If hiking, picnicking, playing, or enjoying other outdoor activities in Lake Sammamish Park is part of your Summer 2025 bucket list, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission has a message: be on the lookout for park work crews and intermittent trail closures through mid-September.
Next week, the commission and the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust will dig into an ambitious effort to rehabilitate 4,600 feet of Issaquah Creek, protecting and restoring a critical salmon habitat. Park officials say the 512-acre park is one of the state’s most popular recreation areas and annually attracts more than 2 million people.
Conceptual Design for the Issaquah Creek restoration project. (Image: Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust)
Protecting salmon
Issaquah Creek has long supported salmon populations, including the now-endangered Chinook salmon. Unfortunately, development has altered the course of the creek over time, eroding the areas historically used by juvenile salmon. The restoration project aims to reverse that damage.
“Issaquah Creek is like a house made only of hallways â offering no safe places for salmon to rest, feed or grow,” said a press release. “This project will help restore the stream into a functional, livable home that supports salmon at every stage of life.”
Meryl Lassen, spokesperson for Washington State Parks, notes that the restoration project has been ongoing since many of the parent park users were kids themselves.
“This long-term planning aims to make the creek sustainable for salmon for our lifetimes and generations to come,” Lassen said. “It will also beautify the park and make it healthier in the long run.
Lindsay Spangler of the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust leading a macroinvertebrate study of Issaquah Creek during one of the Greenway Trust’s paid high school internships. (Image: Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust)
Expect trail closures
At least three trails will be closed as needed for the restoration project.
“There will be intermittent closures on the Issaquah Creek, Homestead, and Boat Launch trails, which may affect families who use those trails frequently for walks,” said Lassen.
Lassen warned parents to heed posted signs. “Contractors will be moving large, woody material into the creek and planting trees along its banks. The area will be an active construction site, and parents will want to make sure their kids heed the closures.”
The soccer field and the eastern portion of the Homestead Trail will be closed for the duration of the project, but the work will not disrupt the park’s playgrounds, boat launch, and swimming areas.
Visual showing some of the issues with the current conditions impacting Issaquah Creek in Lake Sammamish State Park. (Image: Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust)
You can help: Volunteer
The current rehabilitation effort forwards more than 20 years of restoration work along Issaquah Creek. Once the habitat recovery is complete, the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust will need volunteers to help with tree planting and other non-construction restoration efforts. It’s a great way to give back to the community and positively impact the environment as a family. To learn more, go to the trust’s volunteer page.
Sign up to help with tree planting. (Image: Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust)
A good metaphor
“The Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust likens development [that has impacted the park] to building a house with only hallways and no rooms for salmon to hide, rest or eat,” said Lassen. “This project will rebuild the house with the types of ‘rooms’ salmon need to survive and thrive. Hopefully, families will be able to observe them in the future.”
Sarah Lemmon, spokesperson for Mountain to Sound, echoed that hope: “This is a great opportunity to teach kids about salmon in our own backyard.
“Chances are if those kids are local they have visited the salmon hatchery and experienced Salmon Days,” Lemmon said. “This is a great extension of that to show how it is important to protect salmon as they make their way through Issaquah Creek onto Lake Sammamish and Puget Sound.”
