Meadowbrook Wetlands & Creeklet at Meadowbrook Playfield, Seattle, WA 1993-1997

Community-driven wetland and stream restoration creates whimsical, geometric-shaped ponds, open streamlet, and earthworks with native plantings within Meadowbrook Playfield, next to Nathan Hale High School in Northeast Seattle. Sponsored by Meadowbrook Advisory Council and Thornton Creek Alliance, spring-fed wetland and creek provide wildlife habitat, passive recreation, environmental education opportunities, and creative drainage solution for a formerly soggy playfield.

Wetland ‘geometry ponds’ are constructed in 1993 with $42,000 Seattle Department of Neighborhoods grant. Creek daylighting is constructed in two phases, in 1995 and 1997, with $5,000 Department of Neighborhoods grant, Seattle Parks funding, and donations from Thornton Creek Alliance, National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP), community volunteers and GAYNOR. Today the creek corridor is seen as a maturing forested wetland, hugging the outfield edge of ballfields.

Project wins 1991 Merit Award for Design from Washington Chapter, American Society of Landscape Architects.