King County restores Tolt River property; plants memorial for influential employee

Recent damage to a local environment restoration site has forced King County to install a gated entrance to protect not only the newly planted trees, but the memorial of an influential King County employee, Clint Loper.

With the restoration of the San Souci neighborhood in Carnation, King County has been working not only to protect local residents from flooding and landslides, but also working to restore the land back to its natural state.

The San Souci neighborhood on Tolt River Road in Carnation was once made up of 12 homes, but no longer exists today. The neighborhood, which sat next to the Tolt River, was the victim of severe flooding for years, due to it being located at the lowest point on the Tolt River Road. Even minor flood events would be enough to cut off the neighborhood’s only access point and trap the residents, as well as cut off access to other neighborhoods up the road.

Chase Barton, supervising engineer for the floodplain management section of King County, said the county began purchasing the homes from the residents in 1996 and was recently able to clear out all of the homes from the area. However, the county is still trying to acquire three empty lots that remain.

With the houses out of the way, King County is working on restoring the 60-acre neighborhood back to its natural state through the replanting of trees and further development of salmon habitat.

“The Tolt is one of the most dynamic rivers in King County and this specific location had flood hazards, general migration hazards and landslide hazards. We were fortunate that the county had the resources available so that when the residents no longer wanted to live here because they feared for their safety, the county was able to purchase those properties and help them relocate to safer residences,” Barton said.

“This portion of the road is the lowest portion of Tolt River Road. So every couple of years … it goes underwater and there are 40 residences upstream from here where their sole access is cut off.”

The site is also home to a memorial for King County employee Clint Loper, who died of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia on May 18, 2016. Loper was the project manager for King County on the Lower Tolt Restoration Project, a $7 million levy setback project completed in 2009, and worked for the county for more than two decades.

“He was instrumental in helping establish the farm pad program that helps agricultural land owners get animals and equipment out of the way when the lower Valley gets flooded, and he was really instrumental as well in participating in the Fish, Farm, Flood work program, which is just wrapping up now and is a collaborative effort to figure out programs that can benefit everyone in the Valley,” Barton said. “He was someone who dedicated his career and his professional life, really, to the citizens of King County, trying to improve the landscape and the rivers for everybody.”

A memorial planting event in honor of Loper in the San Souci neighborhood was held on Oct. 23, with more than 100 people attending and planting trees. Barton said King County Councilmember Kathy Lambert and Tulalip Tribe representatives attended the event as well.

However, many of the newly planted trees were damaged by people using the site as an open space to ride ATVs and other off-roading vehicles in the past few months, Barton said. Leading the county to install wooden blocks and a locked gate to prevent vehicles from entering the area and tearing up the planted trees.

“Since that time there has been some 4×4 use, people had disturbed this entrance and come in and were trashing the area, they were driving their 4x4s through the replanting areas. Thankfully they didn’t damage that specific location where we had Clint’s planting,” he said. “But they damaged a lot of other places that are going to require the county to come out and repair that and replant the sites.”

Doug Williams, Media Relations Coordinator for the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, said the site welcomes recreational use, but the heavy use from motor vehicles is too damaging to the site.

“We can’t have motorcycles and 4x4s and ATVs coming in and tearing up this area, because it does have ecological value, and this specific site has a lot of emotional value, personal value, not just for his former colleagues, but for the people who benefited from the work that he did in this Valley,” Williams said.

The gate has been installed for a month and there has not been any sign of continued use since then. The site is still easily accessible for foot traffic and bikes, which are the intended uses of the area as a public space.

Replanted trees were seriously damaged when off-roading vehicles were brought onto the site for recreation. Since that time a gate has been installed to protect the site from further damage. (Courtesy Photo)

Perry Falcone, project coordinator for the Snoqualmie Watershed Forum, Chase Barton, supervising engineer for King County river and floodplain management, and Doug Williams, media relations coordinator for the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, stand at the shore of the tolt river on the San Souci property. (Evan Pappas/Staff Photo)