Green Way Feasibility Draft

8/3/2019 Green Way Feasibility Draft

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Mountains to Sound Greenway

National Heritage Area

Feasibility Study

Comment DraftJanuary 2012

Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust206.382.5565 - mtsgreenway.org


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| Mountains to Sound Greenwayi

Executive Summary

1. Introduction and Background. .....................................................xxThe Greenway: Introduction .........xxNational Heritage Areas.xxStudy Area: The Mountains to Sound Greenway...xxStudy Purpose & Process ...............xxStructure................xx

2. Study Area: The Mountains to Sound Greenway....xxA Place Like No Other............................................xxPhysical Landscape.....................................................xxEcological Landscape..................................xxHistorical & Cultural Landscape...xxA Living Heritage................xxThe Greenway Today......xx

3. Heritage Themes: Contributions to Our National Heritage...xxIntroduction..xxOverarching Theme: People and Nature..................xxPrimary Themes.......xx

Settlement, Commerce and Trade.....................xxNatural Resource Economy........................xxConservation and Collaborative Spirit.........xx

Conclusion....xx

4. Greenway Assets.....xxOverview...xxEcological...................xxHistoric and Cultural...................xxOutdoor Recreation......................xxEducational....................xx

Farms and Forests.....................................................xxCommunity Involvement....xx

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5. Proposed Concept: The Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area..xxIntroduction.....................xxNational Heritage Area Concepts............xxGoals for the Greenway National Heritage Area..........xxPartners................................xxPlan for the Local Coordinating Entity...........xx

6. Conceptual Financial Plan..................................xxIntroduction............xxCapability to Fund.........xxPotential Funding Sources and Strategies..........xxEconomic Benefits of the Proposed Heritage Area...........xxSummary.............xx

7. Management Alternatives/Impact Assessment.................................xxMethodology for Assessing Impacts...........xxManagement Alternatives........xx

Alternative One: Continuation of Existing Activities........xxAlternative Two: National Heritage Area Designation.........xxAlternative Three: Create-Your-Own Model..........xx

Evaluation...............xx

8. Application of Interim National Heritage Area Criteria................................xxInterim National Heritage Area Criteria........xxEvaluation of Each Criterion........xx

9. Vision Statement................................xx

Appendices......................................................xxPublic Meetings................xxParties Involved in the Heritage Study....................xxMajor Public Land Managers Letter of Agreement............xxDraft Designation Bill.............xxLetters of Support................xx


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| Mountains to Sound Greenway1

e xeCuTive s ummary

Executive Summary

The Mountains to Sound Greenway connects naturallandscapes, working farms and forests, and thriving communities in Washington State. Together,these places tell an important story of our nationspioneer history, of how we interact with our naturalworld, and the way a rugged landscape has shapedlivelihoods, cultures, and characters.

National Heritage Area Designation of the 1.5million acre Mountains to Sound Greenwaywill officially define this landscape and benefitcommunity groups, local and state governmentsand federal agencies by raising awareness of theGreenways role in the rich past, present, andfuture of America. Formal recognition will allowa framework for agencies and the community tocollaboratively manage the future of this nationallysignificant place. As the proposed local coordinating entity, the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trusthas both the capacity and the community support tosteward this treasured landscape.

Vast forests. Meadow-strewn

mountain peaks. Small farmsthat feed city markets. Ruralcommunities, keepers of ourregions colorful past. Vibrantcities where people want to liveand companies want to locate.Broad swaths of connectednatural lands for wildlife to roam.Hundreds of places for skiingand hiking, kayaking and cycling.This is the Mountains to Sound

Greenway.

Weaving together the urban andthe wild, the Greenway connects1.5 million acres surroundingInterstate 90, including thefifteenth largest metropolis in theUnited States. More than 800,000acres of land within its boundariesare now publicly owned, from cityparks to expansive public forests.In addition, more than 100,000acres are conserved as permanentforests and farms in privateownership.


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e xeCuTive s ummary

The Mountains to Sound Greenway encapsulatesthe story of the nations frontier history andthe way in which an iconic Western landscapeshaped a local culture and economy. Indeed,peoples interconnectedness with naturepermeates every aspect of the Greenway story,from how geography shaped transportation,settlement, commerce, and trade; to theimportance of natural resource economies andthe collaborative conservation efforts that grewout of a shared desire to maintain a scenic andsustainable resource base for future generations.These stories make up a living history, one that isripe for coordinated stewardship by the dynamicand passionate Greenway community.

The Greenway vision was born in 1990; thenon-profit Mountains to Sound GreenwayTrust was formed to help in 1991. The60-member Greenway Trust Board of Directorsrepresents a diversity of interests, includingenvironmentalists, developers, small businesses,and local, state, and federal officials. The unique

successes of the Greenway coalition are basedon the idea that long-term preservation dependson the input, participation, and continuedengagement of a whole community. With a solidtrack record of collaboration and communitysupport, combined with its organizationalstrength and integrity, the Greenway Trust hasthe capacity and the support needed to be thelocal coordinating entity for the Mountains toSound Greenway National Heritage Area.

Beginning in 2009, the Greenway Trust embarkedon a National Heritage Area Study, identifyingand cataloging the stories that shape our heritage.In more than 140 public meetings and with over1,000 stakeholders, there was a clear consensus:

the Mountains to Sound Greenway will benefitenormously from a National Heritage Areadesignation. Designation will provide uniquesupport to stakeholders as they develop newcollaborative tools to carry the Greenway visioninto the future.


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Teanaway River Valley

Okanogan-Wenatchee

National Forest

Okanogan-Wenatchee

National Forest

L.T. Murray Wildlife Area

C o a l

M i n e s T r a i l

H o r s e S t a t e P a r k

J o h n W a y n e P i o n e e r T r a i l

Cle Elum

SouthCle Elum

RoslynRonald

BlewettPass

Ellensburg

Thorp

T e a n a w a y R i v e r

Y a k i m a R i v e r

v e r

M a n a s t a sh Cr e e k

C l e E l u m R i v e r

90

970

10

97

WASHINGTON

Mountains to Sound Greenway

The information included on this map has been compiled from various sources and is subject to changewithout notice. While not guaranteed, every attempt has been made to present the information accurately and completely. November 2011, H E A R T L A N D

This map illustrates that the Mountains to Sound Greenway is bounded by majorwatersheds, framed by the urban areas of Seattle and Ellensburg and woven togetherby the interstate highway and an extensive network of trails that link the public to theGreenway landscape.

The Mountains to Sound Greenway encompasses over1.5 million acres of connected natural lands and vibranturban areas surrounding I-90 between Puget Sound andCentral Washington. The Greenway conserves a sharedheritage of working farms and forests, parks, sustainablecommunities and abundant outdoor educational andrecreational opportunities.

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Stretching from the shores of PugetSound to the heart of Washington state,the Mountains to Sound Greenway isa mosaic of thriving communities andvast natural lands.

With 1.5 million acres of metropolitan streets,suburban parks and gardens, rugged mountains,vast forests, and high desert, the Greenway

encompasses a shared heritage of historictowns, healthy ecosystems, spectacular alpinewilderness, working farms and forests, andextensive outdoor recreation in a region thatincludes the fifteenth largest metropolitan areain the country. The Greenway is a place thatis both rich in history and remarkably wellpositioned for a sustainable future.

Twenty years ago, a coalition of civic leadersand community activists came together around

the idea that the Greenway could best bepreserved by maintaining a sustainable balancebetween the built and natural environments.For the past twenty years these partners,including major landowners, businessrepresentatives, environmental activists andelected officials, have worked toward a commonvision of accessible natural areas, vibrant livablecommunities, and productive working lands, allset against a backdrop of incomparable scenicbeauty.

The success of the Greenway reflects a deepconnection between people and nature. Thisconnection is at the heart of the regions identity.

Welcome to the Mountains to Sound Greenway

The Greenway encompasses1.5 million acres, stretching fromthe shores of Puget Sound over

the rugged Cascade Mountains,and to the edge of the high desert

grasslands of Central Washington.


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1- i nTroduCTion

The Mountains to Sound Greenway is rich withstories of how this connection between peopleand nature influences every aspect of the regionshistory, its current culture and its best chance atfuture prosperity.

During 2009 and 2010, the Mountains to SoundGreenway Trust engagedmore than 1,000 stakeholdersin discussions on why theGreenway is a special placeand to identify opportunitiesfor conserving and enhancing

a sustainable balance intothe future. There was broadconsensus that the Greenway isa nationally distinctive landscape with abundantopportunities for interpreting historic stories andconserving natural and cultural resources.

