Flett Creek

History in the Flett Creek Watershed

Indigenous Peoples

The Flett Creek watershed is part of the traditional land of the Puget Sound Salish peoples belonging to the Steilacoom, Puyallup, Nisqually, and Squaxin Island tribes and bands. Although we do not know how indigenous peoples lived within this watershed explicitly, it is well documented that the Salish peoples interacted extensively with the types of ecosystems present including harvest of Garry oak acorns and camas bulbs, along with using fire to manage Garry oak and prairie ecosystems in this region. The ancestral lands of the Salish peoples were ceded to the U.S. government with the signing of the Medicine Creek Treaty with 662 representatives of the 9 tribes in the area on Christmas day in 1854, which was broken shortly thereafter. Indigenous people are a vital part of our community. We honor the traditional caretakers of this land and welcome their input and involvement in restoring the watershed to a more natural state.

Flett Dairy

John Flett first arrived in the Puget Sound area in 1841 and settled in what is now Lakewood near a creek that later received his own name as its title, Flett Creek. At this point, the land was open and in a historically natural state with perhaps some land cleared for agriculture. Flett’s son-in-law, George Chapman and his wife, Annie, eventually converted this property into farmland and opened up the Flett Dairy in 1903. Chapman later sold it in 1910 to Robert Portman, a Swiss dairy farmer, who died only a few years later in 1913. Portman’s widow, Mary B. Gratzer, married Gottfried Fuchs, and together they built the Flett Dairy into one of Washington’s largest dairies. During the years of dairy operations, substantial efforts were taken to (partially) drain Flett Wetland so the area could be used to graze cows. After the death of Mary (in 1966) and Gottfried Fuchs (in 1976), the Mary Fuchs Foundation sold portions of the dairy for “charitable, educational, scientific, literary or religious purposes.”

Clover Park Technical College

A large portion of the Flett Creek and Wetland watershed (and former Flett Dairy) was acquired in 1993 by Clover Park Technical College (CPTC) as an outdoor lab facility for the Environmental Sciences programs, while much of the land around it was developed for businesses and housing. At its dedication as an outdoor lab facility in 1994, CPTC official Nancy White called the Flett Property a “sanctuary in the middle of the city.” Its official name is the “Natural Resources Laboratory and Research Park at Flett Creek.” The outdoor lab is used to train students enrolled in its Environmental Sciences programs. The outdoor lab facility includes approximately 80 acres of Flett Creek Wetland, a large oak savannah, and a strip of coniferous forest. This diversity of ecosystems makes it an ideal site for students to practice plant identification, wetland delineation, mapping and surveying, water quality testing, forestry measurements, and other environmental monitoring techniques. Students, faculty, and staff at CPTC, along with community volunteers and other partner organizations are actively working to restore the Garry oak and wetland ecosystems.

Flett Creek – Watershed Characteristics

The Flett Creek watershed covers 7,153 acres and is the second largest subwatershed drainage in Tacoma. It is a salmon bearing stream with presumed presence of chinook, documented coho spawning, and documented presence of chum and winter steelhead. The current headwaters are on CPTC’s outdoor lab at Flett Wetland. A historic map (circa 1830s) indicates the wetlands continued upstream with braided channels along the same valley in which the current Flett stormwater detention ponds reside.

Currently, water is pumped (at a rate up to 40,000 gallons per minute) into Flett Wetland from Flett Stormwater Detention Pond #4, which is managed by City of Tacoma. There are also several springs feeding the wetland from the southern hillside, along with any natural rainfall and runoff. Stormwater runoff from mostly residential areas, along with light commercial and industrial areas, in City of Tacoma first enters Wapato Lake which then flows to Wards Lake, then the City gravel pit, then through four detention ponds, and finally pumped into Flett Wetland. The detention ponds also receive water from Snake Lake. A stream channel winds its way through Flett Wetland passing under Lakewood Drive and Bridgeport Way, after which a stream canyon forms with Flett Creek channel at the bottom. Flett Creek flows into Chambers Creek and then into Puget Sound at Chambers Bay.

Flett Creek – Current Watershed Challenges

Considering much of the Flett Creek watershed has seen substantial urban development, Flett Wetland and Creek are within fairly natural landscapes. One big challenge in the watershed arises from its primary water source, stormwater. Stormwater can contain a variety of pollutants such as petroleum products (oil, gasoline), pesticides, fertilizers, eroded soil, metals (e.g., zinc and copper), temperature increases, and 6-PPD-quinone (a toxin known to kill salmon and trout). However, routine water quality monitoring has not indicated major nutrient or fecal coliform pollution, likely due to partial treatment received in the stormwater detention ponds. Stormwater can also cause flooding if the system backs up. Another challenge in the watershed is invasive plant species within and adjacent to the waterbodies. For example, reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) dominates Flett Wetland, growing into the stream channel and slowing water flow. This, in combination with beaver dams, has caused flooding in the Mountain View Cemetery and upstream businesses, and also makes fish passage more difficult for salmonids. Other invasive plant species that grow in and around the water include scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius), yellow-flag iris (Iris pseudacorus), purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), and Himalayan blackberry (Rubus armeniacus). Efforts are being made to remove and manage these invasive plants and replace them with natives.

Flett Creek – Responding to the Challenges

On CPTC’s Flett Outdoor Lab, restoration efforts have occurred in the riparian zone of Flett Wetland with removal of Himalayan Blackberry and English ivy, and planting and seeding of native trees and wildflowers. In the Garry oak savannah of the Lab, scotch broom and blackberry is being removed with Garry oak saplings planted and native prairie seed spread. In the wetland, CPTC partners with City of Tacoma and Washington Conservation Corps to remove reed canary grass from the stream, build up the stream bank, and plant willow stakes in an effort to improve flow and fish passage. Further downstream, near the confluence with Chambers Creek, a private landowner has been removing invasive species and planted various native riparian species. There is still much work to accomplish in terms of managing invasive species in the Flett Creek watershed.

However, despite these challenges, the watershed supports a great deal of wildlife. This includes coho and chum salmon, cutthroat trout, beavers, river otters, mink, salamanders, frogs, painted turtles, osprey, red-tailed hawks, owls, great blue heron, and a wide array of other waterfowl.

Written by Derek Faust, Vice Chair, Clover-Chambers Watershed Council

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