Hidden between the Tall Timbers and Timberlane neighborhoods in Covington and Cedar Downs in Maple Valley is Cedar Creek Park.

The 115-acre property borders Maple Valley, a portion of it is in unincorporated King County and finally a small chunk is in Covington.

For more than a decade the Middle Green River Coalition has worked to preserve the property for future development as a regional trail connector between Maple Valley and Covington.

During the past two years, however, it has become a playground for owners of all terrain vehicles and more recently the snow and ice storms of mid-January brought down so many limbs of the mature growth forest onto the trail there are sections which are virtually impassable, according to Lisa Parsons, executive director of the Middle Green River Coalition.

“I hadn’t been there in a while, so, I went there in July 2010,” Parsons said. “It was getting absolutely decimated by off-road vehicles. After doing all that work, to have it decimated by off-road vehicles was devastating.”

In the late 1990s as Covington and Maple Valley were working toward incorporating as cities, Parsons said, the coalition began working to preserve the Cedar Creek property with an eye toward eventually developing it into a park.

“This park could be a focal point for the community sentiment that they needed to have a say in how their communities developed,” Parsons said. “We basically asked the county and the department of natural resources who owned the land at the time… to make the whole 84 acres of department of natural resources land into a park instead of a (housing) development.”

There were public meetings, Parsons said, local and regional politicians were lobbied.

Members of the coalition met with Ron Sims, who was the King County executive at the time, and discussed a land swap. Once that swap was completed the 84 acres were set aside as open space.

“It was a huge victory for the community,” Parsons said. “This is a huge success story especially in how it brought the communities together.”

There is a trail that was once a road bed which is a mile and a half long that Parsons described as a safe alternative to get from Maple Valley to Covington and vice versa while walking or cycling.

As work progressed, Parsons said, in 2005 the coalition worked with the city of Covington, which purchased two properties from private parties, with a grant from King County Conservation Futures money and a special city fund for park acquisition.

An elderly couple which lived on the edge of the Cedar Creek Park site had planted more than 300 species of rhododendrons, Parsons said, and they wanted to see the property preserved for future generations.

“One of the reasons I worked on making this a park is one of the few places left in King County with mature growth forest,” Parson said. “It has not been disturbed since the 1930s, which is pretty rare in this area because we have mostly third and fourth generation tree farms. It has a large wetland system which is part of the Jenkins Creek system which still has salmon spawning in it.”

All that effort could be undone if the damage from the off-road vehicles and January storms aren’t fixed, Parsons said.

First, she approached the city of Covington, working with Parks and Recreation Director Scott Thomas.

Thomas credited Parsons for advocating to preserve Cedar Creek Park.

“Lisa and the Middle Green River Coalition are visionary,” Thomas said. “Lisa’s advocacy has helped focus our attention on the issue.”

Thomas said much of the work that has been done has been in Cedar Downs Park so he has worked to support the coalition’s partnership with the county.

Parsons explained what Covington has been able to do to help during the past two years.

“They went in and they put up barriers at the park entrance, they posted signs, they started to try and deter the off-road vehicle use,” Parsons. “There’s less of it but there’s still access points. We realized the only way to save it is to develop the park.”

To save it, Parsons said, means partnering with Covington and King County to create a stewardship program for the park.

“We’re really encouraging local homeowners to get involved with stewardship of the park,” Parsons said. “We’re going to develop a stewardship committee to work with King County to decide how the park should be developed. We need to get community input. We need park stewards, we need people to be the eyes and ears, people to make sure there’s not illegal activity.”

Residents of Cedar Downs in Maple Valley, people who live off of 204th Street Southeast and Kent-Kangley Road, near Pipe Lake, in Tall Timbers and Timberlane.

Thomas said the trail is in much better shape than when he first started working for Covington in July 2008. The park and the trail have considerable potential to benefit those who live near it including Covington residents.

“The three cities (Covington, Black Diamond and Maple Valley) are actively working with King County to do trail feasibility planning right now,” Thomas said. “If it’s not the tri-city connector trail it’s going to be a major piece of the trail system around here… so it’s good for us right now to get rid of the ATVs and help people realize there’s a trail system there.”

In the meantime, the coalition has also coordinated two clean up events, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on May 6 and May 12 to take care of debris left by the storms as well as damage from off-road vehicles.

There will also be educational tours offered to teach about the history of the park and its ecology prior to the clean up. Additionally a volunteer will offer a program for small children about wildlife in the park, among other things.

Those events are happening thanks to a partnership with the county, REI and Washington Trails association.

In the fall, Parsons said, the coalition will work with a group known as Earth Corps as well as REI and community volunteers to build the trails.

“It’s a fabulous place to walk and right now because of the storm damage and the trees that fell down, you can’t hardly walk through there,” Thomas said. “I was there two weeks ago and you’re literally just crawling downed trees, parts of it are pretty impassable. The projects these middle green are doing will open up the trail and make it walkable. It’s a big wide trail. The forest up there is gorgeous.”

When Parsons first moved to southeast King County years ago she saw the potential. Now she hopes the coalition can make the most of the potential of Cedar Creek Park.

“Riding in this park is what got me involved in land conservation out here,” she said. “I saw the development coming out here… and I knew we need places to recreate.”