There’s a huge amount of discussion going on about what the new park on top of the Maple Leaf reservoir should look like. (Don’t forget to attend the meeting next Thursday evening. Here’s a summary of results from the last one.)
Meanwhile, there’s a little-known park to the north where the Maple Leaf beavers and, sometimes, brightly marked wood ducks live. It’s is officially called Thornton Creek Park No. 6 by both the city and the Homewaters Project.
What should we build there? The answer, according to Seattle Parks and Recreation, is “not much.”
“The park will remain a natural area, with passive use,” said Cheryl Eastberg of the parks department. “It really doesn’t have any areas that would support active use” such as a playground, she said.
The “park” is in the south fork of Thornton Creek, also known as Maple Leaf Creek, and much of it is a wetland. When the beavers arrived in the last few years, more of it became so. The Thornton Creek Alliance started working on the site as early as 1992. It now boasts the largest crayfish in the watershed.
A small log-looking house from the 1930s, which the city bought earlier this year, will be removed, Eastberg said.
The creek that flows through the park, at Eighth Avenue Northeast and Northeast 105th Street, is part of Seattle’s largest watershed, draining 11.6 square miles before flowing into Lake Washington at Matthews Beach.
