Dozens of chinook reach Issaquah Salmon Hatchery
September 4, 2010
NEW — 10 a.m. Sept. 4, 2010
Rains and cooler temperatures prompted dozens of mighty chinook salmon to return to the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery to spawn.
Hatchery workers opened the fish ladder Sept. 3 to start collecting salmon for the spawning season.
Muckleshoot Tribe officials counted more than 8,000 chinook at the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Ballard. The tribe — the official keeper of salmon counts — estimates the return to be below average this year.
Summer weather means trips to the lake — and algae blooms
August 13, 2010
NEW — 1 p.m. Aug. 13, 2010
King County boasts more than 500 lakes — but slimy algae can turn a refreshing dip into a stinky mess.
The county Water and Land Resources Division has cataloged algae blooms in lakes Sammamish, Washington, Horseshoe, Hicks, Wilderness, Walker and Echo this summer.
Learn more about King County lake management and current algae blooms here.
Algae occur naturally in some lakes during the summer, thanks to the right mixture of ample sunlight, water temperatures and nutrients. Many algae varieties make for a nuisance, some might smell bad as they decompose and others can be harmful if swallowed by people or pets.
Damaged Lake Sammamish data buoy placed back in service
July 27, 2010
The data-gathering buoy damaged by vandals the weekend of July 17 has been placed back into service on Lake Sammamish. Contributed
Vandals damaged a county data buoy bobbing in Lake Sammamish in mid-July, and the cash-strapped county might be unable to repair or replace damaged equipment crammed aboard the float.
King County Sheriff’s Office and county environmental officials said suspects flipped the buoy, causing a gap in the weather and water-quality information gathered by the device. County staffers do not yet know if equipment can be salvaged from the damaged buoy.
The buoy had been returned to Lake Sammamish by late last week. Though temperature and relative humidity probes had been damaged beyond repair, the buoy suffered little damage.
“We definitely dodged a bullet,” King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks spokesman Doug Williams said.
Vandals cause $60,000 in damage to Lake Sammamish buoy
July 22, 2010
A damaged environmental buoy in Lake Sammamish floats after vandals flipped the buoy during the weekend. Contributed
NEW — 5 p.m. July 22, 2010
Vandals damaged a county data buoy bobbing in Lake Sammamish during the weekend, and the cash-strapped county might be unable to repair or replace the damaged equipment.
The suspects flipped the buoy, causing a gap in the weather and water-quality information gathered by the device. County staffers do not yet know if equipment can be salvaged from the damaged buoy. Replacement costs could reach about $60,000.
Greenway pioneer receives top environmental honor
July 13, 2010
Mountains to Sound Greenway pioneer Ted Thomsen — “the unsung hero” behind the 101-mile greenbelt — received the highest environmental honor in Issaquah in a City Hall ceremony last week.
The late Thomsen received the Ruth Kees Award for a Sustainable Community — the prize named for the late environmentalist, a tireless advocate for open space preservation. The city selected Thomsen for the yearslong effort to establish a billboard-free greenbelt from Seattle to Central Washington along Interstate 90.
Cynthia Welti, Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust executive director, nominated Thomsen for the honor.
“He was essential to bringing the greenway vision to fruition,” she recalled in the nomination. “Ted is the unsung hero of the launch of this tremendous coalition effort.”
City picks architect for downtown parks
June 1, 2010
The landscape architect behind Warren G. Magnuson and Cal Anderson parks in Seattle has been picked to design a trio of downtown parks along Issaquah Creek.
The selection kicks off the monthslong public process to plan the park complex. The Berger Partnership, a Seattle firm, and the city Parks & Recreation Department will seek input from residents about the features people want for the downtown Issaquah parks.
The architect will spearhead the overarching design, or master site plan, for three contiguous properties spread across 15.5 acres: Tollë Anderson, Cybil-Madeline and Issaquah Creek parks. The city plans to spend up to $1.6 million to complete the plan and build the initial phase. Issaquah voters approved money for development of the confluence-area parks in a 2006 bond.
Issaquah Parks & Recreation officials announced the selection of The Berger Partnership on May 24.
Preservation rules and the parks’ creekside geography will limit development to trails, picnic areas and other passive recreation uses.
City Parks Planner Margaret Macleod said the parks department had not picked a date for the first meeting of residents, parks staffers and the architect. Macleod said she expects the department to start asking for public input within the next few months.
“The public process is going to be a huge part of the master site plan process,” she added.
The park complex should be completed early in the next decade, though the final timeline hinges on available grants and city dollars.
Guy Michaelsen, principal at The Berger Group and the landscape architect, led the transformation of old runways and taxiways at Magnuson Park — 315 acres of a former military base along Lake Washington — into manmade wetlands and sports fields. The architect trekked through the Issaquah parks several times after he decided to submit a proposal for the project.
“You can design something with an aerial photograph and a survey, but there’s something to be said for the feel of the place,” he said.
Michaelsen said the Issaquah Creek-side parks should “enhance ecology, improve the environment and invite people in.”
