Daylighting (streams)
Encyclopedia
In urban design
and urban planning
, daylighting is the redirection of a stream
into an above-ground channel. Typically, the goal is to restore a stream of water to a more natural state. Daylighting is intended to improve the riparian environment for a stream which had been previously diverted into a culvert
, pipe, or a drainage
system.
The term also refers to the public process toward such projects. A general consensus has developed that protecting and restoring natural creeks' functions is achievable over time in an urban environment while recognizing the importance of property rights.
and slowing of stormwater flow, filtering and bioremediation
of pollutants by soils and plants, reducing impervious surface
s, using porous paving, increasing vegetation, and improving related pedestrian amenities. Natural features—open, vegetated swale
s, stormwater cascades, and small wetland ponds—mimic the functions of nature lost to urbanization. At the heart are plants, trees, and the deep, healthy soils that support them. All three combine to form a "living infrastructure
" that, unlike pipes and vaults, increase in functional value over time.
One implementation is an S.E.A. (Street Edge Alternatives) street demonstration project in the Pipers Creek watershed, (see Pipers Creek, below). S.E.A. use innovative drainage design and landscaping instead of traditional curbs and gutters, pipes and vaults, more like the natural landscape prior to development than traditional piped systems. The final constructed design reduced imperviousness, or resistance, by more than 18 percent, surface detention was provided with bioswales,(landscape elements intended to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water), and 100 evergreen trees and 1100 shrubs were planted, according to FEMA http://www.fema.gov/mitigationbp/brief.do?mitssId=5246. The seemingly-modest change can have dramatic effect. Two years of monitoring (c. 2003) show that the SEA Street has reduced the total volume of stormwater leaving the street by 98% for a 2-year storm event (a not-uncommon severe high precipitation). That reduction in abruptly high runoff flow can significantly moderate the rush of flow volume and turbidity that is so detrimental to water quality and habitat restoration for species survival—species like the iconic salmon. Unfortunately, the engineering alternatives have a relatively expensive initial price
, since they are usually replacing existing structures, albeit life-limited ones. Further, conventional systems generally do not consider full cost accounting
. The NDS alternatives can also provide returns on investment
with amelioration of urban environments. Restoring stream habitat alone is clearly not enough to sustain the few determined but diminishing species of salmon.
The SEA Street breaks most of the conventions of 150 years of standard American street design. Narrow, curved streets, open drainage swales, and an abundance of diverse plants and trees welcome pedestrians as well as diverse species. Adjacent residents maintain city infrastructure in the form of street "gardens" in front of their homes, visually integrating the neighborhood along the street. The NDS (Natural Drainage Systems) united the community visually, environmentally, and socially. The 110th Cascades SEA (2002–2003) are a creek-like cascade of stair-stepped natural, seasonal pools that intercept, infiltrate, slow and filter over 21 acres (84,984.1 m²) of stormwater draining through the project. (See Pipers Creek, below.)
, the fourth largest city in the state, broke ground on December 15, 2010 on a project to daylight of the Saw Mill River
. Now running in an enclosed flume under the Yonkers downtown, daylighting is the cornerstone of a $3.1 billion redevelopment program. The state government will be contributing $34 million just to the daylighting component.
Pipers Creek
in the central to north Greenwood
area is joined by Venema and Mohlendorph Creeks in Carkeek Park
on Puget Sound. Pipers is one of the four largest streams in urban Seattle, together with Longfellow, Taylor, and Thornton creeks. Pipers Creek drains a 1835 acres (7 km²) watershed into Puget Sound, from a residential upper plateau that is most of the watershed, through the steep ravines of the 216 acre (0.87412176 km²) of Carkeek Park. The headwaters begin in the north Greenwood neighborhood. Outside the park, the creek can be seen at N 90th Street between Greenwood and Palatine avenues N.
Years of hard work by neighbors and volunteers have brought salmon back to Pipers Creek, Venema, and Mohlendorph creeks in the mid 2000s after there were none for 50 years. The latter is named for the late Ted Mohlendorph, a biologist who spearheaded efforts to restore the watershed as salmon habitat.
