The city of Everett may have decided to table any discussion on the development of the Wood Creek property at this time. We wanted to report something more concrete, however, according to what we have heard, there seem to be too many complications that will make it difficult for the sale to move forward. We are still trying to touch base with the various council members and other interested parties and will report any new findings if they become available.

Note: the picture in this photo was taken near Timber Hill Drive by Fred Zoeller

We were just given a new official document regarding the future land-use scenarios for the Wood Creek Watershed. The SWCE group has been discussing these options and we will post more here soon.

Here is the official document regarding the future land use scenarios that we have just received. This document is a pdf and you will need to use Adobe Acrobat or another pdf reader to view the document.

The document can be found at https://savewoodcreek.org/documents/WoodCreekLandUseScenerios.pdf

Wood Creek Neighborhood Meeting Recap
On Sat. Aug. 28th over 50 people attended a neighborhood (Valley View and Eastmont) meeting to hear updates and ask questions regarding the future development of the 98 acre Wood Creek Forest.  Our Stewards of Wood Creek Everett Board who planned this gathering were really pleased with the turnout and our elected officials and community leaders who came to bring the updates and responded to well over 20 questions that were asked.  The elected officials were:

• Paul Roberts - Everett City Council member who is the point for this issue
• Megan Dunn - Snohomish County Council District 2 (the district that Wood Creek Forest is in)

Community Leaders were:

• Nick Bratton - representing Forterra - an environmental conservation organization that does work in the Everett area and all over Western Washington.
• Todd Gray - the environmental rep from the Tulalip Tribe

The next steps are for the geo-technical study to become a public report regarding the soil stability and praticality of building on in this area. As soon as this report is ready we will distrubute it publicly. The overall goal is the conservation of this historic forest which is so valuable for the well-being of our local environment. If you have any questions regarding this effort to conserve this historic forest and creek send an email to info@savewoodcreek.org. As soon as the geo-technical study is released the board will sponsor another publc neighborhood meeting. To express your opinion to the Everett city council or to the mayor's office please go to the Everett City website found at https://www.everettwa.gov/citycouncil.

From the Everett Herald:

EVERETT -- Wood Creek's forested ravine is set for further evaluation and study this year by the city and an environmental nonprofit.

No decisions about its future have been made, but people across the city and beyond can have a say in it.

Everett is working with Forterra to re-evaluate the land's soil stability and potential uses. Once that is determined, the city intends to get an appraisal of the acreage -- which could remain an unmanaged urban forest, become a passive recreation area like the unofficial trails already there, or have small sections sold and developed for housing.

The city and Snohomish County are paying Forterra to lead community engagement starting this summer. That will include conversations with neighbors; residents across Everett; Snohomish County, which owns about 10 acres of adjacent forest; and the Tulalip Tribes. The feedback will help determine funding and long-term land use options for Wood Creek.

The partnership was a hopeful sign for Valley View residents who asked the city to keep the property undeveloped.

"It's moving in the right direction, but it isn't a promise. I'm aware of that," said Lois Bell, a Valley View resident since 2015 and committee member for Stewards of Wood Creek Everett, a group that formed in response to the city's consideration of the property as surplus land. "Ideally we'd like it to be preserved. In what context, that's to be decided."

The full article can be found at https://www.heraldnet.com/news/everett-environmental-group-to-study-wood-creek-future-uses/

Thank you to everyone who joined our community zoom meeting and contacted us about getting involved! We need volunteers to help with outreach, media production, and in the future, fundraising.

We look forward to working with you to save Wood Creek.

If you weren't able to attend, but would like to volunteer to support the effort, please email info@savewoodcreek.org or call (346) 298-2080.

You can find information about our bi-weekly Zoom meetings on our website, Facebook, and Nextdoor. Please subscribe to the website so you don't miss an update. We welcome your participation!

A new batch of Save Wood Creek Signs are available

These signs are an excellent way to promote our cause, which is to protect and preserve the Wood Creek forest for future generations through conservation and stewardship. These signs also informs our neighbors where to go to on the internet to provide most up-to-date Wood Creek Forest information. Please support our cause and contact Michael Wright at michael@savewoodcreek.org to pick up your own.

Michael is suggesting a $10 dollar donation for each sign, and he will personally deliver it to you locally.

We had some prominent visitors in our recent Stewards of Wood Creek Everett (SWCE) Zoom meeting on the 17th. Deputy Mayor Nick Harper and Council Member Paul Roberts provided an update on the City Administration's Wood Creek efforts. Council Member Paul Roberts also attended in his role as the City Council's lead on this effort. SWCE Team Member Jeff Mallahan pitched to both guests our strategy to investigate the idea of designating the Wood Creek forest as a mitigation land bank. The feedback that we heard from them was generally encouraging.

