H-691                _______________________________________________

                                                    HOUSE BILL NO. 143

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State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By Representatives Brough, Rust, Ebersole, Schoon, Sanders, Haugen, Holland, Jacobsen, Allen, Chandler, Hine, Wang, Crane, Grimm, Unsoeld, Long, Locke, Van Luven, Smitherman, Thomas, Vander Stoep, Padden, Walk, Silver, Ballard, Isaacson, May, Belcher, Betrozoff, Sayan, Hankins, Fisch, Miller, Madsen, Todd, Barrett, Prince, Patrick, Tanner, Barnes,  K. Wilson, Addison, van Dyke, Lundquist, Hastings, Brooks, L. Smith, Walker, Valle, Vekich, McMullen, D. Nelson, Sommers, Brekke, Winsley,P. King and Dellwo

Read first time 1/21/85 and referred to Committee on Environmental Affairs.

AN ACT Relating to establishing the West Hylebos Creek conservation area; adding new sections to chapter 43.51 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     The West Hylebos wetlands is an urban wilderness contiguous to the industrially zoned part of Federal Way, Washington.  It has never been used for livestock, never logged except for one corner late in the nineteenth century, and never used for human development.  The wetlands are a one hundred-acre gathering-up of run-off from five to six square miles of Federal Way.  West Hylebos branch joins the East Hylebos branch to form Hylebos Creek which in turn flows to Commencement Bay.  Basically a quadrangle, it is bounded by So. 348th and So. 356th streets on the sides and by Highway 99 and First Avenue South on the ends.  These wetlands offer great diversity of water movements, having prime examples of just about every facet of wetlands:  Swampland, floating bogs, marshes, deep sinks, peat, streams, and springs; and extraordinary numbers and variety of shade and moisture-related plants and animals.  Essentially a spruce bog forest, it is a complete ecologic unit bounded by perimeters of high land at the sides and corners.  As a bog, it is far along in plant succession and so contains many park-size trees.  It contains the following swampland plants in greatest abundance:  Sitka spruce, western red cedar, hemlock Pacific yew, Oregon ash, cottonwood, black twinberry, wild crab, red osier dogwood, salmon berry, wood fern (Dryopteris), skunk cabbage, twisted stalk, and swamp and Nutkana rose.  Relatively rare plants include swamp birch, swamp orchid, swamp currant, swamp violet, three species of liverworts, and at least twenty moss species.  Demonstrating as it does the ecological principles of a self-contained wetland, West Hylebos is of tremendous potential to classrooms.  An interpretive center could bring the whole picture of the basic plumbing of western Washington's water supply from aquifers (the run-off, the springs, the streams, possible artesian water, and movement of water through the ground) to school children as it is depicted in no other facility in Washington state or elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest.  An interpretive center would show how the shade and water-related plants in this combined wetland unity affect and are affected by their optimum humid environment.  An interpretive center and a lengthened nature trail would give the visiting tourist, as well as the student and garden club, a quick, comprehensive look at this living museum of western Washington regional plants.  The area is one of grace and beauty, its dense, tropical type foliage creating "halls of green" overtopped by lacy branches.  The habitat is certainly "moss country," but presents a varied landscape.  Among the attractions for a weekend family stroll would be such features as the chopping down of dead snags by pileated woodpeckers, the debarking of small cedars for nesting material by Douglas squirrels, and the squawking of young red-tailed hawks.  Just off Interstate 5, and close to Highway 99, these wetlands have already been listed on some travel lists keyed to natural interests.  School buses, as well as bus tours, can be easily envisioned in the future.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     There is hereby created a Washington state parks and recreation commission conservation area to be known as West Hylebos Creek wetlands conservation area.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     In addition to all other powers and duties prescribed by law, the state parks and recreation commission is authorized and directed to acquire such real property, easements, or rights in the West Hylebos Creek wetlands in King county, together with such real property, easements, and rights as is necessary for such park and conservation purposes in any manner authorized by law for the acquisition of lands for parks and parkway purposes.  It is the intent of this section that such property shall be acquired to preserve, as much as possible, the pristine ecological state of the West Hylebos Creek wetlands.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.     Sections 2 and 3 of this act are each added to chapter 43.51 RCW.