This Feasibility Study documents these findings.It follows the National Park Services interimguidelines for completing a Feasibility Study,addressing the Greenways candidacy forNational Heritage Area designation. This Studycontextualizes the regions significant stories;includes an inventory of nationally important

Greenway assetscultural,ecological, historic, andrecreational; documentsthe proposed concept ofa Mountains to SoundGreenway National

Heritage Area, economicallyand structurally; andanalyzes alternatives for

managing, interpreting, and conserving thespecial resources within the Mountains to SoundGreenway.

The success of the Greenway reflects a deep connection

between people and nature.This connection is at the heart

of the regions identity.

Travelers pause to enjoy the majestic views toward Snoqualmie Pass.


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NATIONAL HERITAGEAREAS

Through an extensive publicengagement process, Greenwaystakeholders and community membershave determined that a NationalHeritage Area will ensure the bestsupport for continued preservation ofthe Greenway by providing a flexibleframework for addressing shared

challenges, formalizing partnerships,and interpreting resourcesall whilebuilding on the successes of the pasttwenty years.

National Heritage Areas are special regionsof the United States that provide outstandingopportunities to tell important chapters ofthe American story. They represent a locallyinitiated approach to resource conservation,

providing a forum for diverse interests to workcooperatively toward common goals, such ashistoric preservation, economic development,and increased educational and recreationalopportunities. As such, National Heritage Areasplay an integral role in preserving and enhancingthe physical characteristics and cultural legacyof unique regions throughout the United States.According to the National Park Service:

National Heritage Areas are large lived-in placeswhere natural, cultural and scenic resources combineto form a cohesive, nationally-distinctive landscapearising from patterns of human activity shaped by geography. These patterns make National Heritage Areas representative of American experience throughthe physical features that remain and the traditionsthat have evolved in them. These regions areacknowledged by Congress for their capacity to tellimportant stories about our nation (National ParkService 2004).

The overarching goal of a National Heritage

Area is to provide a foundation upon whichcommunities can develop a vision, based on ashared heritage, which addresses opportunitiesfor conserving natural and cultural resources

Benefits of a HeritageArea designation include:

Federal recognition of an area asnationally distinctive and containingsignificant resources worthy of collaborative stewardship

The opportunity to connect,conserve and interpret resourcesacross a broad landscape

Planning and technical assistancefrom the National Park Service

Potential seed funding, at a 1:1match, to implement programs andinitiatives

Stimulation of public/privatepartnerships


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while enhancing economic vitality. As theNational Park Service explains, A NationalHeritage Area can convey the complexhistory of the area, while also serving as amodel for cooperative public and privatesector partnerships to preserve, conserve,and interpret its natural and culturalresources.

Since the National Heritage Areas programbegan in 1984, Congress has designated 49National Heritage Areas from the easternseaboard to the deserts of Arizona

including the Champlain Valley, Illinois &Michigan Canal, Northern Rio Grande andMississippi Gulf Coast. These areas includebattlefields, factory towns, river corridors,and presidential memorials.

While the National Heritage Area programis administered by the National ParkService, National Heritage Areas are locallyinitiated and independently managed.Unlike National Parks, National HeritageAreas do not add new regulations, nordo they legislate the acquisition of land.Instead, National Heritage Areas provideopportunities for voluntary partnerships,offering a community-based frameworkfor maintaining resources and leveragingfunding.

National Park Service NationalHeritage Area Criteria

1. The area has an assemblage of natural, historic,or cultural resources that together representdistinctive aspects of American heritage worthyof recognition, conservation, interpretation, andcontinuing use, and are best managed as such anassemblage through partnerships among publicand private entities, and by combining diverseand sometimes noncontiguous resources andactive communities;

2. The area reflects traditions, customs, beliefs, andfolk life that are a valuable part of the nationalstory;

3. The area provides outstanding opportunities toconserve natural, cultural, historic, and/or scenicfeatures;

4. The area provides outstanding recreational andeducational opportunities;

5. Resources that are important to the identifiedtheme or themes of the area retain a degree of integrity capable of supporting interpretation;

6. Residents, business interests, non-profitorganizations, and governments within theproposed area that are involved in the planning,have developed a conceptual financial plan thatoutlines the roles for all participants includingthe federal government, and have demonstratedsupport for designation of the area;

7. The proposed management entity and unitsof government supporting the designation arewilling to commit to working in partnership todevelop the heritage area;

8. The proposal is consistent with continuedeconomic activity in the area;

9. A conceptual boundary map is supported by thepublic; and

10. The management entity proposed to plan andimplement the project is described.

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The Study Area

The Mountains to Sound Greenwaytraverses a swath of land more than 100miles long, traveling through landscapesthat have defined both culture andcommerce for thousands of years andwhose continued protection is essentialto the ongoing health and prosperity ofGreenway communities.

Picture the Mountains to Sound Greenway on a journey from east to west: Beginning in Ellensburg, an hour and a halfeast of Seattle, you pass through an historicdowntown that offers glimpses of life in the1880s when the city was built. The flat expanseof high desert grassland encircling the city isinterrupted only by the jagged peaks of the StuartRange, the largest mass of exposed granite inNorth America. Journeying westward, your

route parallels the Yakima River, a tributary ofthe mighty Columbia River. Home to world-class trout fishing, the Yakima also irrigatesprime farmland in the shrub-steppe region of

Central Washington. You pass a number oflarge-scale agriculture operations; this regionis internationally-known for its timothy hayproduction, but it also produces more than70 other crops. As you continue west, thetopography steepens and Ponderosa pinesbegin to dot the landscape. You pass smalltownsincluding Roslyn, a National HistoricDistrict, and CleElum. Thesetowns were oncerenowned for coalmining, railroads

and timberharvests. Today,the communitiescelebrate theirheritage whilelooking towardtourism andoutdoor recreationto help drive theireconomies.

Continue climbing, entering into a nationalforestthe Okanogan-Wenatcheeand skirtthe Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area. Just overan hours drive from downtown Seattle, the

Alpine Lakes is one of the most popularWilderness Areas in the country. Your routethen leads you through Snoqualmie Pass,cresting the Cascade Mountains. Beginningas an Indian Trail that facilitated interactionand trade between tribes on either side ofthe mountains, the route over SnoqualmiePass evolved into a military trail and cattledrive and then into a wagon road some havecalled the northern branch of the OregonTrail. As late as 1909, only about 100 vehiclescrossed Snoqualmie Pass on a one-laneroad during the entire year.

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Nestled in the scenic Cle Elum River valley, the Roslyn FarmersMarket invites shoppers to share in local food and artwork.

These towns were oncerenowned for coal mining and timber

harvests. Today, they celebrate their heritage

while looking toward tourism and outdoor

recreation to help drivelocal economies.


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Now the pass is cut by Interstate 90, which eachyear carries half a billion dollars worth of goodsalong its six lanes and serves as the main east-west travel corridor in Washington State.

Your route loses elevation dramaticallyafter passing the Snoqualmie Pass ski resort,Washingtons most popular, and you enterinto another National Forest, the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie. The ecology changes dramaticallytoo, from high desert pines to the moss-laden,moist green forests of the western slope. Todayone of the top ten carbon-storing forests in the

country, this forest was once home to massive oldgrowth Douglas fir and Western red cedar--somemore than thirteen feet in diameter.

While a few of these old trees remain scatteredacross the landscape, youre more likely to comeacross remnants of them along interpretivehikes or in local history museums. Followingthe South Fork Snoqualmie River, you continueyour descent, passing state parks and naturalareas, public and private working forests, organicfarms, historic mill towns and the Cedar RiverWatershed, which provides drinking water fornearly 1.5 million Seattle residents. The transitioninto the Puget lowland is marked by SnoqualmieFalls, an iconic cataract that, according to theSnoqualmie Tribe, is where heaven and earthmeet.

As you enter the Seattle metropolitan areathe fifteenth largest in the countryyou areflanked by a chain of forested hills, dubbed theIssaquah Alps, which stretch all the way tothe City of Bellevues urban corehome to morethan 200,000 people. Once the site of majorcoal mining and logging operations, the Alpsnow offer myriad recreational opportunities,including hiking, wildlife viewing, mountainbiking, horseback riding, and hang gliding.

Since the early days of the motor vehicle, Snoqualmie Passhas enticed visitors to travel into the Cascade Mountains.

Snowmelt from the Cascades creates a spectacularnatural attraction in 270-foot Snoqualmie Falls.


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The area also is home to important wildlifecorridors as well as working forests that providelocal wood products and generate revenue forpublic schools.

