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Thornton Creek
Thornton Creek
	Location of the mouth of Thornton Creek in Washington Thornton Creek (the United States)
Location
Country	United States
State	Washington
County	King
Physical characteristics
Source	Jackson Park Golf Course
• location	Seattle
• coordinates	47°43′45″N 122°19′13″W / 47.72917°N 122.32028°W
Mouth	Lake Washington
• coordinates	47°41′42″N 122°16′17″W / 47.69500°N 122.27139°W
Length	18 mi (29 km)
Basin size	12.1 sq mi (31 km2)
Discharge
• location	USGS gage 12128000, river mile 0.25
• average	11.3 cu ft/s (0.32 m3/s)
• minimum	0.39 cu ft/s (0.011 m3/s)
• maximum	129 cu ft/s (3.7 m3/s)

Thornton Creek is 18 miles (29 km) of urban creeks and tributaries from southeast Shoreline through northeast Seattle to Lake Washington. Its 12-square-mile (31 km²) watershed, the largest in Seattle, exhibits relatively dense biodiversity for an urban setting;^[4] it is home to frogs, newts, ducks, herons, and beavers, in addition to more than 75,000 people.^[5] From west of Jackson Park Golf Course in Shoreline,^[6] from Sunny Walter-Pillings Pond^[7] in Licton Springs–North College Park,^[8] and north Northgate^[9] Thornton Creek flows through Maple Leaf and Lake City, including the Victory Heights, Meadowbrook, and Matthews Beach neighborhoods, and empties into the lake at Matthews Beach Park.

Habitat and stewardship

Thornton Creek flows through Meadowbrook Pond,^[10] known for its birdwatching and resident beavers. The Thornton creek watershed is land formerly inhabited by the Duwamish tribe. One of the Duwamish's historic longhouse sites was located near the mouth of Thornton Creek at Mathews beach.^[11] Early in the 1900s, the creek contained dense runs of at least five species of Pacific salmon and trout, today only a few Kokanee still travel up stream.^[4] The areas surrounding the creek were developed without regard for that habitat and the riparian corridor; species' diversity declined, and the creek became a typical degraded urban watershed.^[12] Storm water retention, sites restoration, an Environmental Learning Center next to a school, and a fish ladder contributed to restoration and the return of native plants and wildlife.^[13] Thornton creek is home to many native species, muskrats, beavers, otters, bats, crayfish and coyotes, and in addition is an important breeding ground for great blue herons. Common for urban creeks, there are also many problematic invasive species like Japanese knotweed, black rats and New Zealand mud snails.^[14]

Thornton Creek Water Quality Channel

For many decades, much of the stream has run through culverts, notably under the parking lot of Northgate Mall. Building on gradual successes in restoration,^[7]^[15] activist neighbors began^[6]^[16] working with the City of Seattle and developers toward daylighting parts of the buried creek.^[17]

In 2004, the City of Seattle purchased the 2.4-acre (0.97 ha) parking lot from Northgate Mall and began building the Thornton Creek Water Quality Channel. Opened in 2009, it achieved several community goals in limited space: integrating a water-quality facility, providing a diverse housing mix, and allowing public open space. It receives and treats runoff from 680 acres (280 ha) by providing a multilayered landscape of native plants that also serves as an amenity for surrounding private development.^[18]

Organizations of citizens have cleaned up nearby wetlands, educated the public about stream health and quality of neighborhood life, and rallied to bring more of the creek to daylight. Many restoration projects in Seattle have been in some way connected to or inspired by Thornton Creek.^[19]

Neighborhoods of the Thornton Creek watershed

Southeast neighborhoods of the city of Shoreline, north fork headwaters
Lake City neighborhoods
- Olympic Hills
- Victory Heights
- Meadowbrook, confluence of forks
- Matthews Beach
Northgate neighborhoods
- Pinehurst
- Licton Springs–North College Park, south fork headwaters
- Maple Leaf
- Northgate Mall

