OPINION:
click on the pics to enlarge
Can you guess where Evans Creek is in this picture?
Find a graphic satellite map HERE of Evans Creek running through the industrial park and connecting with Bear Creek. Can you find the confluence of Bear & Evans Creek on Keller Farm on the left of the map? Zoom in. Can you can find the stream culvert and creek banks?
Evans Creek is a important salmon-bearing stream located in SE Redmond. The picture on the right is the beginning of Evans Creek near the county - city border. This photo was taken on the historic Red Brick Road looking west. See the beaver dam? You pass over Evans Creek everytime you drive on Union Hill Road near 192nd Avenue NE, just south of the Red Brick Road. Another good landmark is Legacy Roofing.
In the photo on the left, Evans Creek is further downstream into the industrial park running through a pipe (culvert) under the gravel road. A small bridge over Evans Creek is marked by orange posts. The creek flows left (west) under the tiny bridge & parallel to NE 84th Street through this industrial business and several others. About a half mile downstream adjacent Millennium Park it connects with Bear Creek on Keller Farm.
Bear Creek and Evans Creek are state and city protected salmon-bearing streams. Federally endangered wild Chinook salmon run through the Evans Creek industrial area on their way to spawn upstream. I don't know how far they make it. Evans Creek is supposed to have a 150 -200 foot buffer but the industrial businesses on 84th Street have been grandfathered for scores of years with a 25 foot buffer. As you see from the left photos the 25-foot buffers have been ignored by the landowners and city. Trucks, junk and debris sit directly on top of the bank.
Without a buffer, the salmon and other in-stream critters and wildlife lose the natural "riparian" food and protections they would have received from trees, shrubs, logs, and spongy earthen
banks. Every truck, car, and piece of junk on the stream bank contributes to polluted run-off into Evans. The city's Department of Natural Resources has a distant goal to re-locate Evans Creek north and away from the industrial park. The stream banks could be restored with 200 foot buffers. The business owners land values on NE 84th Street would increase, too, and redevelopment would be possible. If you want to send a message to the city about Evans Creek buffers contact Code Enforcement Officer Carl McArthy or Mayor John Marchione. "What went wrong" with the buffers was not Mayor John Marchione's doing. (In this photo, the creek runs right to left between the trucks/cars and the trees).6/3/08 Planning Commission's report (currently under review by Council): "[The Planning Commission] did however, discuss the issue of how to address existing industrial users along Evans Creek and the Sammamish River. The Planning Commission acknowledged lands zoned for these users are limited, and it is appropriate to allow these structures to continue to operate and possibly expand under certain circumstances."
- 2007 Shoreline Master Program Update staff report is (here)
At the 6/3 council meeting, Councilman Cole mildly reasserted the Planning Commission's recommendations. Councilman Myers said he wasn't interested in the Shoreline plan going to court. Councilwomen McCormick & Allen discussed holding multiple study sessions. The Department of Ecology Hearing and final decision will be made by December 1, 2009. Comments can be sent to Cathy Beam, Redmond Environmental Principal Planner and David Pater, State Ecology Shoreline Planning Manager. A statement by Mr. Pater is under "comments".
State Department of Ecology Website: Shoreline Master Program (SMP)
King County Website: Evans Creek Natural Area
If you or your friends and family are interested in taking a closer look at Evans Creek, the Water Tenders (a local nonprofit that cares about Bear Creek Basin), is sponsoring a car tour of the Evans Creek riparian corridor this Sunday afternoon, June 8. Please contact Bob Yoder (me) for details.
Bob,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information on Evans Creek. The many industrial uses near the creek make it one of Redmond's more challenging shorelines to manage. We all hope the updated shoreline regulations will result in better management and protection of Evans Creek. Relocating the Creek may be the best long term option; but in the meantime we need to work within the current land use constraints to minimize impacts to the creek's water quality and remaining shoreline habitat.
Sincerely
David Pater
Shorelands and Environmental Assistance
Department of Ecology
3190 160th Avenue SE
Bellevue, WA 98008
(425) 649-4253
Posted by Bob Yoder with Mr. Pater's permission.
Evans Creek
ReplyDeleteOriginally named Martin Creek after John Martin [1827-1920]. John’s grandson, Daryl Martin, tells of a US Geological surveyor who came to his grandparents’ door and asked permission to name the creek after him, which grandpa thought was okay, as long as it didn’t cost anything.
Later, the waterway was named Evans Creek after the Evans family which had lived in area at one time. The name change occurred when workers “put in the bridge.”