Though still plagued by problems endemic to urban streams, Piper's Creek today is a scintillating example of the possible. Though augmented by hatchery fish, anywhere from 200 to 600 chum salmon
return each November, along with a few coho
in the fall and fewer occasional winter steelhead
. Inspirationally, several hundred small resident cutthroat trout
live in the watershed, believed to be native fish that survived decades of urban assault. An environmental learning center and programs are part of comprehensive restoration. More than four miles (6 km) of trail are maintained by neighborhood volunteers who put in 4,000 hours of work in 2003, for example. The creek waters are pretty in their impressively restored settings, but the watershed is the surrounding neighborhoods and streets, laced with petrochemicals, pesticides, fertilizers, wandering pets, and such. Along with steeply high volume during storm runoff and resulting turbidity, water quality is the remaining big issue in restoring salmon.
The north fork of Pipers Creek is the site for the 110th Cascades, an S.E.A. (Street Edge Alternatives) street demonstration project (see above). The 110th Cascades are a creek-like cascade of stair-stepped natural, seasonal pools that intercept, infiltrate, slow and filter over 21 acres (84,984.1 m²) of stormwater draining through the project. The cascades are a part of an NDS (Natural Drainage Systems) project; together these united the community visually, environmentally, and socially, toward integrating the neighborhood as a community.
Pipers Creek was renamed Piper's Creek by 19th century settlers; the apostrophe is becoming less common today.
provides one example of a major world city rediscovering its river. Mayor Lee Myung Bak, formerly a construction magnate with the Hyundai
chaebol
involved in burying the river during the 1960s boom, ran for office promising to daylight it, and achieved in 2005 a 5.8 km (3.6 mi) greenspace
in a city without very many parks or playgrounds. Although this is not a true daylighting project—the original seasonal and polluted stream runs below the stunningly engineered and landscaped new, artificial waterway—the Cheonggyecheon
, "pristine stream", is hugely popular, alleviating fears that opening the river would cause nearby businesses to lose customers.
Urban design
Urban design concerns the arrangement, appearance and functionality of towns and cities, and in particular the shaping and uses of urban public space. It has traditionally been regarded as a disciplinary subset of urban planning, landscape architecture, or architecture and in more recent times has...
and urban planning
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
, daylighting is the redirection of a stream
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
into an above-ground channel. Typically, the goal is to restore a stream of water to a more natural state. Daylighting is intended to improve the riparian environment for a stream which had been previously diverted into a culvert
Culvert
A culvert is a device used to channel water. It may be used to allow water to pass underneath a road, railway, or embankment. Culverts can be made of many different materials; steel, polyvinyl chloride and concrete are the most common...
, pipe, or a drainage
Drainage
Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an area. Many agricultural soils need drainage to improve production or to manage water supplies.-Early history:...
system.
The term also refers to the public process toward such projects. A general consensus has developed that protecting and restoring natural creeks' functions is achievable over time in an urban environment while recognizing the importance of property rights.
Natural drainage systems
Natural Drainage Systems (NDS) are stormwater management features that include infiltrationInfiltration (hydrology)
Infiltration is the process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil. Infiltration rate in soil science is a measure of the rate at which soil is able to absorb rainfall or irrigation. It is measured in inches per hour or millimeters per hour. The rate decreases as the soil becomes...
and slowing of stormwater flow, filtering and bioremediation
Bioremediation
Bioremediation is the use of microorganism metabolism to remove pollutants. Technologies can be generally classified as in situ or ex situ. In situ bioremediation involves treating the contaminated material at the site, while ex situ involves the removal of the contaminated material to be treated...
of pollutants by soils and plants, reducing impervious surface
Impervious surface
Impervious surfaces are mainly artificial structures--such as pavements that are covered by impenetrable materials such as asphalt, concrete, brick, and stone--and rooftops...
s, using porous paving, increasing vegetation, and improving related pedestrian amenities. Natural features—open, vegetated swale
Swale (geographical feature)
A swale is a low tract of land, especially one that is moist or marshy. The term can refer to a natural landscape feature or a human-created one...
s, stormwater cascades, and small wetland ponds—mimic the functions of nature lost to urbanization. At the heart are plants, trees, and the deep, healthy soils that support them. All three combine to form a "living infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
" that, unlike pipes and vaults, increase in functional value over time.