Deputy Mayor Nick Harper stated that the City of Everett has owned the Wood Creek property for nearly a hundred years. During the last 80 years, the property has been unproductive as it no longer served its purpose as Everett's original water source. The City had asked its staff to list all the surplus properties not being used for the purposes for which they had originally been acquired. After hearing the community's negative response to this proposal and realizing the important ecological nature of this site, the Mayor quickly retracted the proposal and shelved it for further review. With the benefit of hindsight, it was clear that Wood Creek should not have been treated the same, for surplus-decision purposes, as a small parcel in the middle of town.

Currently, the main goal for the City of Everett is to study the property in order to 'capture its value' to inform any future decision. Deputy Mayor Harper reiterated that the 'value' of the property can have numerous meanings: its value as a buffer for a protected stream corridor, its value in relation to stability of the critical slopes, its value for carbon sequestration, and air quality improvement. Informed by a broader understanding of value, the city could work in partnership with an ecological group, such as Forterra, to preserve the forest. Deputy Mayor Harper stated he had spoken to Snohomish County Council Member Dunn several times and in principle there is interest in a city-county partnership, though both entities are experiencing the same financial challenges, so it is unclear how that partnership would influence any final decision. He also conceded that a possible outcome could be that the Wood Creek could ultimately be left as is.

Probably most importantly, the Deputy Mayor reiterated the city is not going to make this decision 'privately'; they want this process to be transparent and as inclusive as possible.

The next step in the process supporting a decision on Wood Creek is a geo-technical analysis to be performed on behalf of the City of Everett. This significant analysis would include investigation of the soils, rock, and water conditions, slope stability, and seismic considerations among other assessments. Deputy Mayor Harper said this in-depth analysis would be used to better inform future discussions and the ultimate decision. The target timeframe for conducting this geotechnical analysis is the first quarter (Jan – Mar) of 2021, but the Deputy Mayor added there is no rush, deadline, or timeline for the overall decision. Council Member Roberts reiterated that there is no hard deadline for this study, and the City would be very transparent with the decision to bring geotechnical consultants on board. Council Member Roberts and Deputy Mayor Harper will have a future meeting(s) toward identifying credible firms to provide this intensive analysis and research.

The Everett City administration plans to be transparent and work the community to try to prevent any future surprise. Of note, Deputy Mayor Harper said in attempting to be transparent with the community, it is particularly challenging to answer every specific question posed by individuals given all the other demands facing the City. Having the ability to communicate consistently with an organized group like Stewards of Wood Creek Everett has been helpful. [This is why we welcome your participation in SWCE!]

Jeff Mallahan, a Senior Wetland Ecologist at Wetland Resources, Inc in Everett, is a former Eastmont resident where his parents continue to reside. He pitched his idea of creating a mitigation land bank to preserve Wood Creek. He was raised on the banks of Wood Creek and his ventures into the creek had inspired his career of the past 15 years.

Jeff and his company are working pro-bono for SWCE to determine the viability of consolidating Wood Creek with several other wetlands in Everett to create a larger mitigation land bank. This land bank would be used to preserve the forest and to restore wetland areas by offsetting other development sites. For example, a developer would be given permission to develop a smaller wetland or ecological site if they purchase credits to maintain and preserve the Wood Creek land bank which has more ecological importance. The City of Everett could potentially manage these identified 'service areas', many of which drain into Puget Sound. This mitigation land bank would theoretically both preserve Wood Creek and generate income for the city. Already familiar with mitigation banking, Council Member Paul Roberts thinks that this model should be on the table. However, Mr. Roberts stated that the City still needs to fund the geotechnical survey to better understand 'what we have' in Wood Creek.

Additionally, Deputy Mayor Harper stated that he had worked with the City of Mukilteo to preserve Japanese Gulch previously in his career when he was employed by Forterra (when it was known as the Cascade Land Conservancy). Council Member Mr. Roberts proposed future discussions with Deputy Harper and Jeff Mallahan on the mitigation bank option. Having Jeff Mallahan work closely with the city council as an advocate of Wood Creek is an encouraging possibility. While it must be acknowledged the study may conclude that a small portion of the site could be developed, Council Member Roberts highlighted there is a distinction between technically feasible and cost-effective.

Near the end of the meeting, SWCE Team Member Michael Mallahan emphasized to the Deputy Mayor and Council Member that we do not presume to represent all the varied views of the Valley View community. Council Member Roberts similarly stated that while he is the City Council's lead on the Wood Creek issue that he also was not speaking for all his colleagues at this meeting. SWCE Team Member Gregory Alexander stated our group is trying to be inclusive and as transparent as possible with the Valley View neighborhood and beyond, making sure that all of the SWCE meetings are announced. Finally, both Messrs. Roberts and Harper stated that they welcomed the opportunity to speak with the SWCE group and would make themselves available for future meetings.

