Kimball Creek – Snoqualmie, WA
Background
Kimball Creek is one of the tributaries that feeds into the main stem of the Snoqualmie River. It has multiple forks as well as other creeks that feed into it. Kimball Creek stretches from Tollgate Farm in North Bend to downtown Snoqualmie. Compared to most other creeks in the Snoqualmie watershed, the Kimball Creek sub-basin has been developed more intensely with suburban and urban development. The Snoqualmie Tribe takes the protection and monitoring of Kimball Creek, and all parts of the Snoqualmie Watershed, as a serious commitment.
View of Kimball Creek
Kimball Creek Water Quality Improvement Project
In 2009, the King Conservation District approved a Snoqualmie Watershed Forum grant to the Snoqualmie Tribe. The purpose of this grant was to fund a study of habitat and water quality conditions in Kimball Creek. Some of the habitat and water quality features that were investigated in this study included E. coli bacteria, dissolved oxygen, temperature, canopy cover, and more. In 2011, the findings of that investigative study included that Kimball Creek had a mixed environment. This meant that some parts of the creek met standards of unsafe water quality, with some areas posing threats to human health, and other parts of the creek met standards of more intact ecological habitat.
Kimball Creek Amphibian Monitoring
Beginning in 2020, the Snoqualmie Tribe took part in the Woodland Park Zoo’s Amphibian Monitoring volunteer project to gather data on the occurrence and trends of local amphibians. The study included the portion of Kimball Creek that runs through the Snoqualmie Tribe’s Administrative Headquarters on the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe Reservation. ENR had already been studying the water quality of the creek for years, and during this study ENR staff and Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) crew also collected water quality data including temperature, turbidity, and conductivity. This kind of data collection is necessary for understanding how amphibian populations are affected by ongoing habitat loss, pollution, and invasive species infestations.
Kimball Creek Green Team Partnership
The Snoqualmie Tribe is a proud partner of the Mt. Si High School Green Team. Led by Green Team Advisor Andrew Rapin, this group is comprised of motivated and environmentally-conscious high school students. In the past, the Green Team has helped the Tribe at our Recycling Events.
Recently, the Green Team partnered with us for the Tribe’s Earth Day 2019 event. This event was also partnered with other organizations including the Oxbow Farm & Conservation Center, the Society for Ecological Restoration, NatureVision, and Crown Bees. The students at this event presented the activities and site history to the Tribe and the public. This Earth Day event took place across the street from Mt. Si High School on the banks of the East Fork of Kimball Creek. These students helped to organize activities and prepare the restoration site at the event. Together, ENR, the Green Team, and local volunteers planted many shrubs and trees where the 1/4 acre area had been cleared from invasive Himalayan blackberries. The Green Team continues to monitor and maintain this area and as of today 500 native plants have been reintroduced, consisting of 40 different native plant species.