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Cemetery Reach Natural Area

Cemetery Reach Natural Area

Cemetery Reach Location map
Cemetery Reach Natural Area consists of six parcels (nearly 46 acres) located in the rural Rock Creek Valley, approximately one mile east of Maple Valley and two miles north of Black Diamond. The site includes ½ mile of Rock Creek stream corridor and associated uplands from Black Diamond-Ravensdale Way through the Rock Creek Ranch development. The property is just east of several hundred acres of forests and Ravensdale Lake which are expected to become County open space in the future. In the past, the Cemetery Reach Natural Area was referred to as Upper Rock Creek Natural Area

The upland parts of the site support second-growth forest, with one mature stand of 80-100 foot tall Douglas-fir, western hemlock and western red cedar, and one younger stand of 30-40 foot tall plantation of Douglas-fir and western hemlock. Rock Creek flows through the site between River Mile ~3.4 and ~2.9. Rock Creek flows only seasonally in this vicinity. The creek corridor varies from mature deciduous forest with dense invasive understory to the east, to a relatively poorly defined channel with invasive species, young red alder, and young planted Douglas-fir to the west.

Cemetery Reach Natural Area picture
There is little public use of most of this site. The western portion of the site contains a narrow crossing of an entry to the "Centennial Trail" along Ravensdale Lake, leading to the "Henry's Ridge" area north and west of Ravensdale Lake. This trail is accessed through a stormwater pond parcel in the housing development, and is used by local pedestrian and equestrian trail users. There are no identified trails to access Rock Creek in the Natural Area. There is no parking established within the site, though a parking lot is available nearby at Ravensdale Park.

The Cemetery Reach Natural Area Site Management Guidelines are available in Adobe Acrobat format, in sections for faster download. For help using Acrobat files, please visit our Acrobat help page.

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Cemetery Reach Natural Area Site Management Guidelines

 

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