Entering the urban center, you are surrounded bywaterways. The deep blue of Lakes Sammamish,Washington and Union is juxtaposed with the

grey of building faades, the green of coniferoustrees towering in city parks and the white ofclouds overhead. Rivers that once carried someof the largest salmon runs in the lower 48 serveas de facto city boundaries and the expanse ofPuget Sound now stretches before you. Yourview is framed by mountainsthe Olympicsto the East, the North Cascades to the North,Central Cascades to the East and the majesticcone of Mt. Rainier to the South. Finally, youreach the shores of Puget Sound along the SeattleWaterfront. In the late 1700s, upon arrivingto this area by sea, Captain George Vancouverremarked upon the unassisted fertility thatnature put forth. Today, while the skyline nowalso includes skyscrapers, one still finds that, asBritish travel writer Jonathan Raban said, Seattleis the only city in the world that people move toin order to get closer to nature.

Youve traveled just over 100 miles along amajor interstatehighwaythefirst InterstateHighway in thecountry to bedesignated aNational ScenicBywayandthe journeytook you a littlemore than 90 minutes. You passed through theMountains to Sound Greenway, which includes

two counties, 28 cities, three watersheds, twoNational Forests, a National Historical Park,dozens of state-protected natural areas, workingfarms and forests, and scores of historic sites.Remarkably, this extraordinarily diverselandscape is home to over 1.8 million people.

Mercer Slough Nature Park in Bellevue invites

explorations of nature in the heart of the city.

Seattle is the only city in the world that peoplewould move to in order to

get closer to nature. Jonathan Raban

Volunteers gather to plant trees in Jose Rizal Park inSeattle, near the intersection of Interstates 5 and 90.


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Purpose & Process

For twenty years, the balanced landscapeof the Mountains to Sound Greenwayhas been sustained by the combinedefforts of a diverse stakeholdercommunity seeking to find collaborativeand innovative solutions. From the earlyefforts following a five-day march in1990 to the many meetings held in 2010during the Heritage Study process, theGreenway has built its success on theidea that long-term preservation dependson the input, participation and continuedengagement of the full Greenwaycommunity.

During the summer of 1990, 100 peoplemarched from Snoqualmie Pass, in the heartof the Cascade Mountains, to the Seattle

Waterfront. They walked for five daysthrough the woods along trails and abandoned

railway corridors to publicize the landscape atSeattles doorstepand the imminent threat ofdevelopment sprawling from the urban areasalong the Interstate. Their hike demonstratedthe uniqueness of such a swath of natural land soclose to a growing urban center, particularly therich blend of historical, recreational, and scenicfeatures. The challenge for the first generationof Greenway stakeholders was to preserve thislandscape and its defining characteristics whileensuring that such preservation enhanced theareas economic vitality and quality of life.

Such a bold and comprehensive vision requiredsupport from all corners of the Greenwaycommunity. Following the 1990 march, theMountains to Sound Greenway Trust was formedand brought together timber companies andconservationists, developers and school teachersand many others, who jointly created a visionof well balanced preservation. Many aspects

of this vision have since been realized, andresidents, businesses, and government officialsrecognize the importance of the Greenway askey to the high quality of life in this region. Theweb of Greenway resourcesan integration ofproductive working farms and forests, accessiblerecreation, healthy natural areas, and vibrant

communitiesexists because the Greenwaysdiverse stakeholders share a common heritage: adeep connection between people and nature.

The vision called for a balanced landscapewhere healthy ecosystems and

thoughtful development were two sides of the same coin.

The 1990 March inspired a vision of theGreenway we have today.


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Maintaining the Greenways sustainablebalance in a rapidly changing world will be

a considerable challenge in the coming years.Population growth continues to put greatpressures on working farms, forests and wildlifehabitat. The need to conserve the forests thatclean our air and water is increasingly apparentin the face of a changing climate. The regionmust maintain attractive and dynamic citiesthat accommodate smart development andserve as catalysts for economic growth. Andwhile demand for enhanced outdoor recreationcontinues to grow, public land managers strugglewith safety, signage, security, sanitation andshrinking budgets.

Recently, Greenway stakeholders began towonder if these challenges might best beaddressed by developing a deeper understandingand recognition of the landscape as a whole andby building more formal cooperation within theGreenway community. Over an eighteen-monthperiod, the Mountains to Sound Greenway

Trust led a broad spectrum of stakeholdersthrough the Heritage Study, acknowledging theachievements of the past twenty years, devisingways to celebrate the regions shared history,and determining new strategies for meetingeconomic, social and environmental goals for thenext twenty years and beyond. The goals of theprocess were as follows:

To inspire the Greenway coalition, buildingan even broader community and unitingstakeholders under principles of cooperativemanagement; To develop a framework for action for thenext twenty years, formalizing partnershipsand giving direction to future stewards of thelandscape by solidifying commitments that existtoday; To make the Greenway an officially recognizedlandscape, to acknowledge the successes of the

past twenty yearsand to foster an

overarching senseof place in theregion that willbuild broaderpublic recognition,awareness, andinvolvement.

To ensureinvolvement ofa broad groupof communitymembers in theHeritage Study,an outreach planwas createdwhich includedcreation of over14 stakeholderworking groups, aninteractive website,

a study brochure,one-on-onemeetings with keystakeholders andpublic meetings.

Specialized working groups organized aroundkey assets of the Greenway were convenedto define assets, discuss potential threats, andidentify needs and opportunities for futurestewardship.

Each of these working groups consisted of 6-30members, representing a diverse setof voices active around that particular asset.Group members included representatives fromnon-profit organizations, governmentagencies, private businesses, and individualcommunity members. Working Groupmembers acted as ambassadors to their

Heritage Study WorkingGroups

Agriculture Cities/Sustainability Community Involvement Culture Ecology

Education/Interpretation Forestry History Outdoor Recreation Regional Trails Tourism/Marketing Wildland Trails Public Land Manager Team Heritage Study Committee

Kittitas Working Group


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stakeholder organizations and to the broadercommunity, collecting and disseminatinginformation. Each of these working groups metfrom 2-12 times, and built understanding of theassets of the Greenway and of the desires, needsand viewpoints of the different stakeholdergroups. These groups studied the proposedGreenway boundaries and provided input onopportunities to collaboratively manage theGreenway into the future.

Additional meetings were held withmunicipalities, major private landowners, andother key stakeholders. A public open housewas held in King County and several were held

in Kittitas County. An interactive websitewas created to provide opportunities forfeedback on study documents and FeasibilityStudy drafts. A study brochure and a

PowerPoint presention, with goalsand objectives, a description of theNational Heritage Area programand the study boundaries were usedin all meetings and over 1,000 copiesof the brochure were distributed.

Two federal agencies were involvedin the Heritage Study: the USDAForest Service and the NationalPark Service. The US Forest Serviceis the largest land manager in theGreenway, watching over more

than 500,000 acres of public land.This is more than one third of thetotal acreage of the Greenwayand almost 60% of the publiclyowned land. These federallymanaged lands are administeredby the Mount Baker - Snoqualmieand the Okanogan- WenatcheeNational Forests. The local DistrictRangers for each forest were activeparticipants in the Public LandManager Team and additional

Forest Service staff participated in many of theother Working Groups. Both Forest Supervisorswere kept informed of the process and a briefingwas held for the Leadership Team of the MountBaker Snoqualmie National Forest.

The Greenway Trust also held a number ofmeetings with local National Park Servicestaff over the 18 months of this study. TheKlondike Gold Rush Superintendent and otherstaff collaborated with Trust staff on potentialconnections between the proposed HeritageArea and this National Park unit. More thanforty Pacific West Region staff attended anEarth Day presentation about the Greenway andthe Heritage Study. The Pacific West RegionNational Heritage Areas Co-Coordinator wasinvolved in the Heritage Study, providing

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Heritage Study meetings brought representatives from a diversespectrum of stakeholders to plan for the future of the Greenway.


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The Greenway Trust Board of Directors leads a coalition of diverseinterests, with participants united by a common vision.

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guidance throughout the process. TheGreenway Heritage Study was also

highlighted at an Americas GreatOutdoors Initiative field visit hostedby the Greenway Trust during the July2010 Seattle listening session whichwas attended by the Director of theNational Park Service.

Local, state, and federal legislatorswere briefed on the Heritage Study(see Appendix for list of meetings,)and nancial support for the Study

was provided by the King CountyCouncil, Washington State Legislature,the Bullitt Foundation, the BrainerdFoundation and Heartland LLC.

In total, more than 1,000 people wereinvolved in over 140 meetings duringthe Heritage Study. These voices representeda broad cross section of stakeholders in theregion, from federal, state and local governments,non-pro t organizations, private businessesand community groups. Resoundingly,there was strong support for a more inclusive

and collaborative approach to sustainingthe Greenway into the future and for formalrecognition of the Greenway as a NationalHeritage Area. In fact, the study area was evenexpanded as several community groups andcities requested that they be added into theGreenway.


