By Maggie Nicholson

On Friday, September 12th, community members and leaders gathered for a ribbon-cutting at newly restored Seahurst Park in Burien.

Preceding the ceremony, tours of the restoration site were offered. Extensive environmental restoration is the reason the park had been closed to the public. Rebecca Mullen of the Environmental Science Center led attendees around, drawing attention to new rain-gardens, native plants like skunk cabbage, horsetail and stinging nettle, and the installed fish ladder.

Mullen also shared knowledge of the wildlife, including that salmon navigate by the moon and stars and that they have such an acute sense of smell, they return to the riverbed in which they were born in order to lay their eggs and die, using the scent of the riverbed’s plants.

At the Seahurst Park beachfront, where once there was a concrete wall, there are now wetlands. Children climbed on logs, waded through surf grass and sedges, and tested pooled water with fingers. The pooled water on the beachfront is a vital part of the Puget Sound estuary. Some species of fish lay eggs on the gravel and during low tide, the gravel remains wet enough to keep the eggs alive. Since restoration, the Environmental Science Center has seen a healthy rise in the population of fish species and invertebrates.

The wall was installed for a few reasons, said Mullen. One was to deter erosion. Another was to create a designated gathering area. Unfortunately, the sea wall encouraged erosion. The energy of destructive waves, when they hit the wall, was directed downward. The restoration that has occurred makes Seahurst Park an innovative representative of how environmental conscientiousness, beauty, and communal space can coexist in one area.

"This project was a work of love from the very beginning," said Congressman Jim McDermott, addressing the sun-soaked crowd. He expressed gratitude toward those who made the restoration possible and happiness at having been able to see the project from start to finish.

"We live nearby, and I've been walking down here - usually with a group of friends - for over twenty years," said Burien resident Jim Larson. "I really like this kind of activity. I am just generally in favor of restoring the shoreline to its natural condition."

If you are on the fence about visiting eco-friendly Seahurst Park, Mullen gave one more reason to visit: a blue heron named Mortimer, who lives in the wetlands. Mortimer loves the ‘good eating,’ and is one blue heron very happy about the new greenery.

Seahurst Park is located at 1600 S.W. Seahurst Park Road in Burien. Speakers at the ribbon cutting included Congressman Jim McDermott, State Senator Sharon Nelson, Seattle District Commander Colonel John Buck, and Puget Sound Partnership Director Sheida Sahandy – all integral players in the success of the park’s restoration.

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The Seahurst Park Ecosystem Restoration Project Phase II restored 2,800 feet of shoreline, building on the earlier success at Seahurst Park’s south end, which restored 1,200 feet of park shoreline in 2005. The combined projects represent a three-quarter-mile length of bulkhead removal, shoreline re-grading, beach re-nourishment and the addition of thousands of riparian plants and beach grasses.

As both a local and regional priority, this project leveraged a combination of state and federal funding. The Corps implemented and managed construction and provided the maximum federal $5 million funding limit for this type of project. The City and its funding partners provided the additional $3.1 million construction funds through state capital dollars allocated by the PSP through the PSAR Fund, the Environmental Protection Agency and Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Estuary & Salmon Restoration Program, and from the Green/Duwamish Central Puget Sound Watershed Forum through the King Conservation District.

For more information about this project, visit www.BurienWA.gov/SeahurstProject.