree has splintered and fallen on top of a tree-well that has tradionally been a favorite place of mine to spot red-legged frogs. This is the same spot where the tree that has started to fall can be found. Those two things have completely altered the topography of that tree-well. It'll be interesting to see how this affects the frogs, especially if the semi-fallen tree completes it's fall. At the Troll Hole, falling branches have completely obscured what was left of Snoopy. Some trees have fallen into the creek, taking their shade with them. It'll be interesting to see how all of the extra sunlight these areas will receive now will change the things that grow and live there.
So, to sum this all up. Work has begun to clear up the storm damage in the wetland. A huge amount of progress has been made. A huge amount of work still needs to be done before the park will be safe to walk in again. The City of Federal Way deserves a great big round of applause for accomplishing so much in such a short time. Well done! Thanks, Jason! Please pass my thanks on to all of the rest of your crew. We'll let you know when the park is ready to receive visitors again. Until then, please obey the "Park Closed" signs and stay safe.
Teri I. Lenfest
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