One implementation is an S.E.A. (Street Edge Alternatives) street demonstration project in the Pipers Creek watershed, (see Pipers Creek, below). S.E.A. use innovative drainage design and landscaping instead of traditional curbs and gutters, pipes and vaults, more like the natural landscape prior to development than traditional piped systems. The final constructed design reduced imperviousness, or resistance, by more than 18 percent, surface detention was provided with bioswales,(landscape elements intended to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water), and 100 evergreen trees and 1100 shrubs were planted, according to FEMA http://www.fema.gov/mitigationbp/brief.do?mitssId=5246. The seemingly-modest change can have dramatic effect. Two years of monitoring (c. 2003) show that the SEA Street has reduced the total volume of stormwater leaving the street by 98% for a 2-year storm event (a not-uncommon severe high precipitation). That reduction in abruptly high runoff flow can significantly moderate the rush of flow volume and turbidity that is so detrimental to water quality and habitat restoration for species survival—species like the iconic salmon. Unfortunately, the engineering alternatives have a relatively expensive initial price
Total cost of ownership
Total cost of ownership is a financial estimate whose purpose is to help consumers and enterprise managers determine direct and indirect costs of a product or system...
, since they are usually replacing existing structures, albeit life-limited ones. Further, conventional systems generally do not consider full cost accounting
Full cost accounting
Full cost accounting generally refers to the process of collecting and presenting information - about environmental, social, and economic costs and benefits/advantages - for each proposed alternative when a decision is necessary. It is a conventional method of cost accounting that traces direct...
. The NDS alternatives can also provide returns on investment
Rate of return
In finance, rate of return , also known as return on investment , rate of profit or sometimes just return, is the ratio of money gained or lost on an investment relative to the amount of money invested. The amount of money gained or lost may be referred to as interest, profit/loss, gain/loss, or...
with amelioration of urban environments. Restoring stream habitat alone is clearly not enough to sustain the few determined but diminishing species of salmon.
The SEA Street breaks most of the conventions of 150 years of standard American street design. Narrow, curved streets, open drainage swales, and an abundance of diverse plants and trees welcome pedestrians as well as diverse species. Adjacent residents maintain city infrastructure in the form of street "gardens" in front of their homes, visually integrating the neighborhood along the street. The NDS (Natural Drainage Systems) united the community visually, environmentally, and socially. The 110th Cascades SEA (2002–2003) are a creek-like cascade of stair-stepped natural, seasonal pools that intercept, infiltrate, slow and filter over 21 acres (84,984.1 m²) of stormwater draining through the project. (See Pipers Creek, below.)
Example projects
Viable, daylighted streams can exist only in intimate connection with restoration and stewardship by the neighborhoods of their watersheds in a long run, since the good health of an urban stream could not long survive carelessness or neglect. With impervious surfaces having replaced most of the natural ground cover in urban environments, both the sheer volume and flow rate from unmoderated stormwater and the carrying of non-point pollution converge through urban creeks. Effective solutions include the entire urban watershed, far beyond the riparian channel itself.California
- Codornices CreekCodornices CreekCodornices Creek , long, is one of the principal creeks which runs out of the Berkeley Hills in the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area in California. In its upper stretch, it passes entirely within the city limits of Berkeley, and marks the city limit with the adjacent city of Albany in...
and Strawberry CreekStrawberry CreekStrawberry Creek is the principal watercourse running through the city of Berkeley, California. Two forks rise in the Berkeley Hills of the California Coast Ranges, and form a confluence at the campus of the University of California, Berkeley...
, Berkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington... - Islais Creek, San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
New York (State)
Yonkers, New YorkYonkers, New York
Yonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York , and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 195,976...
, the fourth largest city in the state, broke ground on December 15, 2010 on a project to daylight of the Saw Mill River
Saw Mill River
The Saw Mill River is a 20 mile long tributary of the Hudson River in the United States, flowing from a marsh in Chappaqua to Yonkers, New York, where it empties into the Hudson. Its starting point in Chappaqua is presumed to be a spring. In the 17th century, the Saw Mill River was known as...
. Now running in an enclosed flume under the Yonkers downtown, daylighting is the cornerstone of a $3.1 billion redevelopment program. The state government will be contributing $34 million just to the daylighting component.
