Out of land use battles, a garden grows in Preston

By SUSAN ALEXANDER BOND
Preston Arboretum & Botanical Gardens

When King County Executive Ron Sims and the county council recently announced the purchase of 22 acres of land for the Preston Arboretum & Botanical Gardens, it made the county a partner in a dream.

It was not only consistent with Sims' smart growth strategy, but it also made Prestons new gardens and regional environmental education institute more than an attractive vision. The land will be a centerpiece for a county wide, regional legacy.

This site will be home to the Preston Arboretum.

An early agreement between King County and Preston Arboretum & Botanical Gardens shows that the county will purchase the land and the non-profit corporation will operate, develop, maintain and build the endowment for the regional gardens and environmental learning institute. This is a cost effective method for King County to acquire open space, preserve a key viewshed along the Mountains-to-Sound Greenway, and bring a new amenity to King County residents without shouldering the more expensive recurring costs. These costs will be covered privately by the non-profit's board of directors and development team. The arboretum board is dedicated to building a world class, Pacific Northwest native plant botanical garden and environmental education facility.

The property is strategically located along Washington's newest scenic byway, Interstate 90. It can be reached by taking exit 22 from east-bound I-90, and it is positioned in the rural area between the Issaquah Highlands (formerly Grand Ridge) and Snoqualmie Ridge housing developments.

Surrounded by panoramic views, open space, foothills and mountains, the new arboretum has the best of both worlds. The expected 25-year build-out fits nicely with the new housing developments on either side. Within three years Microsoft will be locating a new regional campus in Issaquah Highlands. Trails from the 1,400-acre Issaquah Highlands community connector will undoubtedly be linked to the gardens and will travel to the Snoqualmie Ridge open space connector and continue as far east as Snoqualmie Falls. As these residential and office projects progress, a donor and volunteer base will grow, along with the development of the gardens.

For several years, the original proponents of the arboretum had been watching the rural village of Preston fight bitter land use battles. Industrial land owners, community activists, and King County appeared to be locked into litigation and frustration. The arboretum has won support from all sides to the controversy.

Activists created a five point plan called the Preston Vision, and asked the county to balance industrial land use in their small town with a regional recreation/education and open space plan. The plan consists of preservation of the historic Preston Mill and development of a River Education Center; a series of ball fields; a 475-acre open space that serves as a community connector and wildlife corridor; an arboretum, botanical garden and environmental education institute; and expansion lands for the arboretum as well as the preservation of 175 acres of viewshed.

These activists met with residents and industrial owners and gained commitments for conservation easements on their land. They showed them the vision from the air in a helicopter tour donated by Conifer Northwest, and demonstrated how acquisitions could be creatively funded.

While the initial desire was to balance land use issues in Preston, several supporters on the King County Council quickly recognized what an impressive partnership had been formed. Recently Vice President Al Gore presented a Puget Sound Council of Government Vision 2020 Award to Executive Sims, the King County Council and Preston Community Club for their leadership in establishing a positive contribution to the metropolitan area by creating the Preston Vision.

Finding the spirit in the land

The board of the Preston Arboretum wants to build an educational facility and a living museum of plants. Members believe that showcasing native plants complements the natural landscape and helps to preserve it. Water conservation is expected to become one of the top regional issues during the next 20 years. One of the goals of the project is to model waterwise alternatives so that residents and avid gardeners voluntarily choose to conserve resources. Stone and water will be important design elements throughout the gardens, and ideas about the design range from functional to educational to poetic.

A master planner for the Preston Arboretum has not yet been selected. In focus groups, ideas that have received support are:

• A Moon Garden that would feature night-blooming plants and a large rock structure that would channel moonlight across water for a lunar event. This might be combined with a small observatory and a few telescope pads for connecting earth and celestial gardens.

• An indoor and outdoor environmental learning institute to teach people of all ages about native plants, the benefits of living in harmony with nature and how to be good stewards of the land. Viewing life beneath a tree's bark, seeing the micro organisms that comprise a wetland seen at a macro level and sandblasted into stone could be riveting.

• A wetland garden that demonstrates the relationship of native plants to salmon runs.

• A conference center for special occasions and business seminars.

• A fungi and moss garden.

• An "edible forest" that demonstrates the delicacies and ethnobotany of the Pacific Northwest native plants, that educates visitors about the edible, inedible and poisonous plants.

One tree planted every year for a 100 years in a straight line would be an interesting and compelling portrayal of time and have quite a humbling effect. This idea came out of a workshop donated by the University of Washington Department of Landscape Architecture.

A "tree top" garden could allow the observation and study of life in the upper canopy of native trees.

Preston straddles two watersheds and the opportunity to interpret the environmental ramifications of that will be an exciting challenge for design consultants. The goal of the Preston Arboretum & Botanical Gardens is to implement the first phase of the project by 2006.

Those an interest in establishing the garden and joining the fundraising board may call 425-392-6446 or write P.O. Box 512, Preston, 98050.

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