Vashon’s Island Center Forest grows by 86 acres as King County puts land into protected status

A Vashon Island forest that is home to a diverse wildlife population and helps protect the headwaters of a salmon-bearing stream is being placed into protective status through King County.

The King County Solid Waste Division has transferred 86 acres north and east of its transfer station on Westside Highway into protected status with the King County Water and Land Resources Division.

The 86 acres were split from a larger parcel that contains the old landfill and the current transfer station. The Solid Waste Division was interested in having the land protected because the forest provides a buffer between the transfer station and neighboring homes.

This mature second-growth forest has been added to Island Center Forest, which at 366 acres is the largest preserve on Vashon-Maury Islands. The forest is owned by King County and managed by the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, in collaboration with the Vashon-Maury Island community.

“The preserve offers the Island’s best set of trails for hikers, bicyclists, horseback riders and wildlife-viewing enthusiasts, and adding this property to the preserve will benefit recreational users as well as wildlife,” said King County Executive Ron Sims.

The forest contains the uppermost headwaters of Judd Creek, where the stream begins to flow year-round. The diverse forest supports a wide range of wildlife, and provides trail linkage from Westside Highway through Island Center Forest to Mukai Pond and Meadowlake. More than half of the parcel contains soils that provide the highest level of water recharge into the Vashon aquifer.

“This property transfer will preserve another section of Vashon Island’s largest public open space, while conserving key salmon habitat and increasing recreational opportunities for Island residents and visitors,” said King County Councilmember Dow Constantine. “Keeping this land as open space also protects the Island’s sole source aquifer.”

The area was included in the 2006 Site Management Guidelines for Island Center Forest. The guidelines call for some sustainable timber harvest using modern logging techniques. Timber harvests will be done in a way that preserve forest soils and improve habitat for the benefit of birds and other wildlife, while generating some revenue for the management of the site and other natural areas on Vashon-Maury Island.

More information on Island Center Forest is available at http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/lands/natural/island-center-forest.htm. More information on the Vashon-Maury Land Trust is available at http://www.vashonlandtrust.org/. Trail maps for the site are available from the Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust office at 10014 SW Bank Rd. on Vashon.