February 2025 - by Ann Darlington

Here's what's up with FOHR these days.

Annual Meeting. Led by Madam President Susan Chatlos-Susor, our Board of Directors held a successful Annual Meeting on 2/10/25. Thanks to all who attended! Please know that our BOD meets on even-numbered months, that all of our meetings are open to the public, and that our Annual Meeting is held every February.

At the meeting we heard multiple updates from BOD members, including:

Structural work on Erinswood, the lowland ADA (an accessible-to-all) trail at the base of Heybrook Ridge County Park (HRCP). Depending on how final bids and contracts shake out this Spring, Snohomish County Parks and Recreation plans to bring in heavy equipment and people-power either this Summer or Fall, and to complete the trail-work no later than the end of the year. That will include the installation of an enclosed portapotty toilet (there can't be a vault one there due to watershed protection rules), three ADA-compliant cement-surfaced parking spots, and the widening and rock-and-gravel surfacing of the trail itself. This work will necessitate closure of the Park at times to protect the equipment, workers, and visitors. Please bear w/us as the dream of this trail is finally realized.

Benches for the Park. FOHR is committed to financing eight benches to be placed along the Erinswood Trail, all accessible by folks using, for example, wheelchairs and walkers. We will also provide two sturdy regular benches for the Leovy Trail (one at the waterfall and another at the summit's Bridal Veil Falls Viewpoint) and a 3rd bench for the Canyon Falls Viewpoint.

Interpretive Signage for Erinswood. Sue Cross is leading a group of folks to build on Louise Lindgren's initial work of designing 8 free-standing interpretive signs for the Erinswood Trail. Other folks on the signage committee include Cate Burnett (who continues to head the work of organizing info on HRCP's flora and fauna), Adam Wicks-Arshack, Bill Cross, Zach Cross, David Meier, Susan Chatlos-Susor, and Ann Darlington. The signs will be placed along the trail and will provide pertinent photos and text on plants and animals, as well as on the native and lumber mill histories of the area. They will have QR codes for visitors seeking greater depth of information to download from this website. We picture kids from local schools on field trips hiking the trail and finding inspiration for themselves and for school projects.

The FOHR website refresh is coming along. I am spearheading this project, working with Allyn Fetheroff of Northwest Connectivity. He has been very patient with my steep learning curve as I select documents, photos and website locations to post on his sophisticated platform. Here's a shout-out to John Blum for covering the costs of hiring a sorely-needed professional website manager, and to Jim Elsea and Leigh Christianson for keeping it alive for so many years.

Our newly elected (and re-elected) BOD members are: Susan Chatlos-Susor, President; Sue Cross, Vice President; David Meier, Secretary; Bill Cross, Treasurer; newly-elected, gratefully-welcomed members are Zach Cross, John Blum, and Dan Kerlee (who has independently fought against invasive species at HRCP); and incumbents Adam Wicks-Arshack, Brad Jernberg and Ann Darlington.

Note: An earlier version of this article appeared in the Feb/Mar issue of The Index Wall, a local newspaper managed by volunteers reached at [email protected]. and seen on the Facebook page, The Index Wall.

Heybrook Ridge County Park continues to be popular with folks from near and far, especially the Leovy Trail to the top of the Ridge. The lower Erinswood Trail will soon be finished and in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In the meantime, Erinswood, whose entrance is to the left of the Leovy trail just before the creek crossing, remains open for a quiet stroll through its lush woods for folks without special mobility needs.

We are told by our contacts in Snohomish County Parks, Recreation and Tourism (SnoCo Parks) that completion of improvements for Erinswood and the parking area is targeted for the Spring of 2025. The pre-Covid Federal grant from the National Parks Service to finance this has been extended through June of 2025. SnoCo Parks continues the work necessary to obtain all the permits to comply with both ADA regulations and watershed protection rules. Meeting these has meant revisions of the earlier landscape architectural drawings for the approximately 2/3 mile-long, lollipop-shaped trail. Permits will be done by the end of this year, and then bids for construction work will go out. That work will include widening the trail and surfacing it with layered compressed rock suitable for wheelchairs and walkers, two tarred parking spaces in the parking lot, and an enclosed “portable” toilet. (A vault toilet isn't possible due to watershed contamination risk.)

Just like the Erinswood Trail itself, there will be 8 or 9 benches along the trail and they too will have to comply with ADA standards, including a cement pad, construction materials and bench arms that accommodate wheelchair access and safety. The Friends' BOD will select a design from amongst options approved by ADA and SnoCo Parks. Their cost is not covered by the federal grant, so FOHR has committed to covering the costs for the benches, which are likely to be quite pricy. Next year, when we know the exact cost, we will seek help from our supporters. Our plan is that donors who can cover the full cost of a bench will be offered an “in honor of” type plaque attached to the bench. We also hope to sponsor 3 benches for the Leovy Trail that need to be sturdy but not ADA-compliant—one at the waterfall site where the current now rickety one sits (3/4 of a mile up the trail), one at the Leovy Trail's summit viewpoint, and one at the Canyon Falls viewpoint. Each will have a plaque honoring one of the three first big donors to our earliest fundraising efforts way back in 2006-07. At a time when the purchase price for the land of $1.2 million dollars made saving Heybrook Ridge seem like a starry-eyed pipe dream, these kick-starters each gave a single $10,000 donation. They were the Dankers family, Dixie and Dick Peaslee, and the Lynnwood-based E and H Humbly Bumbly Foundation.

Website facelifts are in the works too. We BOD members have not been able to adequately keep up our neglected website at www.heybrookridge.org, nor have we managed to sustain a volunteer website manager. This year, steadfast supporter John Blum came to our rescue with an offer to finance a “refresh” of the website, and we are working with the IT firm Northwest Connectivity to develop it anew. Once the new website is up and running, the BOD will need to continue to pay Northwest Connectivity to maintain it, or find a local tech-savvy volunteer to do so. We imagine a maximum of a couple of hours a week to post information and photos submitted by FOHR—anybody willing? If so, please contact our President, Susan Chatlos-Susor at [email protected] or (206) 713-5550.

Finally, please join us at the Friends of Heybrook Ridge Annual Meeting on 2/10/25 from 7 to 9 PM at the River House in Index. We will update you on what's up for Heybrook Ridge County Park, and elect members to the Board of Directors. Check out that announcement elsewhere in The Index Wall.

Our thanks,
Ann Darlington, for the Friends of Heybrook Ridge