Dragonflies were out and about when the streams were sampled in September.

Thank you for your interest in the Streams Monitor, a monthly update from King County's Routine Stream and River Monitoring Program, which samples water quality at 75 sites on streams each month.

King County field staff sample Griffin Creek in the south Griffin Creek Natural Area surrounded by commercial forestlands.

Dam Fine Work: Beavers Force Relocation of Forbes Creek Monitoring Station – and That’s a Good Thing

This September, King County field scientists found Forbes Creek looking not terribly stream-like.

The Forbes Creek watershed includes Forbes Lakes and drains to Lake Washington’s Juanita Bay. Wildlife observed at Forbes Lake and Creek has included beavers, coyotes, deer, raccoons, turtles, frogs, and a rich variety of bird species, including bald eagles, hawks, blue heron, osprey, marsh wren, ducks, quail, and swallows. Beavers have a long history of damming sections of Forbes Creek causing localized flooding.

In fact, Forbes Lake and Creek are named for Eliza and Dorr Forbes who attempted and failed to raise cranberries at the lake and were flooded out by beavers in the 1880s. Forbes sold that property in 1889 to the Kirkland Land and Improvement Company and it later became the site of the Great Western Iron and Steel Works.

Today, after a century of beaver recovery, is no different. King County environmental field scientists discovered that our sampling site at Forbes Creek was no longer flowing but instead was under water –specifically a backwater pond. Beavers have moved into the Forbes Creek wetland upstream of the 98th Avenue Northeast bridge in Juanita Bay Park and created a backwater pond at King County’s sampling station.. Our routine monitoring program is of streams, not beaver ponds, and our sampling site is no longer indicative of what flows into Lake Washington. After speaking with staff at the City of Kirkland, a new sampling station was selected upstream at 108^th Avenue Northeast. In conversations with City of Kirkland staff, they indicated that they plan to leave the beaver dam and further improve upon their current wetland enhancement project on Forbes Creek.

A beaver snacks on lily pads in Juanita Bay. (Photo by Ingrid Taylor; licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.)

Beavers are making progress to reestablish communities throughout the Puget Sound lowlands following a century of trapping. These animals are an important and pivotal part of aquatic ecosystems. Their dams and associated wetlands provide crucial habitat for birds, amphibians, and fish. In fact, in reference to the recovery on the Elwha River, a National Geographic article noted that “the beavers’ presence is remarkable not just because they’re only typically found inland, but also because their ecosystem engineering is the suspected key to the remarkable Chinook salmon recovery that’s going on here.” To assist residents with beaver management King County has developed a toolkit.

Beavers are making progress to reestablish communities throughout the Puget Sound lowlands following a century of trapping. These animals are an important and pivotal part of aquatic ecosystems. Their dams and associated wetlands provide crucial habitat for birds, amphibians, and fish. In fact, in reference to the recovery on the Elwha River, a National Geographic article noted that “the beavers’ presence is remarkable not just because they’re only typically found inland, but also because their ecosystem engineering is the suspected key to the remarkable Chinook salmon recovery that’s going on here.” To assist residents with beaver management King County has developed a toolkit.

Hit the "Read More" button below to learn more about Forbes Creek and see a summary of the September water quality monitoring data.

Click here to explore King County's Streams Monitoring data.

Stream information and data downloads are available here at the Streams Monitoring web page.

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