Pipers Creek
Pipers Creek
Pipers Creek
Pipers Creek is a urban stream in the Broadview and Blue Ridge neighborhoods of Seattle, Washington, whose entire length is within the boundaries of Carkeek Park. Its tributaries are Venema Creek and Mohlendorph Creek. It empties into Puget Sound. The creek was renamed "Piper's" by early White...
in the central to north Greenwood
Greenwood, Seattle, Washington
Greenwood is a neighborhood in north central Seattle, Washington, USA.The neighborhood's primary north/south arterial is Greenwood Avenue North. The primary east/west arterial is North 85th Street, which carries traffic east to Interstate 5 and west to Golden Gardens Park...
area is joined by Venema and Mohlendorph Creeks in Carkeek Park
Carkeek Park
Carkeek Park is a 216-acre park located in the Broadview neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The park contains Piper Orchard, Pipers Creek , play and picnic areas, picnic shelters, and hiking trails. A pedestrian bridge across the main lines of the BNSF Railway connects to the Carkeek Park...
on Puget Sound. Pipers is one of the four largest streams in urban Seattle, together with Longfellow, Taylor, and Thornton creeks. Pipers Creek drains a 1835 acres (7 km²) watershed into Puget Sound, from a residential upper plateau that is most of the watershed, through the steep ravines of the 216 acre (0.87412176 km²) of Carkeek Park. The headwaters begin in the north Greenwood neighborhood. Outside the park, the creek can be seen at N 90th Street between Greenwood and Palatine avenues N.
Years of hard work by neighbors and volunteers have brought salmon back to Pipers Creek, Venema, and Mohlendorph creeks in the mid 2000s after there were none for 50 years. The latter is named for the late Ted Mohlendorph, a biologist who spearheaded efforts to restore the watershed as salmon habitat.
Though still plagued by problems endemic to urban streams, Piper's Creek today is a scintillating example of the possible. Though augmented by hatchery fish, anywhere from 200 to 600 chum salmon
Chum salmon
The chum salmon, Oncorhynchus keta, is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. It is a Pacific salmon, and may also be known as dog salmon or Keta salmon, and is often marketed under the name Silverbrite salmon...
return each November, along with a few coho
Coho salmon
The Coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". It is the state animal of Chiba, Japan.-Description:...
in the fall and fewer occasional winter steelhead
Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
. Inspirationally, several hundred small resident cutthroat trout
Cutthroat trout
The cutthroat trout is a species of freshwater fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. It is one of the many fish species colloquially known as trout...
live in the watershed, believed to be native fish that survived decades of urban assault. An environmental learning center and programs are part of comprehensive restoration. More than four miles (6 km) of trail are maintained by neighborhood volunteers who put in 4,000 hours of work in 2003, for example. The creek waters are pretty in their impressively restored settings, but the watershed is the surrounding neighborhoods and streets, laced with petrochemicals, pesticides, fertilizers, wandering pets, and such. Along with steeply high volume during storm runoff and resulting turbidity, water quality is the remaining big issue in restoring salmon.
The north fork of Pipers Creek is the site for the 110th Cascades, an S.E.A. (Street Edge Alternatives) street demonstration project (see above). The 110th Cascades are a creek-like cascade of stair-stepped natural, seasonal pools that intercept, infiltrate, slow and filter over 21 acres (84,984.1 m²) of stormwater draining through the project. The cascades are a part of an NDS (Natural Drainage Systems) project; together these united the community visually, environmentally, and socially, toward integrating the neighborhood as a community.
Pipers Creek was renamed Piper's Creek by 19th century settlers; the apostrophe is becoming less common today.
Taylor Creek
- Taylor CreekTaylor Creek (Seattle)Taylor Creek is a stream in Seattle, Washington, flowing from Lakeridge Park in Deadhorse Canyon, west of Rainier Avenue S at 68th Avenue S, to Lake Washington. With volunteer effort and some city matching grants, restoration has been underway since 1971...
