Restoration Site at Beaver Lake
425101 SE 24th St. Sammamish (north side)
2526 244th Ave. SE (west side)
About Beaver Lake
Beaver Lake Park exists on land previously occupied by the Coast Salish people. In the 1930s, it was a private resort. In the 1960s it was a youth camp. King County purchased the land in 1985 for use as a park, which it then transferred to the City of Sammamish in 2003.
The park comprises 83 acres bordering two lakes, Beaver Lake and Long Lake. The park is divided into three areas:
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The north side offers a quiet atmosphere, with access to Beaver Lake for swimming and watercraft, a Pavilion, a Lodge (with restrooms), open grass areas and a large meadow. Near the Pavilion are two totem poles by indigenous carver David Boxley. Parking is located west of the Lodge.
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The west side offers three sports fields, a playground, a picnic shelter, an off-leash dog park, restrooms, and a parking lot.
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A large forested area lies between the two sides of the park, with several trails connecting them.
Beaver Lake Park is heavily used. Activities include walking, jogging, fishing, weddings, community meetings, day camps, sports events, and (until 2020) Nightmare at Beaver Lake, an annual Halloween event.
About the Stewards' Project
In 2019, the City of Sammamish partnered with Washington Native Plant Society to train Master Native Plant Stewards to lead restoration projects in various locations in Sammamish. One of the graduates was also active in the Beaver Lake Community Club.
Starting In April of 2021, City staff has held volunteer events in Beaver Lake Park. The volunteers removed invasive plants and planted native plants in an area bordered by one of the paths and Long Lake. In June of that year, members of the Beaver Lake Community Club began working in that area of the park (shown with the red circle in the map), and then moved to another area up the trail (shown by the red line in the map).
These are two areas where heavy human use meets the forest edge. Because of the stresses in areas such as this, they become dominated by non-native plants. In this case, these two areas became obscured by impenetrable walls of Himalayan blackberries, up to 10 feet tall, which prevented use by humans and most wildlife.
Is it working? In the fall of 2021, as we were working on the site, we were visited by a pair of deer, a buck and a doe. They were grazing and biding their time until we left them in privacy.
The goal of this project is to remove the blackberries and replace them with native plants. These areas are now on their way to becoming visually attractive for humans, providing varied habitat for wildlife, and enhancing the ecosystem in other ways.
Volunteer Opportunity
Volunteer opportunities are available from time to time on this project.
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For members. Volunteer opportunities open to members of Sammamish Stewards are listed in the Members Area page of this website. If you are not yet a member, you can join by using the Join Us link at the top of this page. Once you are a member, go to the Members Area page, and look for the entry for this project.
For the public. Learn about volunteer events open to the public by going to Sammamish Galaxy Digital. When you create an account (click the “Sign Up” button at the top right of the page), you will be notified of new volunteer events.
Volunteers help with the ongoing maintenance of the restoration site by planting native plants in the fall and spring, watering them during the summer until they become established, and removing invasive plants when they grow back.
This project provides an opportunity to learn about the importance and beauty of native plants, which ones succeed best, and how to identify invasive nonnative plants. It also provides opportunities to work as a team with people who share your interest in enhancing the natural environment in Sammamish.
Our workday is typically 2 hours long on a weekday. If enough volunteers are interested, we can arrange workdays on weekends. How often we work varies with the season, from weekly to monthly.