Auburn’s first elevated boardwalk in a wetland is close to being finished with a grand opening celebration set for April 5.
The boardwalk is being constructed in the City-owned and operated Auburn Environmental Park east of State Route 167 and north of West Main Street. The boardwalk will meander through the park between West Main Street and the City’s existing bird viewing tower on Western Avenue Northwest that opened in 2010.
It will feature three viewing platforms that will provide visitors with places to stop and stand, observe, learn, or just sit and relax as they take in all that the Park has to offer. Interpretive signs will educate visitors on the history of the area, how wetlands work and the different birds and mammals that live in or visit the Park. Funding for this project is through a Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program grant with matching City dollars.
An expanded parking lot on Western Avenue was recently completed as part of the boardwalk project and approximately 3,000 plants have been planted around and north of the boardwalk. Over the next several weeks, City staff, contractors and volunteers will be putting in the finishing touches including landscaping, benches, picnic tables, directional signs, bicycle racks and interpretive signage. In addition, a permanent sign thanking the donors and sponsors who contributed over $15,000 of cash and services to the project will be installed.
Persons wanting to volunteer to help finish the project are invited out to the Auburn Environmental Park on the last three Saturdays of March – March 17, March 24 and March 31 – between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Please check in at the bird viewing tower entrance on the west of Western Avenue Northwest, approximately a quarter mile north of its intersection with West Main Street. Volunteers should dress appropriate to weather conditions and are encouraged to bring boots, gloves and shovels. Volunteers should expect to get wet as the ground is damp and there is standing water in some places.
For more information on the boardwalk and planting project, volunteering and the Auburn Environmental Park, please contact Chris Andersen, Environmental Protection Manager, City of Auburn Planning and Development Department, at 253-876-1962 or candersen@auburnwa.gov.
