Volunteer urges Mil Creek to take stewardship of Penny Creek Natural Area after sampling finds low oxygen

At the April 14 public comment period, Nancy Flowers of Everett, a volunteer with the Snow King Watershed Council, urged the city to assume stewardship of the Penny Creek Natural Area (PCNA) and described recent water sampling results.

Flowers said she monitors Penny Creek and North Creek and that a representative from the Washington State Department of Transportation told her culvert replacement work under the Everett Highway near 164th Street SE is expected to be completed in 2027 or 2028. She said such work could allow salmon to move from North Creek into Penny Creek and the Mil Creek Nature Preserve.

Flowers described field sampling on Jan. 26 in which the site exhibited peat‑bog characteristics (low pH and rainfall‑dominated flow), and she said dissolved oxygen at one PCNA sampling point was surprisingly low; her protocol did not test for heavy metals. She said she plans to resample in late June to recheck oxygen and E. coli levels and to consider adding the PCNA site to her regular monitoring schedule. On the record she said, “Stewardship of the PCNA by the city of Mil Creek will be an important step forward.”

Why it matters: City stewardship or ownership can affect habitat restoration options, permitting and funding eligibility for restoration work, and the pace of on‑the‑ground habitat improvements that can support fish passage.

Ending: Flowers said she looks forward to continuing community engagement and to sharing future sample results with Mil Creek residents and staff.