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Report Structure

Following the National Park ServicesNational Heritage Area FeasibilityStudy Guidelines, this reportsummarizes the findings of theGreenway Heritage Study and addresseswhy the Greenway meets the criteria fora nationally distinctive landscape.

This Feasibility Study addresses all of thesequestions, according to the following structure:Chapter 2 delves deeper into the story of theMountains to Sound Greenway, providingadditional information about the Study Area andits physical, ecological, historical, and culturalfeatures. Chapter 3 addresses the themes thatunderscore the regions identity, while Chapter 4summarizes the assets that make the Greenwaya special place. Chapter 5 discusses the conceptof a Mountains to Sound Greenway NationalHeritage Area. A conceptual financial plan is

described in Chapter 6. Chapter 7 is dedicatedto an Impact Assessment that considers potentialalternatives to a Greenway National HeritageArea. Chapter 8 evaluates the Greenwayaccording to National Park Service guidelinesfor becoming a Heritage Area, and the reportconcludes in Chapter 9 with a vision for thefuture of the Greenway.

The following questions, laid out by theNational Park Service, form the core ofthis report:

Is the region a nationally distinctive landscape? Are there resources important to the identified

themes and do they retain integrity forinterpretive purposes?

Are there outstanding opportunities forconservation, recreation and education?

Is there sufficient information about naturaland cultural resources to describe the AffectedEnvironment for the purposes of an ImpactAssessment?


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Twenty years ago, as a group ofconcerned citizens set out to marchfrom Snoqualmie Pass to Puget Sound,the Mountains to Sound Greenwaywas at a crossroads. Left unchecked,urban sprawl would soon covermuch of the route with strip malls,new developments, and gas stations,creating a landscape indistinguishablefrom any other place.

But the early proponents of the Greenwayvision realized that this area didnt haveto follow that well trod path towardhomogeneity and instead could retain thedefining characteristics of the region: adramatic physical landscape giving rise to andsustaining both a unique ecological resourceand a network of towns and cities inextricablytied to the land.

Setting out on foot from Snoqualmie Pass, theydramatized the concept of a corridor of linkedtrails, wildlife habitat, and working landscapesat the doorstep of a growing metropolis. Whilegrowth was inevitable, they understood thatintegrating goals for both people and nature

was a clear path toward prosperity. Smartdevelopment balanced with a healthy ecosystemwould leave a legacy of parks, trails, anddynamic communities for generations to come.

C hapTer 2- s Tudy a rea : T he m ounTains To s ound G reenway

Chapter 2 - Study Area: The Mountains to

Sound Greenway - A Place Like No Other

Author Daniel Jack Chasanoutlines thesequestions in

Mountainsto Sound: theCreation of aGreenway acrossthe Cascades :

How do we keep the traditional working landscape of logging and farming,the characters and sharp boundaries of the small towns, the continuous bandsof forest that allow animals and hikers to walk from the mountains to theedge of the city? How do we preserve the views from the freeway and otherroadways on which most people spend hours of their everyday lives? Howdo we enable people to walk or cycle intoor out ofthe heart of the city?How do we createor preserveconnections among the trails and habitatsso they dont become fragments scattered across the landscape?

1993 Greenway VisionA green corridor of productive forestsand farms, parks, rivers, lakes, andcommunities, demonstrating our regional commitment to a high qualityof life and a sustainable environment; agreen parkway accessible to residents

and visitors, stimulating recreational,scenic, and economic opportunities;a commitment to protect fish and

wildlife resources and to respectprivate property interests and supportdevelopment that contributes tothe Greenway character; a physicalconnection of cultural sites, parks,trails, wildlife habitat, and public foreststo increase the community value of those resources and link lands andpeople with the thread of local history.


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While ambitious, this vision affirmed the heritageof the Pacific Northwest, where for generationspeople have lived beside nature and amidsther bounty. The region has a long history ofconservation and appreciation for the abundantnatural resources in the area. The OlmsteadBrothers were hired in the early 1900s to lookahead 100 years and design a park system thatshowcased Seattles water, forests, and mountainviews.

Evidenced by themagnificent parks that todayencircle Seattles urban core,they successfully integratedthe city with its naturalsurroundings. Their vision

was a harbinger for theGreenway concept.

Decades later, conservation projects began inearnest in the 1950s as the region embarked on

a metro-wide clean-up initiative to cleansethe waters of Lake Washington, an effortthat predated the Clean Water Act. Manyothers followed: the City of Seattle acquired

the remaining swaths of the Cedar RiverWatershed to protect Seattles drinking

water supply; today, the 90,000 acrewatershed, right at Seattles doorstep,provides 1.5 million people some of thecleanest water in the country. Localcitizens and city and county governmentscoalesced around the idea of one of thenations first rails-to-trails projects--theBurke Gilman Trail. In 1976, Congressdesignated as Wilderness the alpine areasalong the Cascade Crest, just an hour drivefrom downtown Seattle.

At the same time, the region bears scarsfrom where humans and nature haveinteracted: hillsides marked by clear cuts

For generationspeople have lived

beside natureand amidst her

bounty.

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Seattles Park Commissioners took a noted park designer in1903 - John C. Olmsted, center, with pipe - to Washington Park (now the Arboretum) to plan a future vision.

In the 1800s and early decades of the 1900s,many communities in the Northwest weresustained by mining, logging - industries thatrelied on the wealth of natural resources of theregion that were plentiful at the time.


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Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land -

the Greenway exudes this balance.

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and logging roads; tidelands filled with glacialtill from the tops of Seattles hills in an effort to

flatten the undulating plot of land upon whichthe city was built; mountainsides mined for coaland other minerals; canals dredged to providepassage for extracted natural resources to shipout to sea.

The Greenway vision represented an opportunityto sustainably manage the impacts of the naturalresource economy that built the region so that itmight continue to support a thriving economybased on the regions wealth of nature.

Today, the region is one of the most globallycompetitive markets in the world. It thrivesamidstand some would argue because ofawild setting so close to the cities. It is this dualitythat makes the Mountains to Sound Greenway sounique. Aldo Leopold once said: Conservationis a state of harmony between men and land,

and from theopen plains

of easternWashington tothe forested parksof Seattle, theGreenway exudesthis balance. Itsaggregate set ofwell preservedresources offersan outstandingopportunity totell the uniquelyAmerican storyof how a moreperfect balancebetween peopleand natureresults in bettercommunities anda better qualityof life for all

citizens.

Nationally-distinctivelandscapes

Nationally-distinctivelandscapes are placesthat contain importantregional and national storiesthat, together with theirassociated natural and/orcultural resources, enablethe American people tounderstand, preserve andcelebrate key components of the multi-faceted characterof the Nations heritage.The landscapes are oftenplaces that representand contain identifiableassemblages of resources

with integrity (National Park Service).


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Physical Landscape

Powerful geologic forces have shapedthe landscape of the Mountains to SoundGreenway, one of the most geologicallyactive regions on earth. Continentaland oceanic plates have repeatedlycollided for millions of years, creating a subduction zone that has shaped andreshaped the Cascade Mountains, someof the youngest mountains on the planet.The Cascades were formed less than10 million years ago and continue toundergo dramatic transformation. In more recent geologic time, the advance andretreat of ice sheets over the Greenway landscapehas left an indelible mark. 20,000 years ago,the vast Cordilleran Ice Sheet covered morethan 2 million square miles of northwest NorthAmerica,includingMontana,Idaho, BritishColumbia,Alaska, andWashington.Its PugetLobe, withthe Vashonglacier,extended over

most of theGreenwayregion, andas it lastretreated,

about 10,000 years ago, it ploughed the PugetLowland, depositing sediment and excavatinglinear troughs, such as Lake Washington, LakeSammamish and Puget Sound.

Throughout time, water has been the masterarchitect of the Greenway landscape. Cascademountain streams born from glaciers rushrapidly downhill, carving steep valleys and deepgorges. The glaciers themselves whittled away athigh peaks. And the maritime coastline of PugetSound is constantly evolving, with the salt-ladenwaters from this inland sea eternally lapping atthe shore.

In the Greenway, colliding plates, earthquakes,volcanic eruptions, and glaciers have left lastingimprints on the area. With these constantreminders, the people of this region are wellaware that the land here is still very much alive.

Glacial landforms in the young Cascade Mountains offer extraordinary vistas and recreationalopportunities, such as here in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area.


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Ecological Landscape

An astonishing diversity of flora and faunaexist in the Mountains to Sound Greenway,which encompasses four of WashingtonStates nine eco-regions. From alpinemeadows to shrub-steppe grasslands, andlush forests to cascading rivers, the Greenwayis home to some of the nations most iconicspecies, such as salmon, bald eagles, and giant

Western red cedars. The regions biodiversityis a remarkable feature, considering that theflora and fauna of the Greenway share thelandscape with over 1.8 million people.