flows from Deadhorse Canyon (west of Rainier Avenue S at 68th Avenue S and northwest of Skyway Park), through Lakeridge Park to Lake Washington. With volunteer effort and some city matching grants, restoration has been underway since 1971. Volunteers have planted thousands of indigenous trees and plants, removed tons of garbage, removed invasive plants, and had city help removing fish-blocking culverts and improving trails. A deer has been spotted and sightings of raccoons, opossum and birds are common. By about 2050, the area will be looking like a young version of what it looked like before being disrupted. Taylor is one of the four largest streams in urban Seattle.- Skyway and Bryn MawrBryn Mawr-Skyway, WashingtonBryn Mawr-Skyway is a census-designated place in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 15,645 at the 2010 census.Bryn Mawr-Skyway is the only census-designated place in the Seattle metro area to report a majority-minority population in the 2000 Census...
in unincorporated King County - Rainier View-LakeridgeRainier Beach, Seattle, WashingtonRainier Beach is a set of neighborhoods in Seattle, Washington that are mostly residential. Also called Atlantic City, Rainier Beach can include Dunlap, Pritchard Island, and Rainier View neighborhoods....
- Skyway and Bryn Mawr
- Thornton CreekThornton CreekThornton Creek is 18 miles of urban creeks and tributaries from southeast Shoreline through northeast Seattle to Lake Washington. The creek is the largest watershed in Seattle, draining a region of relatively dense biodiversity for an urban setting, home to frogs, newts, ducks, other birds, and...
, Seattle and Shoreline- Matthews BeachMatthews Beach, Seattle, WashingtonMatthews Beach is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington; it and Meadowbrook are the southern neighborhoods of the annexed township of Lake City...
, where the creek flows into Lake Washington - MeadowbrookMeadowbrook, Seattle, WashingtonMeadowbrook is a neighborhood in the Lake City district of Seattle, Washington. Meadowbrook is centered around open fields adjacent to the , , and Nathan Hale...
- NorthgateNorthgate, Seattle, WashingtonNorthgate is an informal district of neighborhoods in north urban Seattle, Washington, named for and surrounding Northgate Mall, the first covered mall in the United States....
- Adjacent, formerly suburban city of ShorelineShoreline, WashingtonShoreline is a city in King County, Washington, United States, north of Downtown Seattle bordering the northern Seattle city limits. As of the 2010 census, the population was 53,007, making it the 19th largest city in the state of Washington....
; southeastern neighborhoods.
- Matthews Beach
Other areas
- Neighborhoods of the Pipers Creek watershed
- GreenwoodGreenwood, Seattle, WashingtonGreenwood is a neighborhood in north central Seattle, Washington, USA.The neighborhood's primary north/south arterial is Greenwood Avenue North. The primary east/west arterial is North 85th Street, which carries traffic east to Interstate 5 and west to Golden Gardens Park...
- South BroadviewBroadview, Seattle, WashingtonBroadview is a neighborhood in northwestern Seattle, Washington, USA.Broadview is bounded on the west by Puget Sound; on the north by N.W. 145th Street, beyond which is the city of Shoreline; on the east by Greenwood Avenue N., beyond which lies the neighborhood of Bitter Lake; and on the south by...
- Northeast Blue RidgeBlue Ridge, Seattle, WashingtonBlue Ridge is a neighborhood in the city of Seattle, in the US state of Washington.The neighborhood is bounded on the south by Northwest 100th Street; on the southeast by Holman Road Northwest, beyond which lies Ballard; on the east by Greenwood Avenue North, beyond which lies Bitter Lake; on the...
- Greenwood
- Fauntleroy CreekFauntleroy CreekFauntleroy Creek is a stream in the Fauntleroy neighborhood of West Seattle, Washington, USA. It flows for about a mile from its headwaters in the 32-acre ravine of Fauntleroy Park to its outlet just south of the state ferry terminal on Puget Sound's Fauntleroy Cove, dropping 300 feet vertically...
in the FauntleroyFauntleroy, Seattle, WashingtonFauntleroy is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of Seattle, Washington. Part of West Seattle and situated on Puget Sound's Fauntleroy Cove , it faces Vashon Island, Blake Island, and the Kitsap Peninsula to the west...
neighborhood of West Seattle flows about a mile (1.6 km) from as far east as 38th Avenue SW in the modest 33 acre (130,000 m²) Fauntleroy Park at SW Barton Street, through a fish ladder at its outlet near the Fauntleroy ferry terminalWashington State FerriesWashington State Ferries is a passenger and automobile ferry service owned and operated by the Washington State Department of Transportation that serves communities on Puget Sound and in the San Juan Islands. It is the most used ferry system in the world and the largest passenger and automobile...
