Students bend steel for salmon

Snoqualmie Valley Trail gets last of three public art installations

2005 Archived News

Students from Two Rivers Middle School in North Bend recently acquired a unique technical skill while learning about the watershed where they live. The students designed and welded a steel arch titled "Water Echoes" to successfully complete a unique public art and educational signage project for the Snoqualmie Valley Trail.

The Snoqualmie Valley Trail, which runs along the Snoqualmie River, is host to some of the best salmon habitat in all of King County. Now this 36-mile stretch from North Bend to Duvall is also the home to salmon-inspired artwork created by students living in the Snoqualmie Watershed.

Last year, the Snoqualmie Watershed Forum, representing King County and the cities of Duvall, Carnation, North Bend, and Snoqualmie, teamed up with local schools and professional artists to produce public messages about salmon recovery and the exceptional attributes of the Snoqualmie Watershed.

For their project, the students chose to create a catenary arch -- a natural arch created using only a chain or string and gravity -- to represent the shape of the Snoqualmie River's oxbow at Meadowbrook Slough where the arch will be placed.

"The students chose the title "Water Echoes' because Meadowbrook Slough is an echo of the Snoqualmie River -- not in perfect alignment, but evidence of the change in the river's course," said Joe Burgener, the Two Rivers Middle School teacher who led the project.

In working on the arch students had a hands-on opportunity to contribute something permanently to the community, while learning about the importance of their watershed, water quality issues, and ways to help salmon.

The final installation along the trail will be unveiled at a public ceremony on February 17 at 4 p.m. at Meadowbrook Slough near Mount Si Golf Course. The community is invited to attend. For more information on the project or directions to the site, go to http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wrias/7/Index.htm. Or contact Saffa Bardaro at 206-296-1959 or saffa.bardaro@kingcounty.gov.