The detention pond in Chautauqua Forest was built to collect runoff from the former wetland that is now Chautauqua Elementary School. The pond and the surrounding area has developed into an essential recreation area where community members and school children visit daily to enjoy the its serenity and the wildlife that it attracts. King County Parks manages the forest and the pond for Chautauqua Elementary and there is an order to cut the cedars, cottonwood, alders, and snowbrush that have made a water detention area into a wildlife area. We have until this Summer to speak up to protect the pond. It serves dog walkers, nature lovers, and playful kids. I regularly see ducks, eagles, dragon flies, coopers hawks, cedar waxwing, and great blue herons thriving on the pond's shade, food, and water. Native green chorus frogs rely on the pond and the surrounding forest to hibernate, breed, and develope thousands of tadpoles every year. I have personally seen 8 inch salamanders eating dragon fly larvae during the springtime. Along with many others in my neighborhood, I have walked to that pond every day since I was a student at Chautauqua Elementary school and it would be a severe loss to our community and to the biodiversity of Chataqua Forest if the trees around the pond are cleared. Please contact King County Parks or Chautauqua Elementary by phone, email, or letter to say why the Retention Pond is important to you. Thank you.

KING COUNTY INFO:

Email: parksinfo@kingcounty.gov
Phone number: 206-477-4527

Customer Service Hours: 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Mon-Fri
After Hours: 206-477-8100

Mailing Address: 201 S Jackson Street, KSC-NR-5702, Seattle, WA 98104

CHAUTAUQUA ELEMENTARY INFO 

9309 SW Cemetery Rd, Vashon, WA 98070

Phone: 206-463-2882

Fax: 206-463-0937

Email: rgoertzel@vashonsd.org