(the creek drops a moderately steep 300 ft (91 m) in that one mile). Coho salmon and cutthroat trout returned as soon as barriers were removed, after concerted effort and pressure by citizen groups of activist neighbors (1989–1998). A further culvert blocks fish passage to Kilbourne Park and so on up to the headwaters in Fauntleroy Park. The 98 acre (400,000 m²) watershed is about two-thirds residential development, from 1900s summer colony to post-World War II urban, with the rest natural space, primarily Fauntleroy Park. - Longfellow CreekLongfellow CreekLongfellow Creek is a stream in the Delridge district of West Seattle, in Seattle, Washington. It runs about 3.38 miles from Roxhill Park north to the Duwamish West Waterway at Elliott Bay. The Duwamish called the creek "Smelt" , denoting smelt fish...
is one of the four largest in urban Seattle. It flows north from Roxhill Park for several miles along the valley of the DelridgeDelridge, Seattle, WashingtonDelridge is a district in West Seattle, Washington that stretches along Delridge Way, an arterial that follows the eastern slope of the valley of Longfellow Creek, from near its source just within the southern city limits north to the West Seattle Bridge over the Duwamish River.The Delridge...
neighborhood of West Seattle, turning east to reach the Duwamish Waterway via a 3,300 ft (1000 m) pipe beneath the Bethlehem SteelBethlehem SteelThe Bethlehem Steel Corporation , based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was once the second-largest steel producer in the United States, after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel. After a decline in the U.S...
plant (now NucorNucorNucor Corporation , a Fortune 300 company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the largest steel producers in the United States, and the largest of the "mini-mill" operators...
). Salmon returned without intervention as soon as toxic input was ended and barriers were removed, after having been extinguished for 60 years. Construction of a fish ladder at the north end of the West Seattle Golf Course will allow spawning salmon up along the fairways. Farther upstream the city has been enlarging and building more storm-detention ponds, recreation areas, and an outdoor-education center at Camp Long. An area of 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) of open upland, wetland and wooded space just east of Chief Sealth High SchoolChief Sealth High SchoolChief Sealth International High School is a public high school in the Seattle Public Schools district of Seattle, Washington. Opened in 1957 in southern West Seattle, Chief Sealth students comprise one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse student bodies in Washington State...
in WestwoodWestwood, Seattle, WashingtonWestwood is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington. It is located near White Center, in the southwestern part of the city....
is the first daylight of Longfellow Creek. It has been the location of some plant and tree restoration since 1997. After more than a decade of preparation by hundreds of neighborhood volunteers, a restoration and 4.2 mile (6.7 km) legacy trail was completed in 2004. Further improvement by removal of invasive vegetationInvasive species"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
is ongoing as native species retake hold. Blue heronBlue heronBlue heron can refer to:* Little Blue Heron, a small heron* Great Blue Heron, a large wading bird* Blue Heron Lake, Canada* Great Blue Heron Casino, Canada* Blue Heron Estate, Alberta* Blue Heron, Kentucky* Blue Heron Park Preserve, New York City...
and coyoteCoyoteThe coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
can be seen. The creek first emerges at the 10,000-year-old Roxhill Bog, south of the Westwood Village shopping center. - Madrona CreekMadrona CreekMadrona Creek is a stream in the Madrona neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, USA, located within Madrona Park. A daylighting project to restore the creekbed from above 38th Avenue downhill to Lake Washington is underway .-References:...
, Seattle- MadronaMadrona, Seattle, WashingtonMadrona is a mostly residential neighborhood in east central Seattle, Washington. It is bounded on the east by Lake Washington; on the south by E. Cherry Street, beyond which is Leschi; on the west by Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, beyond which is the Central District; and on the north by E. Howell...
Citizens of neighborhoods initiated a daylighting project in 2001, encompassing from above 38th Avenue into Lake Washington. Daylighting will return the creek to a new bed and replace the sloping lawn between Lake Washington Boulevard and Lake Washington with native plantings, and with the mouth of the creek at a restored 48000 sq ft (4,459.3 m²) wetland cove on the lake. New culverts under 38th, the boulevard, and under a permeable pedestrian path will allow fish passage. Native plantings will restore about 1.5 acres (6,100 m²), with plantings three to four feet in height at three key view corridors. Planning continued through 2004, followed by design (2205) and construction (2006). The completion celebration is scheduled for spring, 2007. The $450,000 cost is funded by community-initiated grants and private donations.