Note: we have made a few corrections and additions to the original post.

The Snohomish Tribune posted an article yesterday about our preservation efforts.

The following is an excerpt of the article:

A nearly hundred-acre woody watershed once seen as at-risk to development could be protected for its long-term future.

The site in question is land on the edge of the Valley View neighborhood, nestled east of Interstate 5, known as Wood Creek. It's owned by the city utility system, and earlier this year by an order from Mayor Cassie Franklin, the city withdrew a plan to surplus the land on the open market after neighbors pleaded a case against the dangers of developing here. Since then, a group of residents has worked with government officials, including Deputy Mayor Nick Harper and City Councilman Paul Roberts, to pursue an agreeable gameplan. Keeping the forest as-is is what the homegrown group "Stewards of Wood Creek Everett" would love to see happen.

The full article can be found here: http://www.snoho.com/html/stories_2020/09162020_wood_creek_forest_may_be_preserved.html

The community town square meeting was held on September 12th. There were approximately 35-40 people who attended, and there were around different 7 speakers. While initially had expected a higher turnout, the unhealthy levels of smoke in the air likely contributed to a lower turnout.

Michael Wright led the meeting stating that the intention of the meeting was to inform the general community and obtain more participation for our cause. Michael Wright also talked about promotion ideas- and asked if we should also design 'Save Wood Creek' themed masks and t-shirts. Most of the audience really liked the idea of having t-shirts and said that they would purchase on if they become available. 

Michael Mallahan discussing the mitigation Land Bank strategy

Michael Mallahan spoke and provided information on the mitigation land bank that Jeff Mallahan is researching for us. Jeffrey Mallahan, a senior Wetland Ecologist, is working with his own company, Wetland Resources, to research the potential of using Wood Creek as a land bank. Michael explained that a mitigation land bank allows a developer to build on a small wetland site by purchasing credits to maintain a larger wetland area that has more ecological value. For example, for a developer to build on a small wetland, he can purchase credits to maintain a larger site- such as our Wood Creek forest. This is the same model that was used to protect the Japanese Gulch, another wetland in Mukilteo. This is one of the Save Wood Creek Everett's main strategic prongs to in order save our forest in perpetuity. 

I spoke to the group asking them to subscribe to our website to receive news and updates. We are posting all of our meetings and announcements on the website in order to be as transparent as possible regarding our communications. If anyone is experiencing any issues with the site, I asked them to contact me directly using my gregory@savewoodcreek.org email address. We also have Facebook and NextDoor groups that can be leveraged for increased community participation.

Discussion about the technology SWCE Zoom meetings took place. Of import we need to make it clear that you don't need a computer to join the Zoom meetings, you can access it with your phone.

Jay Himmelman and Tanya Roost making a presentation about Jay's trials with 'Armageddon Creek'

Jay Himmelman spoke at the meeting and provided large 3x2 pictures of Armageddon Creek and summarized all of his trials that he had to go through. I found Jay's presentation to be quite appealing. He presented his story quite well!

Finally, Christian Roost came up and shared his experiences with conservation issues that he experienced during his childhood in Europe. He emphasized the need to find a permanent solution to preserve Wood Creek and that we should not rest on our heals.

To end the meeting, Michael Wright strongly recommended the community to attend our meetings and get involved. 

Hi all,

Michael Wright is organizing an in person community outside townsquare event on September 12th at 1 PM.

The location will be held in Valley View at 8108 24th Dr. SE. The location is the same spot that our original kickoff meeting was held in May.

This is an outdoor event so there should be plenty of room for social distancing, but masks are still required by state mandate.

Some of the people in attendance will be Michael Wright, of course, and Babby Skowyra and the energetic door-to-door communicator Karen.

They will be providing updates regarding the recent question and answer interview with Mayor Cassie Franklin (Q&A with Cassie), and emphasize the need to continue contacting our council members to keep this issue on our radar.

Michael Wright will provide further details on other issues such as personal outreach and Save Wood Creek signage.

Gregory Alexander and Michael Mallahan will provide updates on Stewards of Wood Creek Everett (SWCE) activities and assist and ask for the community to subscribe to the www.savewoodcreek.org website.

All are welcome, no matter where you live.

For more information or questions, please contact contact Michael Wright at michael@savewoodcreek.org

Hope to see you there!

Note: if you want to attend from the Eastmont side, but don't have a ride, contact Gregory Alexander at gregory@savewoodcreek.org. I may be able to give you a ride.