Thornton Creek

Thornton Creek is 18 miles (29 km) of urban creeks and tributaries from southeast Shoreline through northeast Seattle to Lake Washington. Its 12-square-mile (31 km²) watershed, the largest in Seattle, exhibits relatively dense biodiversity for an urban setting;^[4] it is home to frogs, newts, ducks, herons, and beavers, in addition to more than 75,000 people.^[5] From west of Jackson Park Golf Course in Shoreline,^[6] from Sunny Walter-Pillings Pond^[7] in Licton Springs–North College Park,^[8] and north Northgate^[9] Thornton Creek flows through Maple Leaf and Lake City, including the Victory Heights, Meadowbrook, and Matthews Beach neighborhoods, and empties into the lake at Matthews Beach Park.

Thornton Creek
Location of the mouth of Thornton Creek in Washington Show map of Washington (state) Thornton Creek (the United States) Show map of the United States
Location
Country	United States
State	Washington
County	King
Physical characteristics
Source	Jackson Park Golf Course
• location	Seattle
• coordinates	47°43′45″N 122°19′13″W[1]
Mouth	Lake Washington
• coordinates	47°41′42″N 122°16′17″W[1]
Length	18 mi (29 km)[2]
Basin size	12.1 sq mi (31 km2)[3]
Discharge
• location	USGS gage 12128000, river mile 0.25[3]
• average	11.3 cu ft/s (0.32 m3/s)[3]
• minimum	0.39 cu ft/s (0.011 m3/s)
• maximum	129 cu ft/s (3.7 m3/s)

Habitat and stewardship

Thornton Creek flows through Meadowbrook Pond,^[10] known for its birdwatching and resident beavers. The Thornton creek watershed is land formerly inhabited by the Duwamish tribe. One of the Duwamish's historic longhouse sites was located near the mouth of Thornton Creek at Mathews beach.^[11] Early in the 1900s, the creek contained dense runs of at least five species of Pacific salmon and trout. Today, only a few Kokanee still travel up stream.^[4] The areas surrounding the creek were developed without regard for that habitat and the riparian corridor; species' diversity declined, and the creek became a typical degraded urban watershed.^[12] Storm water retention, sites restoration, an Environmental Learning Center next to a school, and a fish ladder contributed to restoration and the return of native plants and wildlife.^[13] Thornton creek is home to many native species of muskrats, beavers, otters, bats, crayfish and coyotes, and in addition, is an important breeding ground for great blue herons. Common for urban creeks, there are also many problematic invasive species like Japanese knotweed, black rats and New Zealand mud snails.^[14]

Thornton Creek Water Quality Channel

For many decades, much of the stream has run through culverts, notably under the parking lot of Northgate Mall. Building on gradual successes in restoration,^[7][15] activist neighbors began^[6][16] working with the City of Seattle and developers toward daylighting parts of the buried creek.^[17]

In 2004, the City of Seattle purchased the 2.4-acre (0.97 ha) parking lot from Northgate Mall and began building the Thornton Creek Water Quality Channel. Opened in 2009, it achieved several community goals in limited space: integrating a water-quality facility, providing a diverse housing mix, and allowing public open space. It receives and treats runoff from 680 acres (280 ha) by providing a multilayered landscape of native plants that also serves as an amenity for surrounding private development.^[18]

Organizations of citizens have cleaned up nearby wetlands, educated the public about stream health and quality of neighborhood life, and rallied to bring more of the creek to daylight. Many restoration projects in Seattle have been in some way connected to or inspired by Thornton Creek.^[19]

Neighborhoods of the Thornton Creek watershed

Thornton Creek near Meadowbrook Pond

The Thornton Creek glacial erratic located southwest of 17th Ave NE and NE 104th St., in Seattle Parks' Kingfisher Natural Area

• Southeast neighborhoods of the city of Shoreline, north fork headwaters
• Lake City neighborhoods
  • Olympic Hills
  • Victory Heights
  • Meadowbrook, confluence of forks
  • Matthews Beach
• Northgate neighborhoods
  • Pinehurst
  • Licton Springs–North College Park, south fork headwaters
  • Maple Leaf
  • Northgate Mall

See also

• List of rivers of Washington (state)
• Daylighting (streams)
• Neighborhoods of Ravenna Creek
• Water resources
• Boeing Creek
• Ravenna Creek
• Yesler Creek