Part of the broader Salish Sea Ecosystem, which islisted by the World Wildlife Fund as one of 200 priorityecosystems for protecting biodiversity worldwide, theGreenway provides habitat for an array of plants andwildlife. King County alone supports more than 200species of birds, nearly 70 mammals, and 50 speciesof native fish. Three watersheds are comprised of asystem of three regional rivers and a series of fjord-like lakes carved by the last ice age. The spine of theCascade Mountainsincluding Mt. Daniel, which risesto almost 8,000 feetseparates the moisture-laden, low-elevation forests of the west side and the high desertgrassland on the east.


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Native Americans have occupied rivervalleys and the Puget Sound coastlinefor thousands of years, living off ofthe lands abundant resources. Withan estimated 100,000 people living in the area from northern Californiato southeast Alaska at the peak ofits civilization, the Native Americanpopulation of the Greenway was partof the densest population of nativeson the North American continent.Living harmoniously with the naturalworld, they developed a sophisticatedculture that contained art, theatre, andmythologymaking them among thefew hunter/gatherer cultures to developsuch expressive mediums.

European explorers, arriving off of Washingtons

coast in the late 1700s, saw in the Greenwaya raw land of incredible scenic beauty as theysailed through Puget Sound, the largest fjordsystem in the lower 48 states. The geopoliticalconflicts of the time, taking place between theSpanish, Russians, British, and Americans, wouldhave lasting implications for the future of theGreenway. Charting a future for commerce andsettlement, these explorers from across the globemarveled at the regions immense resources asthey jockeyed for territorial control. After America successfully laid claim to the landsbelow the 49th parallel, momentous populationgrowth followed early settlement in theGreenway. By the end of the 19th century, large

numbers of ethnic-American settlers movedto this epicenter of the Northwest to extractthe lands bounty. Timber harvesting,fishing, and coal mining were productive

industries that fueled the regions economy.The path toward the Greenways developmentwas marked by the regions fixation on naturalresource extraction, based on an assumption ofan infinite supply. And, as in so many placesacross America, humans dramatically alteredthe landscape in the relatively short period sincewhite settlement.

But, fulfilling an early explorers prophecy thatnature would exert a strong influence over thepeople of this region, dramatic transformationsof another form have also occurred. Visionarycitizens have recognized the fragility of thelandscape and have worked to preserve whatremains in order to leave a healthy legacy forfuture generations. While humans have certainlyleft a considerable footprint, the current trendtoward ecological harmony reflects the deepbond people here have with their naturalsurroundings.

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Historical/Cultural Landscape

Photo courtesy of OB Mallott.


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Living HeritageThe history of the Mountains to SoundGreenway has left a lasting imprinton the landscape and in the mindsof its people. The 1.8 million peoplewho live within the Greenwaysboundaries live this legacy every day.Scattered throughout the landscapeare opportunities to dive deeper intothe many aspects of the Greenwaysremarkable physical and culturalheritage.

More than 200 National HistoricRegister properties, nine NationalHistoric Landmarks, scores of museumsand a host of Native American sitesoffer the chance to learn about the birthof a Northwest civilization.

More than 1,600 miles of trail lead from the citiesto the mountains, including the remnants ofthe old Native American trail over SnoqualmiePass that has been used for thousands of years.Dozens of rivers, lakes and mountains beckonoutdoor enthusiasts into nature; in few otherplaces can you start biking from a major urban

center in the morning and by late afternoon, bestanding at the edge of a USDA Forest ServiceWilderness Area.

Working farms and forests dot the landscape,sustaining land-based livelihoods that have beenpart of this regions heritage for generations.Environmental education centers and programsteach the next generations of stewards about theimportance of healthy ecosystems for a growingpopulation. Wildlife corridors provide safepassage for beasts large and small, who roam theoutskirts of the fifteenth largest metropolitan areain the country.

The Seattle metropolitan area itself offers allof the urban amenities expected of a world-class city, but still has the feeling of being closeto nature. And a National Scenic Byway, thefirst interstate in the country to receive sucha designation, is the central artery thatorders human experience and drives localeconomies.

Built in 1883 and listed on the National Registor of Historic Places, the Thorp Grist Mill is the oldestindustrial artifact in Kittitas County, and an importanthistoric site in the small community of Thorp.

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The Burke-Gilman Trail connects Seattle to many rural areas, farmsand recreational areas in Eastern King County by way of an historicrailway right-of-way.


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Pre-6,000 B.C. Present: Native American tribes and nations, including the Duwamish,

Muckleshoot, Snoqualmie, Tulalip, and Yakama, develop wealthy and vibrant cultures inriver valleys and along the Puget Sound Coastline. Snoqualmie Pass is a major artery thatconnects different groups and facilitates trade.

1792: George Vancouver anchors across from present-day Seattle while exploring PugetSound, and marvels at the regions incomparable scenic beauty.

1841: American explorer Charles Wilkes arrives and names Puget Sounds Elliot Bay, andseveral other points.

1846: Great Britain cedes the area to the United States and in 1853, Washington becomes aterritory.

1847: Catholic Missionaries arrive in the Kittitas Valley, founding a mission near what wouldlater become the city of Ellensburg.

1851: The Denny Party, a group of families from Missouri, arrives and founds the city of Seattle, named for Chief Sealth of the Duwamish Tribe who provided critical aid to the firstwhite settlers, helping them survive their first winters.

1852 Henry Yesler opens the regions first steam-powered saw mill, paving the way for atimber industry that drives the regions economy for more than a century.

1853 Congress appropriates $20,000 for the survey of routes through the Greenway for atranscontinental railroad. The Greenways mountain passes prove to be a major obstaclefor explorers.

1853: Theodore Winthrop journeys to the region, and, enthralled by the iconic features of the landscapemountains, trees, and waterprophesizes about nature exerting a strong

influencing the regions peoplea civilization ennobled by the wild. 1854: United States Army Lieutenant Abiel Tinkham, guided by Yakama Indians, makes the

first recorded crossing of the Cascade Mountains. 1854-1855: Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens convinces all Native American

tribes in the region to sign treaties that cede the majority of their lands to the UnitedStates Government. A brief period of Indian Wars follows, resulting in more extensivereservations for several of the tribes.

1867: A wagon road is completed over Snoqualmie Pass to transport goods to and fromSeattle.

1880: Meadowbrook Farm in the Snoqualmie Valley develops into the largest hop farm inthe world, employing nearly 1,200 people, mostly Indians and ethnic immigrants, duringharvest.

1886: Coal mining is developed in Roslyn and Cle Elum to fuel steam locomotives for theNorthern Pacific Railway.

1887: The main line of the Northern Pacific crosses the Cascades, and by 1888, trains aretraveling over Stampede Pass en route to Puget Sound.

1889: The Great Seattle Fire erases the citys downtown. The city rebuilds in brick andstone and embarks on a massive project to regrade the citys hills, flattening the downtown

Greenway Historical Snapshot

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area. More dirt would be moved in the coming decades than was dug from the Panama

Canal. 1897: The Klondike Gold Rush lures thousands of prospectors to Seattle, the

embarkation point for the Yukon. Seattles economy booms as numerous businessessprout up to provide goods and services.

1898: Snoqualmie Falls Power Plant, the first plant in the world to house its generatorsunderground, begins generating hydroelectric power for Seattle residents.

1903: Seattle hires the Olmstead Brothers firm to design a system of parks for the city. 1909: The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific Railroad completes a line through

Snoqualmie Pass, connecting Seattle with the last transcontinental railroad built in theUnited States.

1909: New York to Seattle cross-country automobile race traverses Snoqualmie Pass,generating momentum for rebuilding the mountain roadway.

1916: Weyerhaeuser Company builds lumber mill near Snoqualmie Falls, producingtimber that fuels World War I.

1933: The Federal Bureau of Reclamation completes the Kittitas project, providingirrigated water for agriculture in Kittitas County. Timothy hay becomes the countyspredominant cash crop and production to this day reaches worldwide markets.

1940s: Weyerhaeuser launches a national Tree Farm movement, originating on theirSnoqualmie acreage, intending to let trees grow back and re-harvest in the future insteadof clear-cutting and moving on.

1950s: Post-war growth transforms the region: suburban sprawl takes over land once

used for agriculture, gasoline-powered automobiles overtake trains for transportation,and the mining industry fades as coal is phased out of home heating.

1958: King County voters create a regional utility, Metro, first tasked with cleaning upLake Washingtonnearly two decades before the Clean Water Act.

1968: King County voters pass a series of Forward Thrust bonds, which includemillions for parks and recreation.

