Boeing Creek and Shoreview Park is an park system located within

Shoreline, Washington Shoreline is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is located between the city limits of Seattle and the Snohomish County border, approximately north of Downtown Seattle. As of the 2020 census, the population of Shoreline was ...

. The two parks share an internal border and both border

Shoreline Community College Shoreline Community College is a Public college, public community college in Shoreline, Washington. It is located in a residential area east of Boeing Creek and Shoreview Park, Shoreview Park. The college contains over 80 acres and continuously ...

. Boeing Creek Park mainly consists of forested areas, while Shoreview Park contains recreational facilities including tennis courts, baseball and soccer fields and an off-leash dog area. The upper portion of

Boeing Creek Boeing Creek is a stream in the U.S. state of Washington, located in the city of Shoreline, just north of Seattle. It is about long and empties into Puget Sound. The creek is heavily modified along its course, and in many places has been divert ...

flows along the western edge of both Boeing Creek and Shoreview Park.

Natural History

Flora

Boeing Creek park has a largely intact native ecosystem, mostly free of invasive species. Habitats within Boeing Creek Park consist of

Conifer forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological functio ...

, Conifer-deciduous forest, deciduous forest, and

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripar ...

forest along Boeing Creek. The conifer forest includes

Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...

Western hemlock ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the northwest coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern ...

and

Western red cedar ''Thuja plicata'' is a large evergreen coniferous tree in the family Cupressaceae, native to the Pacific Northwest of North America. Its common name is western redcedar in the U.S. or western red cedar in the UK, and it is also called pacific re ...

trees. There are a number of mature conifers that escaped being logged, with some tall Douglas-fir trees.

Salmonberry ''Rubus spectabilis'', the salmonberry, is a species of bramble in the rose family Rosaceae, native to the west coast of North America from west-central Alaska to California, inland as far as Idaho. Like many other species in the genus ''Rubus' ...

shrubs are common along the creek, the

native species In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equi ...

of Sword fern and

Stinging nettle ''Urtica dioica'', often known as common nettle, burn nettle, stinging nettle (although not all plants of this species sting) or nettle leaf, or just a nettle or stinger, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Urticaceae. Or ...

are common. Shoreview Park habitats are Conifer-deciduous forest, Conifer-

madrone ''Arbutus'' is a genus of 12 accepted speciesAct. Bot. Mex no.99 Pátzcuaro abr. 2012.''Arbutus bicolor''/ref> of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, the Canary Islands a ...

forest, Grassland, Shrubland, and developed areas. Twelve acres of Shoreview Park contains

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

such as Butterfly bush,

Scotch broom ''Cytisus scoparius'' ( syn. ''Sarothamnus scoparius''), the common broom or Scotch broom, is a deciduous leguminous shrub native to western and central Europe. In Great Britain and Ireland, the standard name is broom; this name is also used fo ...

Himalayan blackberry ''Rubus armeniacus'', the Himalayan blackberry or Armenian blackberry, is a species of ''Rubus'' in the blackberry group ''Rubus'' subgenus ''Rubus'' series ''Discolores'' (P.J. Müll.) Focke. It is native to Armenia and northern Iran, and widel ...

English ivy ''Hedera helix'', the common ivy, European ivy, King's Choice ivy, or just ivy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Araliaceae. It is native to most of Europe and parts of western Asia. Ivy is a clinging evergreen vine that grows on t ...

, and Herb Robert.

Fauna

Boeing Creek and Shoreview Park are home to numerous bird species.

Great blue heron The great blue heron (''Ardea herodias'') is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America, as well as far northwestern South America, the Caribbea ...

Bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...

, and

Pileated woodpecker The pileated woodpecker ( ; ''Dryocopus pileatus'') is a large, crow-sized woodpecker with a prominent red crest, white neck stripe, and a mostly black body. These woodpeckers are native to North America, where it is the largest confirmed extant ...

have been observed within Boeing Creek Park.

Rough-skinned newt The rough-skinned newt or roughskin newt (''Taricha granulosa'') is a North American newt known for the strong toxin exuded from its skin. Appearance A stocky newt with rounded snout, it ranges from light brown to olive or brownish-black on t ...

have been spotted along inlets to Boeing Creek.

History

In 1913

William Boeing William Edward Boeing (; October 1, 1881 – September 28, 1956) was an American aviation pioneer. He founded the Pacific Airplane Company in 1916, which was renamed to Boeing a year later. The company is now the largest exporter in the United ...

, founder of the

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

company, had a mansion built in

The Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Africa * Highlands, Johannesburg, South Africa *Highlands, Harare, Zimbabw ...

neighborhood, along Boeing Creek. Boeing owned the land that includes today's Shoreview and Boeing Creek Parks. He used the land primarily as a hunting retreat and had a small dam constructed, creating Hidden Lake which he used as a private fishing pond. In the 1930s Boeing

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

ted and logged north of Boeing Creek and sold much of his land to developers. The Innis Arden neighborhood began to be developed on this land after World War II. He donated the land that makes up Shoreview Park to the

Shoreline School District The Shoreline School District (No. 412) is a public school district in King County, Washington, United States of America, which serves the cities of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park. It currently enrolls 9,456 students, and staffs 1,019 employee ...

. In 1997, the City of Shoreline assumed ownership of both parks. In 2023, the City of Shoreline removed the Hidden Lake dam to restore the old stream and began substantial trail improvements around the former site of the lake. The primary reason for the dam removal was sediment buildup in the lake that was difficult to manage. Other reasons for the removal include improving fish habitats and water quality downstream of the lake. The remaining work is planned to be completion in 2024.

References

{{reflist Parks in Shoreline, Washington