For years, the fight against Glacier Northwest’s efforts to expand its mining operation on Maury Island figured prominently in local news and island conversations. Now, it has been nearly eight years since the county purchased the Glacier site with county, state and private funds in a dramatic conservation victory. Time marches on, and it would be understandable if memories of those conversations and the long struggle to preserve the area were fading.
But the land that the county purchased needs islanders’ attention. The Maury Island Natural Area, as the county now calls it, is 275 acres with madrone forests, wide open spaces and sweeping water views. For years, it was in the path of the ASARCO Tacoma smelter, and like a lot of land on Vashon and Maury islands, it is contaminated, particularly with lead and arsenic. Hiking there, it is difficult to wander through the trees or gaze out over Puget Sound and imagine the earth to be toxic. But we know that it is, particularly in the upland and bluff areas and an area that previously was home to skeet shooting.
Two weeks ago, officials from the State Department of Ecology came to Vashon, where they discussed their proposed clean up plan and sought feed back from islanders. More than 50 people attended the meeting and raised thoughtful questions: Why clean up this place, when Dockton Forest, right next to it, has not been cleaned up — and, in fact, bike trails were recently created there? Is a 25-car parking lot, as proposed, truly necessary? Why not let nature take its course and leave well enough alone? One woman, fighting cancer herself, challenged the wisdom of doing nothing. “Are you kidding me?” she asked those gathered. There is much to consider.
Some islanders are critical of restoration work that took place in the natural area in 2016 and do not want to see similar actions taken going forward. And others, including Craig Harmeling, who frequently rides his mule there, admonished people to get involved and speak up. Indeed, that is what the meeting was for, and state officials repeatedly stressed the importance of feedback to help them guide their plans. The deadline to do so is May 24.
We hope islanders who use the park will comment before the deadline. Just as it is difficult to walk there and imagine the dirt and forest duff to be laced with contaminants, it is hard to walk there and imagine the mining operation that might have been. It took extraordinary effort to save the land. Let’s make sure that now, as state officials are making plans for the future of the park and asking islanders what they think about their plan, that we tell them.
For more information about the project and to comment, see tinyurl.com/y996a7rv.