The newly opened trail to the south end of Seahurst Park is the latest example of poor stewardship of our natural resources by the city of Burien.

It is certainly a broad and accessible path, essentially a road, which is nice to walk on or ride your bike on. However, it is a road to nowhere and it was bulldozed through a wetland.

Of course, almost all of Seahurst Park is either a wetland or a wetland buffer, and if people are to use the park at all, some disturbance of wetlands might be expected.

This road goes too far.

Where the trail/road runs along the beach, it provides access to picnic tables and lets people spread out along the beach.

Where the trail/road turns up the hill, it serves no purpose at all. It crosses at least three small streams, and it channels two of the streams into unnatural ditches.

Before the "restoration," this area had a narrow, primitive trail and it was a mucky wetland where you were likely to lose your shoe if you stepped in the wrong place. Now it is a high and dry road with the water in the unnatural ditch.

What are people supposed to go there to see? Are they going to put up a sign that says, "This is where a nice little wetland used to be before we bulldozed it?"

The Seahurst Park Master Plan, which the city seems to have ignored, states the importance of connecting the beach to the uplands for wildlife habitat and for sediment transportation. Small landslides and creeping slopes are supposed to feed sand and gravel to our beaches creating habitat for salmon and other fish and creatures.

The trail/road cuts off the hill from the beach. It will stop any gradual movement of material. Large and sudden movements of material (landslides) will either destroy the trail or need to be bulldozed off the trail.

It makes a lot of work for a trail that goes nowhere.

A much better solution would have been to stop the trail/road at least 500 feet sooner. This would have saved habitat, allowed natural sediment flow, and saved taxpayer dollars.

Anyone wanting to access the southern 500 feet of the beach could walk along the beach. Stopping the trail 500 feet north of the southern boundary would also have been in keeping with the Master Plan.

No homeowner or business owner would ever be granted a permit for bulldozing a useless road to nowhere through a wetland.

While Burien government often talks of wanting to be environmentally responsible, this is a prime example that they just don't get it.

Sadly, they seem to be unable to learn from their mistakes, either.

James Branson

Seahurst