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ELLIS CREEK ESTUARY, King County ownership, Year acquired: 2006, Acres: 3. This highly visible estuary of Ellis Creek at Tramp Harbor is the site of a restoration project undertaken by King County to promote the health of both the near shore and the creek. Juvenile salmon need these 'pocket' estuaries where they feed on insects, shellfish larvae and small fish in preparation for their journey to the open ocean. NEXT
LOST LAKE, Vashon Park District and Land Trust ownership, Year donated: 1980, Acres: 37. One of a handful of known sphagnum bogs on Vashon, Lost Lake also contains a spectacular stretch of beach where surf smelt and sand lance spawn. This portion of south Vashon Island, on the eastern shoreline down the road from Inspiration Point, is known as a “slump zone,” which is a geological term for an unstable area that is sliding and losing elevation over time. It's possible that once having been a deep lake, the combination of earthquake events and the natural slumping process has transformed the area into the wetland we know today as 'the lake that was lost'. NEXT
MARJORIE STANLEY NATURAL AREA, King County ownership, Year donated: 1972, Acres: 17. Long-time island librarian Marjorie Stanley donated this triangular forest, bordered by Vashon Hwy, Quartermaster Dr and Dugway Rd, as a wildlife preserve, at the same time that she donated the neighboring lot to the Veterans of Foreign War. Her good friend Bill Beymer was one of those vets (WWI), and was also the “keeper” of the forest. A short walk reveals a very large diversity of native plant species packed into one of the smallest preserves on Vashon. NEXT
MILETA CREEK HERON ROOKERY, Vashon Park District and Land Trust ownership, Years acquired: 1991-1992, Acres: 15. As this purchase was being completed in 1992, biologists documented 129 heron nests on this site with an average of 2.35 young per successful nest. The heron rookery was studied and stewarded carefully by Land Trust volunteers, but by 1997 there were no more herons nesting on the site. It may have been attacks by eagles that drove the herons away, or perhaps crows that took advantage of the resulting un-guarded nests – but we’ll never know for sure. Now this Maury Island parcel, located not far from the Maury Marine Park, remains a patch of undeveloped forest through which flows Mileta creek on a seasonal basis. NEXT
NEIL POINT, King County ownership, Year acquired: 2007, Acres: 52. This amazing view of Mt. Rainier is only one of the charms of this shoreline park at the southern end of Vashon. The sandy beach is representative of the “rotation zone” along this shoreline of outer Quartermaster Harbor north to Lost Lake. A “rotation” describes a massive slumping of sand behind the beach, with a corresponding rise on the beach itself. Locals tell stories of geoducks literally thrust up from their depths onto the sand. The depression that holds Lost Lake was also caused by a massive rotation – as recorded in native oral history. The sand created by these rotations creates excellent spawning habitat for critical forage fish species like sand lance and surf smelt. NEXT
PINER POINT King County ownership, Years acquired: 2005-2008, Acres: 7. This stretch of shoreline was first identified as a high-quality beach through the 2000 Vashon Rapid Shoreline Inventory, an effort by local volunteers to gather data about natural resources on our beaches. At the south end of Maury Island, Piner Point is located at the southern tip of one of Puget Sound’s largest “drift cells.” A drift cell describes the net flow of sand along a beach, in this case from Piner Point northeast to Pt. Robinson. This beach feature ties together significant conservation efforts along the Maury Island shoreline, including the purchase of Maury Marine park in 1994 and the Glacier site in 2010. NEXT
POINT HEYER King County ownership, Years acquired: 2009-2010, Acres: 29. In 2008, the Land Trust and King County began an ambitious and long-term effort to preserve the “feeder bluffs” along Vashon's eastern shoreline north of Tramp Harbor that feed sand to KVI Beach. Visiting KVI at a very low tide yields a view of the exposed large sand bar to the east. This bar stays intact because sand falls off the bluffs north of KVI and is swept down the beach by tides and currents. The sand bar acts as a reef that protects the upper beach, which in turn protects Vashon’s largest saltmarsh. Some of the funding for these acquisitions comes from salmon recovery efforts, because endangered juvenile Chinook salmon are fond of popping into the marsh at KVI to find insects and other forage. NEXT
RAAB'S LAGOON, King County ownership, Years acquired: 2008-2010, Acres: 18. Islanders 'in-the-know' have long-enjoyed paddling to and around this peaceful lagoon at the entrance to inner Quartermaster Harbor. Now, as an established natural area, there is public shore access, providing a lovely spot to picnic or enjoy the lagoon from the land. NEXT
In addition to creating and expanding the nature preserves that we manage, the Land Trust is involved in other methods of conserving lands and habitats on the Island. In some cases, the Land Trust has received a donation of stand-alone property with sufficient conservation value to retain and protect it. In other instances, the Land Trust has acted as the lead negotiator on behalf of King County in acquiring property with significant ecological features or conditions. The Land Trust also holds conservation easements over several private properties, either aquired from or donated by the land owners.
Learn more about these specific areas in the photo captions at left:
