To the Editor:

Thank you for publishing the letter in your fine newspaper from Richard Lunt, where he shared the sad story of neglected Salmon Creek in Burien.  It is ironic that a local stream, called Salmon Creek for a reason, it used to have Salmon in it, and its over one mile of wonderful green space, is ignored by Burien city leaders.   

Several years ago, our youngest boy completed his Eagle Scout project there, doing a stream survey and removing over 1,000 pounds of trash along this wonderful watershed.  His goal was to start the process to get salmon back into this stream. During his Eagle project, we learned that the end of the stream has a concrete barrier installed by the land owner to keep salmon out, and the Burien road that services the neighborhoods there has a culvert that also will keep salmon out.  

Sadly, when we visited the stream again this past February after our boy graduated with an Environmental Engineering degree from the UW, nothing had been done.  During our visit we also collected several used hypodermic needles we found there, used by the drug addicted homeless who camp there.  

So, we have a starving Orca (Killer Whale) population who do not have enough salmon to eat, we have a stream that used to have salmon spawning in it, and over a mile of green space that should be a clean Burien park filled with trails for families to enjoy, and instead, we have a city that is ignoring this special place. 

Finally, due to a settlement with the Indian Tribes who have joint salmon management treaty rights to salmon, there is an abundance of state and federal funds already available to pay to remove the salmon barriers.  We just need Burien leaders to step up to the plate and develop a community plan for the entire green space that brings salmon and people back together in the Salmon creek watershed.    

Mark L. Ufkes (Retired Scoutmaster - 10 years)