The 1.45 acres of land on which our present day wetland sits has had a varied history. In the early 1950’s the land on the East Side of the property was used as a mink & fox farm owned by the Elkin brothers, Fred and Wil. They sold the farm to the Howe family in 1952. The Howe family used the property on the corner of 208th Avenue and Union Hill for pasture. They raised white-faced cattle for several years before selling the property to the Lake Washington School District to build an elementary school.
Some of the old pasture fence is still standing in the center of the wetland area surrounded by creeping buttercup and elderberry bushes.
When the new school was built in 1992, the building site was a wet meadow. Through a mitigation process the school district created a replacement wetland on the East Side of the new school. This fenced-in area is our existing wetland. We created two trails to be used as outdoor classrooms to enhance the environmental curriculum of our school. The Emily Dickinson wetland is a sensitive area to be protected from any disturbances to the natural state of the property. The future of our wetland depends on each of us being good stewards of this vital and important area of our World.