Green River Gorge--Saving a state park
Located in south King County, the trail systems surrounding the Green River Gorge are popular for area residents to hike, go mountain biking and horseback riding, and hunt. The owner of one such piece of land, which protects the inflows of Icy Creek, has recently subdivided and built a road through the land to make it suitable for development.
Working with the Middle Green River Coalition, one of the biggest supporters of the project, the Washington State Parks Commission applied for a WWRP grant to purchase the land – thereby protecting the recreation opportunities, the views and the wildlife it supports. If the project is funded, it will prevent residential development on the Gorge rim.
“Our community vision is for a regional trail connecting Flaming Geyser to Kanasket State Park” explains Middle Green River Coalition executive director Lisa Parsons, “Business, community and recreation leaders all recognize the benefits that this project would have on the local community.”
Unfortunately, this project was skipped over in the objective ranking process by the Washington Senate in favor of unproven criteria.
“If we had known that the Senate would be creating new criteria when we had applied,” Parsons said, “We could have added more information about the jobs that this project will create.”
While the Senate’s well-intentioned desire to create short-term jobs is commendable, Parsons has a right to be concerned—this particular approach ignores the Green River Gorge’s high rankings. And Parsons is a little rankled.
“The reality is that this project will create construction jobs,” Parsons explains, “But more importantly, this project will protect a major source of revenue for our local community: our outdoors.”
The spot where Icy Creek enters the Green River is where Chinook, Coho and Steelhead spawn, so the possibility of having houses built along the gorge, causing harm to critical salmon habitat, is disconcerting. Add in that it would make the planned regional trail impossible, the thought of development is devastating.
For more about this project and the budget, read Lisa Parson’s op-ed in the Auburn Reporter.
You can learn more about the Middle Green River Coalition and their involvement with the recreation and conservation community in Southeast King County on their website.
Photo credit: Lisa Parsons, Executive Director, Middle Green River Coalition