- Madrona
- Citizen stewards of the creek and woods are represented by the Friends of Madrona Woods (1996). The urban forest encompasses about 9 acres (36,000 m²), largely in a couple ravines. The park area was built 1891-1893, officially no longer maintained since the 1930s with the demise of streetcars and pedestrian lifestyles. Persistent efforts began (1995) with informal removal of ivy smothering trees, then invasive species like holly, laurel and blackberries, and realization that effective restoration would require comprehensive stewardship.
- With a "Small and Simple" Department of Neighborhoods grant, the neighborhood started a formal effort. Neighborhood groups, planning with naturalists and landscape architects brought an effective early step rebuilding trails, promoting access and building constituency. Further priorities were protection for habitat, restoration of stream beds, rehabilitation as a natural area using native plants, and using the Madrona Woods as a setting for environmental education programs at local schools. A hired landscape architect became a team member, experimental plots were set up to test different methods for revegetating with native plants. (Plants adapt to microclimates; experimentation is required to jumpstart the otherwise very long natural processes.)
- Friends of Madrona Woods earned a much larger Department of Neighborhoods matching grant in 2000, funding the creation of a Master Action Plan, and major trail restoration work. The community match for the grant was nearly 2500 hours of volunteer labor by community members and school children from St. Therese and Epiphany schools. After many decades of urban use without formal maintenance, substantial trail engineering was required. EarthCorps was contracted to do the actual construction, which included 86 steps, two landings and a bridge.
- EarthCorps is a local program to foster environmental responsibility and global cooperation among young people around the world. Two thirds the Corps members come from King County and the U.S., one third are recruited from partner organizations around the world. They combine the best elements of the 1930’s Civilian Conservation CorpsCivilian Conservation CorpsThe Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
with those of the Peace CorpsPeace CorpsThe Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
. Participants learn resource management skills by completing restoration projects throughout King County. This work has included restoring stream banks and salmon habitat, reclaiming logging roads, and building trails. They completed 30,000 hours of work in 1999 alone.
- In the process of clearing, volunteers found substantial erosion in the wetland hillside, leading to a grant from a Parks Department fund to stabilize it with a water cascade of natural materials. Neighbors did a little trail-building of their own with Volunteers for Outdoor Washington and an all-day trail building workshop (February 2000). Local school children learn about restoration by working with Madrona Woods volunteers throughout the year. Work parties continue monthly through much of the year.
- Mapes CreekMapes CreekMapes Creek is a stream in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, USA. It runs through Kubota Garden and Beer Sheva Park on its way to Lake Washington....
, accessible at Kubota GardenKubota GardenKubota Garden is a 20 acre Japanese garden in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. A public park since 1987, it was started in 1927 by Fujitaro Kubota, a Japanese emigrant...
, flows from a ridge to Lake Washington.- Rainier BeachRainier Beach, Seattle, WashingtonRainier Beach is a set of neighborhoods in Seattle, Washington that are mostly residential. Also called Atlantic City, Rainier Beach can include Dunlap, Pritchard Island, and Rainier View neighborhoods....
- Rainier Beach
- Puget CreekPuget CreekPuget Creek is a small urban creek in the U.S. state of Washington, in the north end of Tacoma, It rises in Puget Park and flows north to Commencement Bay, part of Puget Sound. Its course follows a steep ravine containing Puget Gardens Park. The creek's course is mostly contained within the ...
flows into the Duwamish RiverDuwamish RiverThe Duwamish River is the name of the lower of Washington state's Green River. Its industrialized estuary is known as the Duwamish Waterway.- History :...
from Puget Park on SW Dawson Street near 19th Avenue SW, near the DelridgeDelridge, Seattle, WashingtonDelridge is a district in West Seattle, Washington that stretches along Delridge Way, an arterial that follows the eastern slope of the valley of Longfellow Creek, from near its source just within the southern city limits north to the West Seattle Bridge over the Duwamish River.The Delridge...
neighborhood of West Seattle.- East Delridge
- Industrial DistrictIndustrial District, Seattle, WashingtonThe Industrial District is the principal industrial area of Seattle, Washington. It is bounded on the west by the Duwamish Waterway and Elliott Bay, beyond which lies Delridge of West Seattle; on the east by Interstate 5, beyond which lies Beacon Hill; on the north by S King and S Dearborn Streets,...
