What people think of as the Barnes Creek Trail North used to be a neighborhood. The area was bought out as part of WSDOT’s plans to build SR509 and by the Port of Seattle using an FAA grant designating ‘noise lands’ after the Sea-Tac Communities Plan of 1976.
The road you see was actually 16th Ave–a neighbourhood street. But follow it north a quarter mile and it becomes a dirt trail which connects to the Des Moines Creek Trail through a set of stairs about three-quarters of a mile north of the Midway sewer plant. Or you can follow it west around and exit out on 15th Avenue into a residential part of Des Moines.
Since the area was considered too noisy for people, the question then became whether the area should be kept’wild’ or developed for commercial use. The Port of Seattle conducted an inventory of the area, considering it many of the trees weak. However, when I walk through it, it looks absolutely lovely to me.
Evaluating the trees and ecosystem is challenging. I acknowledge that many of the trees are weak, but some of them have real character, which would be difficult to replicate with tree re-planting. I see plenty of critters and birds in there all the time.
I also never found it scary; I see people (men and women) jogging and walking through there all the time. I never saw more than one or two ‘homeless’ people, and then only for very sort periods of time.
Another thing I notice is the quiet. As one approaches 216th St., the noise from cars and airplanes is intense, often making it hard to hear myself think. The moment one steps even a few yards north of 216th it’s much quieter–even when airplanes fly over, Inside the trail is a completely different level of quiet from the Des Moines Creek Business Park. This ‘not-a-forest’ also creates a real noise sink and buffer for surrounding neighbourhoods. I wonder what effect expanding the Business Park will have on them. In addition to the loss of trees and critters, I wonder what effect all the new concrete and asphalt will have on the noise profile of the entire area.