The city received 16 responses from landscape architects, and the selection committee culled the list to three finalists. The Berger Partnership and the other finalists prepared a conceptual design for the parks.
The other finalists: San Francisco landscape architecture firm Bionic and Nakano Associates, the Seattle firm behind the 1995 rebuild of the International Fountain near the Space Needle.
The Berger Partnership transformed decaying Lincoln Park into Cal Anderson Park early last decade. The design added a lid to the Lincoln Reservoir on the site, capped by sports fields and a landmark fountain.
Officials in neighboring Sammamish also enlisted the firm to design Sammamish Landing Park. Read more
Ferry tale
February 23, 2010
Vessel named for Issaquah overcomes early troubles to become fleet workhorse
Night descended hours earlier, when the weak, winter sun slunk behind the Olympic Mountains. Stragglers wait along Fauntleroy Cove; the afternoon rush ended long ago. The last commuters sit, impatient and weary, in vehicles, sealed behind steel and safety glass. Lines form and vehicles — mud-caked Subaru wagons, worn SUVs with stickers on the rear windows — inch into position. Destination: Vashon Island.
The ferry glides into view across Puget Sound. The hull carries the same name as a place 20 miles east: Issaquah.
The vessel matters little to the travelers; the Klahowya or the Tillikum could carry them home just the same.
Come daylight, the boxy Issaquah looks as unglamorous as a mail truck, with the same work ethic as a letter carrier — neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom keeps the ferry idle.
Darkness softens the hard edges, and the Issaquah looks handsome, even majestic. Light spills from the oblong windows and the open vehicle deck. Reflections glimmer across the dark water.
As the ferry approaches the West Seattle terminal, propellers churn the inky water into foam, like the frothy head on a glass of pilsner. The vessel nudges the dock, the ramp lowers and attendants in fluorescent gear direct vehicles from the maw. Not 20 minutes later, more cars, trucks and SUVs fill the hold.
The placid efficiency contrasts with the years in the Carter era when the Issaquah entered service and headlines blared problems aboard — and caused by — the ferry.
Searchers scoured fields, forests for missing boy
December 22, 2009
Ava and Bill Frisinger revisit forested fields near their old home on 231st Avenue Southeast at Southeast May Valley Road, where they joined in searches for 8-year-old David Adams in 1968. By Greg Farrar
Innocence Lost, a three-part series about the 1968 disappearance of David Adams.
Part 2: Search
Only memories and frayed newspaper clippings remain from the fruitless search for David Adams.
Ask any longtime Issaquah resident about the mystery, and talk turns to the May 1968 search for the missing 8-year-old boy. Many old-timers scoured fields and forests in the frenzied days after David vanished.
The search drew people in the hundreds — perhaps even 1,000 searchers — to Issaquah, just a flyspeck on maps back then. Volunteers swarmed Tiger Mountain in the days after David disappeared, but the first searchers were bound together by faith, community and the desire to find the lost boy.
The first teams included members of the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where the Adamses worshipped. The call for help rippled through the congregation hours after David failed to return home. Searchers combed the mountain through the night. By the next morning, the King County Sheriff’s Office arrived, and the case caught the attention of Seattle news organizations.
Fewer chinook expected to return
September 1, 2009
FISH spots first chinook at Issaquah hatchery
The first chinook of the year returns from the Pacific Ocean to Issaquah near the Salmon Hatchery fish ladder. By Gestin Suttle
At the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, chinook is king.
Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery Executive Director Gestin Suttle said the return of the first chinook is usually cause for celebration. But the festive mood could be dampened by a downsized forecast for the number of chinook.
Issaquah Salmon Hatchery workers and FISH members spotted the first chinook of the season in Issaquah Creek last week. But the good news was tempered with a stark prospect: Muckleshoot Tribe fisheries officials initially forecast 15,000 chinook salmon returns for the year, but the estimate has since been cut to 5,000 returns.
Suttle said the number was “very disappointing to say the least” and alarming. But she said the factors behind fewer chinook returns were difficult to determine. A hot, dry summer and water temperatures in Lake Washington could be behind the revised forecast. Read more
Many memorable mayors managed Issaquah
June 30, 2009
Portraits of Issaquah’s mayors can be found in a display case on the stairwell leading to the second floor of City Hall. The photos tell a great deal about the people and times of the fledgling city.
Some of the city’s early mayors were doctors, including Issaquah’s first mayor, Frank Harrell. During the Great Depression, Stella May Alexander was elected the first woman mayor, campaigning on the Taxpayers’ Ticket.
She was elected to a two-year term, defeating the Progressive ticket candidate, M.H. Clark. Ninety-three percent of the city’s registered voters cast ballots and Alexander won 195-136. She lost in a recall election the following year.
In the last half of the 20th century, mayors such as Bill Flintoft and A.J. Culver had to grapple with the emerging growth of the quiet little burg on Lake Sammamish into a thriving bedroom community to Seattle.
Harrell came to the area as the surgeon of the Seattle Coal and Iron Co. He was elected mayor of Gilman without a dissenting vote in 1892. Seven years later, the town was renamed Issaquah, after the original Indian name Is-qu-ah. Read more
