Reasserting the Place of Nature in Seattle’s Urban Creeks - Politics of Urban Runoff: Nature, Technology, and the Sustainable City - page 132

CWCAP expanded Malmgren's mission by conducting outdoor educa-
tion activities and hosting special events, and in the early 1980s, initiated
a salmon enhancement project with funding from a Metro grant to in-
troduce hatchlings into the creek. 31 In 1986, the Piper's Creek watershed
was selected by the Washington Department of Ecology as an early action
watershed project to control nonpoint source pollution, the only urban
watershed of twelve selected in the Puget Sound region. 32 In 1990, the
Piper's Creek Watershed Action Plan was approved by the City of Seattle
and the Department of Ecology. 33 As small salmon returned to the creek,
the thousands of volunteer hours devoted to restoring habitat as well as
over $2 million in government grants from King County and the state gov-
ernment fi nally began to produce results. 34 Piper's Creek serves as an early
example of the potential for urban creeks in Seattle to be rehabilitated and
today, Malmgren is a local legend of urban environmental restoration. 35
Carkeek Park consists of a series of beautiful, lush trails through steep
ravines with multiple tributaries (see fi gure 6.3). Upon entering the park,
Figure 6.3
Piper's Creek in Carkeek Park with logs placed by volunteers to provide salmon habitat
(left), the waterway surrounded by lush vegetation (top right), and a sign announcing the
return of salmon (bottom right).