1974: Boldt Decision grants Native American tribes protected access to their usual andaccustomed fishing grounds.

1976: Congress sets aside 363,000 acres along the Cascade Crest as the AlpineLakes Wilderness, one of the closest US Forest Service Wilderness Areas to a majormetropolitan center in the country.

1978: Burke-Gillman trail opens, the first bicycle and pedestrian route in the nation toreceive federal gas-tax money.

1979: Farmland Preservation Act is passed in King County to purchase developmentrights from farms across the county. Since 1984, more than 200 farms have beenprotected from development.

1991: The Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust is created to serve as a catalyst forpreserving and enhancing the historical and scenic resources of this special landscape.

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The Mountains to Sound Greenway Is: A diverse ecosystem, comprised of connected open spaces that provide critical wildlife

linkages, rivers and lakes that are home to some of the largest salmon runs in the country and provide drinking water for millions of residents, and vast forests that clean our water and air,

Composed of distinct communities, each with its own unique character, Home to historic and cultural sites and museums that tell stories of Native Americans, pioneer life, working farms and forests and changing modes of transportation, from wagonroads to railroads to interstate highways,

A recreational playground for all types of users and all age groups, containing over 1,600miles of trails; hundreds of lakes and rivers for swimming, boating, and fishing; and countlessother recreational opportunities including camping, rock climbing, hunting, and skiing,

An outdoor classroom with dozens of sites focusing on experiential ecological education, Working landscapes that are an integral part of this regions heritage, shaping settlement patterns and the economy of the Northwest.

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The Greenway Today

The Greenway today is a mosaic ofpublic and private lands, cities andnatural areas, and is home to more than1.8 million people. Working farmsand forests provide local products andimportant ecosystem services: cleaning our air and water and providing habitatfor an exceptional diversity of plantsand animals. More than 1,600 milesof trails link the public with openspace and provide opportunities foralternative transportation, while otheroutdoor recreational opportunitiesabound, including fishing, backpacking,snowshoeing, skiing, hunting, rockclimbing and hang gliding. Historicand cultural sites offer opportunities forlearning about the distinct history of theregion and the unique cultures that havewritten its stories.

Since its inception in 1991, the Mountains toSound Greenway had only loosely defined theboundaries of the landscape. The Greenwaywas a 100-mile corridor, anchored by Interstate90, stretching from Puget Sound to the foothillsof Central Washington, but it was more avision for these lands than a defined place.The need for more concentrated stewardship,however, necessitated a discussion about formaldelineation of boundaries. Meetings with publicland managers and other stakeholders confirmedthat establishing boundaries would provide anavenue for creating an effective structure for

cooperative stewardship.

The Mountains to Sound Greenway is a collection of working,living places that offer glimpses of the past and lessons about how to achieve sustainable balancebetween people and nature.


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followed all the way to Puget Sound, pointingout that the proposed boundary actually dividedcommunity efforts. These groups and severalcities that were just outside the study boundarypetitioned to be added to the study area.

In early 2011, a final boundary was adopted bythe Greenway Trust. This boundary expandedthe Greenway from the 1.4 million acres that hadbeen proposed in the study to 1.55 million acresin order to include areas that were requested tobe added.

This boundary is a fitting framework for theGreenway, as it is bound by watersheds, linkedby regional trails and Interstate 90, and includesSeattle, Ellensburg and 26 other cities andtownsunderscoring the connections betweenpeople and land.

The 1.5-million acre Greenway isalmost evenly split between Kingand Kittitas counties, with more thanhalf of the total acreage owned by thepublic. Since 1991, more than $275million dollars have been investedby the public to acquire, or protectby conservation easement, morethan 215,000 acres of land, bringingthe total amount of publicly-ownedacreage in the Greenway to 800,000.Next to the public lands sit privatelyowned farms and forests, whichprovide numerous public benefits anddrive local economies. Twenty-threecities dot the landscape, featuringglobally-competitive markets thatlink the American economy with thePacific Rim, and livable communities,

consistently ranked amongthe highest in quality of life ofAmerican cities.

The Mountains to Sound Greenway is a collectionof working, living places that offer glimpsesof the past and lessons about how to achieve asustainable balance between people and nature.Defining eras of our nations history are reflectedin the Greenways history: westward migration,the evolution of transportation corridors, naturalresource extraction, shifting attitudes aboutconservationthese are forces that not onlyinfluenced the growth of the Greenway, butalso contribute significantly to the shaping ofAmerica as a whole. The story of the Greenwayis a distinct American story that holds valuable

lessons for the future of this great nation. Withits unique history, and varied collection of well-preserved resources, the Mountains to SoundGreenway is a worthy candidate for NationalHeritage Area designation.

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Todays Mountains to Sound Greenway National Scenic Byway on Interstate90 traverses the landscape from Central Washingtons shrub-steppe, over theCascade Mountains to the Seattle metropolitan area.


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C hapTer 3- h eriTaGe T hemes :C onTribuTions To our n aTional h eriTaGe

Themes are the unifying ideas that,when woven together, make up thefabric of a National Heritage Area.They are a way of presenting andorganizing the essential aspects ofa regions heritage, demonstrating its national distinctiveness. TheNational Park Service recommends theidentification of themes to illustratethe unique qualities of the heritagearea and to provide a framework underwhich to interpret natural, historic,cultural, and recreational resources. In The New National Park Service ThematicFramework for History and Prehistory, thePark Service outlines its vision for addressing

themes, describing them as a means forconceptualizing the multiplicity of humanexperiences. This prescription for presentingthe dominant trends of an area cuts across

three major categories: people, time, and place.These categories embrace a series of primarythemes, each representing a significant aspectof peoples interactions with one anotherand the world around them. The emphasisis not just on what happened, but on thehow and why and the transformations thathave occurred over time. Primary themesmove the history of an area beyond a staticone-dimensional portrayal to place a regionshistory in a dynamic and evolving context.

Throughout the Mountains to Sound GreenwayHeritage Study, community members carefullyevaluated potential themes. During meetingswith local historians, the National Park Service,the Greenway Trust Board of Directors, andother stakeholders, themes were discussed interms of the traditions and customs that define

the regiona common culture that resonatesacross the Greenway.

The pervasive idea that emerged during themeetings was the interconnectedness of peopleand nature. This idea strongly resonates withthe ideas of prominent Northwest historianCharles Schwantes who remarked: The mostrepetitive theme in the regions literature is the

National Park Service -Primary Themes

Peopling Places Creating Social Institutions and

Movements Expressing Cultural Values Shaping the Political Landscape Developing the American Economy Expanding Science and Technology Transforming the Environment Changing Role of the United States

in the World Economy

Themes move the history of an area beyond a static one-dimensional portrayal to placea regions history in a dynamic and evolving context.

Chapter 3- Heritage Themes: Contributions to

our National Heritage


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3- h eriTaGe T hemes

interaction of people and their naturalenvironment; much of the regions history isplayed out against a backdrop of dramaticlandforms.

The Greenway is a region whose inhabitantshave been profoundly influenced by their naturalsurroundings. Working within this frameworkof a pervasive human connection to nature, threeprimary themes were identified:

Transportation: Settlement, Commerce, andTrade

Natural Resource Economy Conservation and Collaborative Spirit

In each of these primary themes, the influence ofnature upon peopleand vice versais clearlyevident. And, each of these themes resonatesthroughout the stories, events, and contributionsof the Greenway, expressing both our regionsunique heritage and the history of our nation.

The landforms of the Pacific

Northwest are not matters just of geology and real estate but alsoof aesthetics and cultureNot

surprisingly Pacific Northwesternerscommonly translate their sense of place into a belief that the natural

environment determined the types of people who settled [here]. Rugged

mountains and gargantuan treescalled forth strong-willed, self-reliant

individuals to match them.

Charles Schwantes

Readyaccess tonatural landsencourages

strongconnectionsbetweenpeople andnature.


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It would be a stretch to say that over theyears the Greenway has held a land ethic thatconsiders nature as paramounthumans have

dramatically altered the landscape in the shortperiod since white settlement: dredging rivers,filling in tidelands, and clear cutting old growthforests. But many lessons can be learned fromthe interactions between people and natureover the course of this regions history. In theGreenway, the natural world isso ingrained in daily life that itsinhabitants continue to striveto better understand, celebrate,and maintain their connectionsto the landscape. People and NatureandTransportationOn the one hand, the deepwater port of Seattle providedsafe harbor along the otherwiseraging West Coast, while onthe other, the Cascades werea bottleneck to commerce

between the east and west sidesof the mountains. Innovationsin transportationfrom wagonroads to highways and fromhorse trails to railwayspaved

the way for realizing neweconomic prosperity.These developments wereresponses to the ever-

difficult quest to find passage to transport naturalresources through the rugged terrain.