References

^ ^a ^b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Thornton Creek
^ Includes all of Thornton Creek's tributaries.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Water Resources Data-Washington Water Year 2005; Lake Washington Basins" (PDF). USGS. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
^ ^a ^b Brokaw
^ "The Watershed | Thornton Creek Alliance". Retrieved 2022-09-18.
^ ^a ^b Hodson
^ ^a ^b Walter
^ Bowditch, Wang, & Wilson
^ Boyer
^ "Meadowbrook Pond". Archived from the original on December 30, 2012.
^ "Thornton Creek (Site 0434)". Archived from the original on 2006-06-14. Retrieved 2007-12-24.
^ Mapes, Lynda (December 28, 2007). "Urban streams in sad shape, report finds". The Seattle Times.
^ Seattle Public Utilities staff, "Thornton Creek".
^ "Invasive Animal Species in King County: New Zealand Mudsnails - King County, Washington".
^ "Otter and Spawning Salmon Sighted in Thornton Creek". Archive of 'The Seattle Press'. The Seattle Press. 2000-10-18. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
^ Thornton Creek Alliance
^ Mulady
^ SvR Design Company (2009-10-28), Thornton Creek Water Quality Channel Final Report (PDF), retrieved 2015-09-17
^ Dolan & True, p. 223

Bibliography

Bowditch, Elise; Wang, Man; Wilson, Matthew (2002-01-30). "North Seattle Community College Trail Siting". GEOG461 Urban GIS, Department of Geography. University of Washington. Archived from the original on 2006-09-17. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
Elise Bowditch, Teaching Assistant; Man Wang, Teaching Assistant; Matthew W. Wilson, Research Associate.
Boyer, Tom (2005-09-21). "Parking lot to become park for Northgate". Business & Technology. The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
Brokaw, Michael (n.d.). "Grounds Department Wetland". North Seattle Community College Grounds Maintenance. Archived from the original on November 15, 2004. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
Dolan, Maria; True, Kathryn (2003). "North Seattle Community College Wetlands". Nature in the city: Seattle. Seattle: Mountaineers Books. pp. 242–7. ISBN 0-89886-879-3.
Hodson, Jeff (2000-02-16). "Restoration urged for Thornton Creek : Local News". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
Was [1], NF.
"Thornton Creek Watershed". Homewaters Project. Archived from the original on 2006-06-20. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
"Licton Springs Neighborhood: Local Interest". Licton Springs Community Council. Winter 2000. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
Mulady, Kathy (2004-06-08). "Thornton Creek may see daylight again". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
"Otter and Spawning Salmon Sighted in Thornton Creek". The Seattle Press. 2000-10-18. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
Archive of The Seattle Press.
"Seattle Parks - Matthews". Seattle Parks and Recreation. 2004-08-18. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
History excerpted from Morgan, Brandt. Enjoying Seattle's parks. Seattle: Greenwood Publications, 1979. ISBN 0-933576-01-3
"Meadowbrook Pond". Title of Complete Work. Seattle Parks and Recreation. 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-02-17. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
"Thornton Creek". Restoration. Seattle Public Utilities. 2006. Archived from the original on 2012-12-30. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
Sheridan, Mimi; Tobin, Carol (n.d.). "A Neighborhood History". Licton Springs Community Council. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
"Restoration Activities: A Few of Our Accomplishments". Thornton Creek Alliance, Seattle Community Network. n.d. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
Walter, Sunny; local Audubon chapters (2006-02-10). "Sunny Walter's Washington Nature Weekends: Wildlife Viewing Locations - Greater Seattle Area". Archived from the original on 2005-03-22. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
Viewing locations only; the book has walks, hikes, wildlife, and natural wonders.
Walter excerpted from
- Dolan, Maria; True, Kathryn (2003). Nature in the city: Seattle. Seattle: Mountaineers Books. ISBN 0-89886-879-3.
  "with additions by Sunny Walter and local Audubon chapters." See "Northeast Seattle" section, bullet points "Meadowbrook", "Paramount Park Open Space", "North Seattle Community College Wetlands", and "Sunny Walter -- Twin Ponds".