Upper Luther Burbank Park has sustained environmental damage due to illegal digging and burrowing under mature trees, building of illegal bicycle jumps, destruction of vegetation, damage to the public walking trails and building new illegal trails spanning 2 acres of this Open Space park. Half an acre has been completely denuded of all vegetation.

This situation has come about because a small group of people have implemented their own vision for an extensive Mountain Bike facility, without input from the public or permission or oversight from the City and with no prior environmental review. The group has continually expanded their facility, and now uses nearby walking trails as acceleration lanes for their bike jumps, which poses risks to pedestrians and degrades the trails as well.

Upper Luther Burbank is a steep and silty park unfit for digging and deforestation. This has become a serious legal liability for the City and requires a significant forest restoration budget.

WE the undersigned petition the Mercer Island Parks and Recreation Commission and the City Council to:

Stop allowing any unsupervised digging in any Mercer Island Park.
Stop allowing people to store digging implements at the site of the damage.
Stop bike traffic on trails that are not intended for shared pedestrian-bicycle use.
Fund the reforestation of the 2 acres of land in Luther Burbank Park that has been damaged and especially the half acre that has been completely denuded.
If the City wishes to create a Mountain Bike facility, then there are examples elsewhere in King County of supervised facilities that the City can study and then properly fund. Allowing uncontrolled destruction of urban forest land by private parties is not a viable path.

Please see https://www.lutherburbankpark.com/blog/upper-luther-burbank-park-is-under-attack for pictures and a video that show the extent of destruction. Also, please send email to FOLB2021@gmail.com if you would like a tour of the destroyed area of the park.

Please sign this petition and also send it to all your friends and family members who care about Mercer Island parks.

Sincerely,

Friends of Luther Burbank Park