People and Natureand the Natural ResourceEconomyReminiscent of the human sculpting of the landoccurring across most of America at the time, theearly settlers in the Greenway stopped at nothingto turn the region into a full-blown resourcecolony. The very treasures that drew settlersto the Greenway regionlofty mountains,salmon-filled rivers, and legions of forestswerethe source of extraction and exploitation. The

growth of the Greenway has always reflected itsinhabitants hearty appetite for natural resources,but the rugged landscape was both a boon and ahindrance to economic developments in the earlyyears of white settlement.


The steam-powered winch on the left was used at the Preston Sawmill totransport logs to the mill pond along a skid road. This 1910 photo was takenbefore railroad logging brought logs to Preston.Photo courtesy of Eric Erickson.

In the Greenway, the

natural world has been so ingrained indaily life that the its inhabitants striveto better understand, celebrate, and

maintain their connections tothe landscape.


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that engulfed the city and dominatedits skyline. A tribute to the naturalbackdrop, Nellie Cornish founded herschool for the arts within the Greenway,maintaining that the physical landscapewould engender an artistic style such asthe country had never known.

As the dust began to settle from therapid post-WWII growth period,residents of the region began toconsider the health of the landscape.The natural resource economy had

driven development in the Greenwayfor more than a century, but at whatcost? Hillsides were devoid of trees,and waterways, once teeming withsalmon, were turbid and lifeless. Wasthere a way to maintain functioningeconomies without continuing tothreaten the finite resources of theland? It was no easy task to organizesuch a sea change in mainstreamideology, but if there was anywhereit the country where it could happen,it was here. Local citizens began torestore and enhance the areas mostdefining natural features. The regionspark system was expanded. Theiconic natural areas of the region werecelebrated for their inherent virtues, nottheir speculative values. Over the years,residents of this region have come torecognize that if they were to sacrificetheir natural surroundings in favor ofprogress they would lose an essentialaspect of their identity.

Roslyn has preserved 300 acres of land surrounding thehistoric town, and is working to protect and enhance

recreation access into nearby forests and mountains.


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The Greenway offers a uniqueillustration of how the westernUnited States has been sculpted bychanging modes of transportation.The Greenway corridor is a veritablemuseum of transportation history:Native American trails, early wagonroads, transcontinental railroads,

deepwater ports, and the developmentof the first federal interstate to traversethe rugged Cascade Mountains.These routes paved the way for earlysettlement. From the earliest periodsof Native American inhabitationto European exploration, and frompioneer settlement to the expansion ofnatural resource economies, peoples

ability to chart a course through themountains and along the waterways ofthe Greenway for settlement, commerce,and trade has determined how this areahas grown and prospered.

Native American RootsArcheological records reveal that humansinhabited this area at least 6,000 years ago.Records from Eastern Washington and the

Olympic Peninsula show human activitybetween 10-12,000 years ago, about the sametime as the retreat of the last ice age. NativeAmerican tribes have been well-establishedin the Greenway in all major river valleys onboth sides of the Cascades for thousands ofyears, hunting and gathering different foodsaccording to the season. To the west lived theSnoqualmies, an interior coast culture who had

several villages along the Snoqualmie River.

The Yakama lived on the eastern side of themountains. A plateau people, the Yakamahad a number of distinct tribes, with one bandoccupying several camps in the Greenway inwhat is now upper Kittitas County.

The Duwamish, Muckleshoot and Tulalippeoples lived in the Puget lowlandthemaritime region along the Puget Sound

Primary Theme: Transportation -Settlement, Commerce, and Trade

Yakama Chief Joe Charlie in ceremonial dress.Photo courtesy of the Museum of History and Industry.

Native American tribes have beenwell-established in the Greenway in

all major river valleys on both sides of the Cascades for thousands of years,hunting and gathering different foods

according the season.


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coastline. Theirs was a coastal culture, and theyinhabited mudflat villages along the shores ofPuget Sound. They lived off of the bounty of theSoundfishing in the saltwater and the riversand gathering seafood in tidal flats. With such acornucopia, these Northwest tribes had a saying:When the tide is out the table is set.

In the heart of theGreenway, glaciersscoured a gap in theCascades that providedcrossing for Native

Americans on thewest and east sidesof the mountainsknown today asSnoqualmie Pass.The Snoqualmie andYakama heavily usedtrails that traversedthe pass for hunting,gathering roots, pickingberries, and to tradewith their neighborson the opposite side of the mountains. Bymany accounts, members of both tribes spent agreat deal of time in each others camps; whiteexplorers even noted bands of Yakama winteringin the Snoqualmies camp below SnoqualmieFalls.

The trail over the mountains linked the coastaltribes with those from as far away as the plains,establishing a robust network of trade. All typesof goods traversed this initial highway throughthe mountains, with shell necklaces and abalonefrom the coast, mountain goat hair and roots forbasket weaving from the mountains, and buffalo

robes coming from the plains.

Every couple of years, there was a largegathering held in the valley of upper Kittitas,held at a place known as Che-ho-lan.

Northwest tribes from what is now Washington,British Columbia, Oregon, and Idaho cametogether to trade, settle disputes, and gather foodfrom the fertile prairie. Early white settlers wereastonished by the gatherings sheer numbers;Alexander Ross, in The Fur Hunters of the Far West, estimated that the camp was six miles

across with morethan 3,000 NativeAmericans,not countingwomen andchildren. This

estimation likelydoes little justiceto historicalnumbers asit reflects apopulation thathad already beendecimated bythe first waveof Europeandiseases.

European/American ExplorationNear the time when the horse was firstintroduced to the Yakama people, facilitatingmore efficient trade across the mountains,European and American explorers weresailing along Washingtons coast in searchof a Northwest Passage. Spanish, Russians,British and Americans vied for geopoliticalcontrol. The discovery of Puget Sound was amajor breakthrough. Although it did not serveto connect the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans asexplorers had hoped, its calm, deep waterswould prove ideal for saltwater ports. Alongthe West Coasts rugged coastline, these tranquilwaters were an anomaly that opened new doorsfor commerce and future settlement. CaptainGeorge Vancouver claimed Puget Sound forBritain, naming the waterway after one ofhis officers, Lieutenant Peter Puget. Spanish

Before the highway crossed Snoqualmie Pass, a trail created andused by Native Americans led across the Cascades.


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and Russian vessels were also charting thecomplex Northwest coastline, laying initial

claims to the territory, but these claims werelater relinquished. In 1841, nearly 40 years afterVancouvers expedition, American LieutenantCharles Wilkes explored Puget Sound, chartingand naming numerous landmarks. Wilkesexpedition was the first US Navy expeditionto explore the Pacific Ocean and the territorythat was now jointly occupied by Britain andthe United States. Just seven years after theexpedition, the Oregon treaty was signed andBritain was granted the lands above the 49th

parallel while the US received the lands to thesouth, including Puget Sound.

The waterways of the Puget Sound becomeimportant trade routes, linking Seattle and inlandtowns with fast-growing West Coast cities likeSan Francisco, whose residents turned to theNorthwest for timber and other resources tobuild (and rebuild) the city. Importantly, Puget

Sound evolved into a major trade artery thatlinked this region with the Pacific and markets

in Asia. Connections between Seattle and Chinaand Japan grew during the middle and end of the19th century, and continue to prosper this day.Today, the Port of Seattle facilitates two-waytrade with more than one hundred countries,accounting for about seven percent of all UnitedStates imports and exports.

White SettlementIn 1851, explorers John C. Holgate and ColonelIsaac N. Ebey separately explored the territory

around Puget Sounds Elliott Bay, near presentday Seattle. Holgate laid claim to a plot of land

Situated atthe mouth of the DuwamishRiver on PugetSound, todaysPort of Seattlesees trade frommore thanone hundredcountries aroundthe world.

Puget Sound evolved into a major trade artery that linked this region

with the Pacific.


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series of massive earth-moving projects. Between1861 and 1883, ditches were dug to serve aslog canals connecting Lakes Washington andUnion. But by the turn of the century, moreambitious projects were envisioned: a massiveregrading of downtown Seattle, and a canalconnecting the lakes with Puget Sound. TheUS Army Corps of Engineers began the canalproject in 1911, completing it five and a half yearslater. Combined with the regrades of Seattlesdowntown, the canal dredging accounted foralmost 50 million tons of earth-moving. Whatcan perhaps be viewed as the epitome of human

transformations of the Greenway landscape,the level of Lake Washington was lowered bynine feet. During the construction, the BlackRiver which had been the outlet of enormousLake Washington, just to the south of Seattle,

completely dried up. Once a salmon-bearingstream, and the site of a Duwamish village thathad been occupied for more than 1,000 years, theriver ceased to exist in July of 1916.

