Oh, thank God: Today brings some good news that’s just good news, pure goodness, a nice thing that will make the world better for you and for me and for a fish.
The Port of Seattle has finalized nearly a million dollars in funding to restore Miller Creek, an important body of water that’s been polluted by runoff and overtaken by invasive plants. This is part of a larger project to make the water cleaner and the habitat more welcoming to salmon — which in turn will support species like orcas, eagles, and bears, and with any luck, people.
Miller Creek is a little trickle of water in Burien and SeaTac that’s endured decades of indignities. It’s a pleasant enough place to walk around and bike, but the concrete culverts that channel it under roads are failing; the lack of shade means the water is too warm for salmon; and there are lots of plants that choke the ecosystem. The money that’s now been secured will give the whole area a major upgrade.
Once construction starts in 2021, the creek will provide continuous flow to larger bodies of water, connecting a salmon hatchery to the larger watershed and ultimately to Puget Sound. And of course, it’ll also become an even nicer place for a walk.
Once the work is complete, you can look forward to enjoying it on foot, on bike, or by turning into a fish and leaving all of your Earthly worries behind.
This project has been in the works for twenty years, with a basin plan started in 2002, so it’s a real pleasure to see that it’s actually going to come to fruition within our lifetimes. Yes, the world is a stressful mess right now. But at least for a couple hundred feet under some nice leafy trees, it’s about to become just a little more pleasant.
