Japanese Gulch’s tires and trash due for removal

Published 9:23 pm Saturday, July 31, 2010

MUKILTEO — Japanese Gulch is home to pileated woodpeckers, Western red cedar trees, gurgling streams and thousands of tires.

Next week, the tires should start disappearing.

After years of pressure from people who use the trails zigzagging through Japanese Gulch, a grant from the state Department of Ecology is expected to pay for their removal.

Today, workers are scheduled to begin closing trails and preparing to bring cranes onto the Mukilteo wetlands. The cranes are scheduled to lift the tires from the stream beginning Tuesday.

“The gulch creates an opportunity for people to connect to nature,” Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine said in a prepared statement. “Decades ago, some used it as a dumping ground, but today people respect it for what it is and want to be a part of this much-needed cleanup.”

The $30,000 grant should also pay for workers to remove trash from the gulch and plant native vegetation.

The state’s tire cleanup program is funded by a $1 fee on the sale of new tires.

So far, the fee has enabled the Department of Ecology to pay $7.5 million for 126 tire-pile cleanups.

Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292, kmanry@heraldnet.com.