By NANCY MALMGREN

When Chief Seattle last walked the earth in 1866, there were giant, old-growth cedar trees to the edge of what is now known as Piperıs Creek. By 1889, when the Andrew Piper family purchased the ³spent² logging camp, the cedars were memories.

Piperıs Creek:

The Piperıs Creek (Carkeek) Watershed is an urbanized watershed in Northwest Seattle. It includes parts of the Greenwood, Crown Hill, Blue Ridge and Broadview neighborhoods. The total land mass of the watershed is three square miles, or 1,920 acres. Its population in 1988 was 17,000 people.

All of the stormwater runoff from the area drains directly into the Carkeek Park creek system. All of the city sewer lines in the area connect to the King County Wastewater Treatment System in Carkeek Park.

Piperıs Creek flows through the park directly into Puget Sound. The creek daylights in the park, except next to the King County Plant, with small sections daylighting in the Greenwood and Broadview neighborhoods. The Greenwood area section of the watershed ‹ about 600 acres ‹ has a formal stormwater drainage pipe system, which enters the creek through a pair of culverts. The rest of the watershedıs drainage is in a ³ditch and culvert² system.

Carkeek Park:

The jewel in the center of the watershed is Carkeek Park. It is ideally suited for environmental, watershed conservation education with its 185.6 acres of forest, freshwater and saltwater resources. The park is a popular recreation destination for many people with an extensive trail system providing challenges for the sure-footed as well as those in wheelchairs.

There are demonstration gardens showing recommended gardening practices that can help contain stormwater runoff and reduce water consumption.

The Carkeek Environmental Education Center offers fun and informative programs for all ages. (For more information about the center, call 684-0877.)

Action plan:

In 1985, the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority was established by the state Legislature to clean up the Sound. The Authority, now known as the Action Team, decided the best way to proceed with the clean-up was to develop watershed action plans.

The Piperıs Creek Watershed was selected in 1987 for funding for an Early Action Watershed Plan, which identified ways to help prevent and reduce nonpoint source pollution within the watershed and improve the water quality in Piperıs Creek, its tributaries and Puget Sound. The lead agency in implementing the plan is the Cityıs public utilities department, known as Seattle Public Utilities. The plan, which was adopted by the City in 1990 and updated in 1999, recommends future oversight to be accomplished by the Piperıs Creek Watershed Council.

Challenges:

To prevent and reduce nonpoint pollution in an urban creek is a gigantic challenge. Has the plan been successful in this? The Educational Outreach into the watershed to help change peopleıs activities has been outstanding. Has it reached every resident in the watershed? Yes, but still more needs to be done. It is a continuing effort.

One of the success stories is the return of spawning salmon to the park, but creek flooding problems put the salmon in peril. Pollution problems still exist in the creek as evidenced by elevated fecal coliform levels both in the creek and the beach near the creek. Those levels impact the beach life and make it unhealthy to swim in the creek.

Seattle Public Utilities has made great strides in both of these problems, but more needs to be done. As we celebrate the Cityıs 150th birthday, maybe we can honor Chief Seattle by honoring all of our creeks and waterways. Become connected to what happens downstream.

Nancy Malmgren is director of the Carkeek Watershed Council Action Plan.