Connie, thanks so much for spreading the alert. Here is my email to
the city. All are welcome to lift/adapt this language for your own
letter to Allynn Ruth, 684-0301, mailto:allynn.ruth at seattle.gov.

Hello.
I'm writing in opposition to the Yesler Swamp Trail Small and Simple
Neighborhood Matching Fund application. As a bird watcher and nature
photographer, I have visited and studied the site in question scores
of times over the past ten years.
This proposal would create a relatively large human intrusion -- a
boardwalk and subsequent human traffic-- into a very small ecological
niche of the Union Bay Natural Area (UBNA). The boardwalk would be
constructed in a small grove that is a nesting site for many birds as
well as a home to beaver and other animals. Currently, the grove is
only lightly visited because it is accessible only by small, muddy
trails that seasonally are partly underwater. Its value as a wildlife
refuge would almost surely be compromised by a substantial increase
in human traffic.
While I support trail development that will lead to human
appreciation of our natural areas, the location of such development
needs to be carefully considered. The fund application in question is
well-intentioned but misguided: ecologically speaking, the area in
question cannot support the proposed level of intrusion.
Approval for funding this proposal should be declined or, at the very
least, tabled pending an environmental impact study.
Marc Hoffman
(address and phone)

Marc Hoffman
Kirkland, WA
tweeters "at" dartfrogmedia "dot" com


At 07:57 AM 1/31/2010, Connie Sidles wrote:
>Dear Tweets, a new boardwalk trail is being proposed to be built
>through Surber Grove. It is being sponsored by a neighborhood group
>of citizens. They have applied for a grant to the City of Seattle
>which would pay to hire a landscape firm to design a trail. The
>proposed trail (which is incorrectly categorized in the grant
>application as a "restoration of the trail") as it is currently
>conceived would begin on 41st Street (at the north end of Surber)
>and run through the center of the grove. It would curve around to
>Yesler Cove and end at the active beaver lodge that sits on the edge
>of the water there. At that point, the idea would be to construct a
>viewing platform.
>
> The grant application is now in the hands of the city, which is
> taking comments until Feb. 3.
>
>Comments regarding the Yesler Swamp Trail Small and Simple
>Neighborhood Matching Fund application should be addressed to:
>Allynn Ruth
>684-0301
>allynn.ruth at seattle.gov
>
>If you want to read the details of the proposal, send me a private
>email, and I will email you the pdf version of the grant.
>
>I have deep concerns about this proposed boardwalk trail. As I
>understand it, new trails in the city have to be wheelchair
>accessible now, which means the boardwalk would probably have to be
>at least 4 feet wide. That's a lot of boardwalk for a small site.
>Proportionately, a lot of habitat would perforce have to be sacrificed.
>
>I'm also concerned that this little grove cannot sustain the amount
>of human presence that the neighborhood committee would like to see
>enter it. Right now, most of the grove is inaccessible to humans,
>except for one muddy track that goes in about 20 meters to the
>middle (and is closed by vegetation from late spring to fall, the
>height of the breeding season), and one usually waterlogged track
>that leads to the beaver lodge (I'm pretty sure the beavers built
>their lodge after this trail was put in; they probably felt safe to
>do so because the trail is underwater for a good part of the year.)
>If the committee is correct about the numbers of people who will
>come through here, I believe that many of the breeding birds that
>now find refuge in the swamp will disappear. Among the most
>sensitive are Wood Ducks, Gadwalls, and Virginia Rails.
>
>I also worry that access to the beaver lodge would mean a great deal
>of harassment of the beavers. Already when the trail is dry enough,
>kids from the neighborhood think it's okay to climb on top of the
>lodge and hit it with sticks.
>
>Most of all, I think there should be parts of UBNA that remain
>closed to humans. We don't have to have access to everything all the
>time, do we?
>
>Lastly, as far as I can tell, the grant would not pay for an EIS. I
>don't know enough law to know whether this would be a requirement,
>but it *should* be.
>
>If you have concerns too, now is the time to voice them. - Connie, Seattle
>
>constancesidles at gmail.com
>
>
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