Thornton Creek is of urban creeks and tributaries from southeast

Shoreline A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...

through northeast

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Lake Washington Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle. It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, ...

. Its watershed, the largest in Seattle, exhibits relatively dense biodiversity for an urban setting;Brokaw it is home to frogs, newts, ducks, herons, and beavers, in addition to more than 75,000 people. From west of Jackson Park Golf Course in

,Hodson from Sunny Walter-Pillings PondWalter in Licton Springs–North College Park, and north Northgate Thornton Creek flows through

Maple Leaf The maple leaf is the characteristic leaf of the maple tree. It is the most widely recognized national symbol of Canada. History of use in Canada By the early 1700s, the maple leaf had been adopted as an emblem by the French Canadians along the ...

and Lake City, including the Victory Heights, Meadowbrook, and Matthews Beach

neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

s, and empties into the lake at Matthews Beach Park.

Habitat and stewardship

Thornton Creek flows through Meadowbrook Pond, known for its

birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, b ...

and resident

beavers Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...

. The Thornton creek watershed is land formerly inhabited by the

Duwamish Duwamish may refer to: * Duwamish tribe, a Native American tribe in Washington state * Duwamish River, in Washington state * ''Duwamish'' (fireboat) See also * Elliott Bay Elliott Bay is a part of the Central Basin region of Puget Sound. It is ...

tribe. One of the Duwamish's historic longhouse sites was located near the mouth of Thornton Creek at Mathews beach. Early in the 1900s, the creek contained dense runs of at least five species of Pacific salmon and trout, today only a few Kokanee still travel up stream. The areas surrounding the creek were developed without regard for that habitat and the

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks ar ...

corridor; species' diversity declined, and the creek became a typical degraded urban watershed. Storm water retention, sites restoration, an Environmental Learning Center next to a school, and a fish ladder contributed to restoration and the return of native plants and wildlife. Thornton creek is home to many native species, muskrats, beavers, otters, bats, crayfish and coyotes, and in addition is an important breeding ground for great blue herons. Common for urban creeks, there are also many problematic invasive species like

Japanese knotweed ''Reynoutria japonica'', synonyms ''Fallopia japonica'' and ''Polygonum cuspidatum'', is a species of herbaceous perennial plant in the knotweed and buckwheat family Polygonaceae. Common names include Japanese knotweed and Asian knotweed. It is ...

black rats The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...

and New Zealand mud snailsbr>

Thornton Creek Water Quality Channel

For many decades, much of the stream has run through

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom ...

s, notably under the parking lot of Northgate Mall. Building on gradual successes in restoration, activist neighbors began working with the City of Seattle and developers toward

daylighting Daylighting is the practice of placing windows, skylights, other openings, and Reflective surfaces (climate engineering), reflective surfaces so that sunlight (direct or indirect) can provide effective internal lighting. Particular attention is ...

parts of the buried creek. In 2004, the City of Seattle purchased the parking lot from Northgate Mall and began building the Thornton Creek Water Quality Channel. Opened in 2009, it achieved several community goals in limited space: integrating a water-quality facility, providing a diverse housing mix, and allowing public open space. It receives and treats runoff from by providing a multilayered landscape of native plants that also serves as an amenity for surrounding private development. Organizations of citizens have cleaned up nearby wetlands, educated the public about stream health and quality of neighborhood life, and rallied to bring more of the creek to daylight. Many restoration projects in Seattle have been in some way connected to or inspired by Thornton Creek.Dolan & True, p. 223

Neighborhoods of the Thornton Creek watershed

*Southeast neighborhoods of the city of

, north fork headwaters * Lake City neighborhoods ** Olympic Hills ** Victory Heights ** Meadowbrook, confluence of forks ** Matthews Beach * Northgate neighborhoods ** Pinehurst ** Licton Springs–North College Park, south fork headwaters **

** Northgate Mall

References

Bibliography

*
Elise Bowditch, Teaching Assistant; Man Wang, Teaching Assistant; Matthew W. Wilson, Research Associate. * * * *
Wa

NF. * * * *
Archive of ''The Seattle Press''. *
History excerpted from Morgan, Brandt. ''Enjoying Seattle's parks''. Seattle: Greenwood Publications, 1979. * * * * *
Viewing locations only; the book has walks, hikes, wildlife, and natural wonders.
Walter excerpted from **
"with additions by Sunny Walter and local Audubon chapters." See "Northeast Seattle" section, bullet points "Meadowbrook", "Paramount Park Open Space", "North Seattle Community College Wetlands", and "Sunny Walter -- Twin Ponds".

External links

Thornton Creek webcam
{{authority control Rivers of Washington (state) Landforms of Seattle Shoreline, Washington Subterranean rivers of the United States Rivers of King County, Washington