- Ravenna Creek, Seattle
- RavennaRavenna, Seattle, WashingtonRavenna is a neighborhood in northeastern Seattle, Washington named after Ravenna, Italy. Though Ravenna is considered a residential neighborhood, it also is home to several businesses such as the University Village Shopping Center...
and Ravenna-BryantBryant, Seattle, Washington- Bryant and Ravenna-Bryant :Bryant is a residential neighborhood in northeast Seattle, Washington. It is bounded by 25th Avenue NE on the west, beyond which is Ravenna; NE Blakeley Street, Union Bay Place NE and NE 45th Street on the south, beyond which is University Village; Sand Point Way NE on... - The remaining watershed includes RooseveltRoosevelt, Seattle, WashingtonRoosevelt is a neighborhood in north Seattle, Washington. Its main thoroughfare, originally 10th Avenue, was renamed Roosevelt Way upon Theodore Roosevelt's death in 1919...
and parts of the University DistrictUniversity District, Seattle, WashingtonThe University District is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, so named because the main campus of the University of Washington is located there. The UW moved in two years after the area was annexed to Seattle, while much of the area was still clear cut forest or stump farmland...
. - The creek flows past the Union Bay Natural AreaUnion Bay Natural AreaThe Union Bay Natural Area in in Seattle, Washington, also known as Union Bay Marsh, is the restored remainder of the filled former Union Bay and Union Bay Marsh after University Village Shopping Center, the University of Washington athletic facilities, buildings, and main parking area...
into Lake Washington.
- Ravenna
- Schmitz Creek in the Alki neighborhood of West Seattle flows to the sound from Schmitz Park, SW 55th Avenue at SW Admiral Way. Apart from the paved entrance and a parking lot at the northwest corner, the park has remained essentially unchanged since its 53 acres (210,000 m²) were protected 1908-1912 from complete logging. Fragmentary old growth forestOld growth forestAn old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...
remains. Daylighting and drainage rebuilding to handle seasonal and storm flow was done 2001-2003.- Alki Friends of Schmittz Park are neighborhood citizen stewards of the park (and creek).
In other countries
SeoulSeoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
provides one example of a major world city rediscovering its river. Mayor Lee Myung Bak, formerly a construction magnate with the Hyundai
Hyundai
Hyundai ) is a global conglomerate company, part of the Korean chaebol, that was founded in South Korea by one of the most famous businessmen in Korean history: Chung Ju-yung...
chaebol
Chaebol
Chaebol refers to a South Korean form of business conglomerate. They are global multinationals owning numerous international enterprises. The term is often used in a context similar to that of the English word "conglomerate"...
involved in burying the river during the 1960s boom, ran for office promising to daylight it, and achieved in 2005 a 5.8 km (3.6 mi) greenspace
Open space reserve
Open space reserve, open space preserve, and open space reservation, are planning and conservation ethics terms used to describe areas of protected or conserved land or water on which development is indefinitely set aside...
in a city without very many parks or playgrounds. Although this is not a true daylighting project—the original seasonal and polluted stream runs below the stunningly engineered and landscaped new, artificial waterway—the Cheonggyecheon
Cheonggyecheon
Cheonggyecheon is an 8.4 km long, modern public recreation space in downtown Seoul, South Korea. The massive urban renewal project is on the site of a stream that flowed before the rapid post-war economic development required it to be covered by transportation infrastructure...
, "pristine stream", is hugely popular, alleviating fears that opening the river would cause nearby businesses to lose customers.
Further reading
- Overview of the geography of metro Seattle watersheds,
Map of the landscape carved by the Vashon Glacier some 14,000 years ago.-
- Homewaters Project, Thornton Creek Watershed
- Longfellow Creek Home Page
- City of Seattle Urban Creeks Legacy
- What is in urban stormwater runoff
External links
- http://www.GroundworkHudsonValley.org
- http://www.SawMillRiverCoalition.org
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