The canal improved transportation andcommerce throughout the region. At eightmiles long with a minimum depth of almost 30feet, ships small and large could pass throughwithout difficulty. A series of locks carriedvessels between different water levels. Alongthe waterway, ferries transported passengers toand from Seattle; one was touted as the largest

freshwater ferry west of the Mississippi. Upuntil the middle of the 20th century, a primaryfunction of the canal was to transport coal fromthe mining districts east of Lake Washington toSeattles ports. Today, the locks and canal are

Lake Washington Ship Canal dedication. The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and the LakeWashington Ship Canal are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.Photo courtesy Army Corps of Engineers.

Combined with

the regradesof Seattles

downtown, thecanal dredging accounted for

almost 50 milliontons of earth-

moving.


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market. Cowboys drove their herds of cattleacross the mountains with relative ease,but wagons had more difficulty gettingacross the streams and steep slopes of themountain passes. Roads and bridges wererequired to utilize the route most effectively.In the 1860s, Washingtons territoriallegislature requested federal funds to enableconstruction of a permanent route throughSnoqualmie Pass, but the federal governmentwas too occupied with the Civil War to grantany money. Indicative of an entrepreneurialspirit that led to the development of the

Northwest, Seattle residents organized asurvey for a roadway and raised funds forconstruction. A wagon road was completedin 1867, enabling goods to travel from Seattleto Ellensburg and vice versa. Ranchersbegan to funnel their livestock and grainsover Snoqualmie Pass to Seattle, insteadof down the Columbia River to Portland bysteamship. A growing market awaited them inSeattle, and it could now be reached at a fractionof the transportation cost to Portland. This routeeffectively launched the meat packing industry inSeattle, servicing much of the West Coast and asfar away as China.

The road was alsoan important link forpioneers heading westto settle in the PugetSound region. By manyaccounts, immigrantsheaded for Puget Soundcould save 500 milesby leaving the Oregon Trail and crossing overSnoqualmie Pass en route to Puget Sound,enabling them to bypass the circuitous route viaPortland and up the Cowlitz River.

Still, the mountains were a bottleneck tocommerce and transportation. In 1853,Congress appropriated funds for a series of

transcontinental railroad surveys. Territorialgovernor Isaac Stevens was assigned thenorthern survey and he appointed US ArmyCaptain George McClellan to find a routethrough the Cascades. McClellan was authorized$20,000 for the project. The experience provedto be difficult as McClellans expedition was

thwarted by heavy smokefrom forest fires and by thechallenging topography ofthe central Cascades. As hefound his way to the top ofthe Yakima River drainage,McClellan concluded thatthe mountains were toohigh for a route throughthem. While his expedition

was considered a failure because he did not findan adequate route through the mountains, hissurvey laid the groundwork for later expeditions.

Following McClellan was LieutenantAbiel Tinkham, who, fresh off three wintercrossings of the Rockies, was appointed byStevens to gain a truer picture of potential

The mountains were abottleneck to commerce and

transportation. In 1853, Congressappropriated funds for a series of transcontinental railroad surveys.

In 1911 travelers faced a rocky path along Lake Keechelus, the siteof present day Interstate 90.Photo courtesy of the Washington State Historical Society.


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travel routes. Guided by Yakamas, Tinkhamcrossed the Cascades, tracing a viable line for arailroad down to Seattle.

In 1887 the Northern Pacific transcontinentalrailroad was completed over the Cascades.Trains stopped over in Cle Elum at a railwaydepot just before ascending the mountains.With the new transportation route reaching thePuget Sound, Washingtons population tripledin just ten years time. While Tacomawas selected over Seattle as the finalstop on the Northern Pacific, by 1884,

Seattle had eclipsed Walla Walla asWashingtons most populous city assettlers continued to flock to the PugetSound region. The Great Northernrailroad followed close on the heels ofthe Northern Pacific, again bypassingSeattle with a direct route, although aspur line was added to connect Seattlewith the transcontinental route.

In 1909, Seattle was finally linkeddirectly with a transcontinentalrailroad, with the completion of theChicago, Milwaukee, and St. PaulRailroad over Snoqualmie Pass. Year-round service through the mountainswas soon realized as a tunnel throughthe pass was drilled in addition to the buildingof numerous snowsheds, including one at the topof the pass said to be the largest ever made on anAmerican railroad.

That same year, an estimated 105 cars crossedSnoqualmie Pass, along the route of the oldwagon road. Momentum was gaining for apermanent roadway through the mountains:

early that year, President Taft had initiateda New York-to-Seattle car race as part ofthe Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, anda racer completed the first transcontinental

automobile race in 23 days. Snoqualmie Passproved to be the most difficult section in theroute.

Over the next decade, major work was completedalong the old wagon route, as communities onboth sides of the pass strove for a roadway thatdid not have to close in the winter. Heavy snowsand mudslides had for years taken their toll onwinter travelers, and motorists generally opted

to ship their vehicles over the pass by freightinstead of possibly breaking down along theprimitive roadway.

Milwaukee Road railway looking west at Snoqualmie Pass.Photo courtesty of the Gene H Lawson collection.

A racer completed the first transcontinental automobile race

in 23 days. Snoqualmie Passproved to be the most difficult

section in the route.


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By 1934, the entire roadway was pavedthefirst paved route through the Cascades. In

the following years, nearly 50 bridges wereconstructed from Ellensburg to Seattle to shortenthe route. At the time of its construction in 1940,the floating bridge connecting Mercer Islandand Seattle was the longest pontoon bridge inthe world. During World War II, SnoqualmiePass was an important military supply line,connecting military bases on the east and westsides of the state. After the war, higher demand

for roadways led to further improvements. By

1963, the speed limit over Snoqualmie Pass hadbeen raised to 70 miles per hour.

By 1970, the roadway through SnoqualmiePass had been given federal Interstate status.Interstate 90 was the longest and northernmosttranscontinental Interstate in the United States.While improvements continued in order toaccommodate a growing number of travelers,such as avalanche blasting and embedding rockstructures into cliffs to prevent slides, muchwork was also done to conserve and enhancethe scenic and historical features of this uniquetransportation corridor. This included raisedroadways near Snoqualmie Pass to allow wildlifeand trail passage and extensive landscaping inthe urban areas of Mercer Island and Seattle. In1996, the portion of Interstate 90 through theGreenway was designated a National ScenicBywaythe first interstate highway to receivesuch a designation. The legacy of well preservedscenic, ecological, historical, recreational,and historical resources along the corridor isevidenced by dozens of museums, abundantrecreational opportunities, wildlife underpasses,and forested viewsheds.

Today, an estimated 150,000 driverstravel Interstate 90 within the Greenwayevery day. Once a major bottleneck to

The travel route over Snoqualmie Pass was quite adifferent road a century ago. The Sunset Highway openedin 1915, although drivers had to make their way throughmud or around fallen trees.Photo courtesy of the Museum of History and Industry.

While improvements to accommodatetravelers continued, work was also done

to conserve and enhance the scenic and historical features of this unique

transportation corridor.


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transportation and commerce,Snoqualmie Pass is now apaved thoroughfare servingas the major transportationcorridor between westernand eastern Washingtonand beyond. Each year,35 million tons of freight worth $500 billion -- crossI-90 at Snoqualmie Pass. Formillennia, Snoqualmie Passhas served as a major arteryfor transportation, facilitating

settlement, commerce, andtrade. With its modern-dayimportance, coupled with adynamic history, this route isa national treasure.


Historical snapshot: motorized travel over Snoqualmie Pass

1883: Denny and Yesler rallied neighbors, opened the Seattle Walla Walla Toll road

1905: First cars over the pass

1909: Automobile race from New York to Seattle

1913: Primary transcontinental highway plotted

1915: Formal opening of Sunset Highway (alternate name for Yellowstone Highway)

1940: Floating bridge constructed over Lake Washington

1969: I-90 officially designated as an interstate highway

1990: Floating bridge replaced over Lake Washington

Interstate 90 goes through Snoqualmie Pass with Guye Peak in the background.I-90 is the longest interstate in the country, running from Seattle to Boston.


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The economy of the Greenwayhas been inextricably linked withthe regions natural setting. Theabundance of resourcescoal, timber,salmon, fertile soil, and accessiblenatural areashas paved the way fora robust natural resource economy.Changes in transportation pavedthe way for efficiencies in natural

resource extraction. Commensuratewith transportation developmentsoccurring throughout the countrywagon roads, transcontinental railways,and the interstate highway systemthe Greenway transportation corridorevolved to successfully accommodatemining, farmi

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