Folks,
Not sure how many might be aware of this issue, so I wanted to shine a light on it.
I used to spend a fair amount of my free time searching for steel on the Snoqualmie, especially loved the section between plumb landing and Fall City. That section of river is now just an unnavigable shit show of happy splashers courtesy of the business exploiting the public land and resources there. This in my mind needs stopped.
More troubling for me today is that King County Parks is in the process of creating another poo parade business on public land a few miles down stream. The boat launch in Carnation (mouth of the Tolt) is about to be taken over by a paddle board rental business. The shipping containers are already onsite messing up access to the single lane dirt ramp. Carnation Paddle Sports is the proposed business.
I know the Sno doesn’t have fish any more like it once did, but I am not going down without a fight on this and could use the help of other concerned users.
There is a petition being circulated to lend voices to the notion of getting this stopped.
https://www.change.org/p/fair-use-for-carnations-natural-resources
King County Parks seems to think it is a great idea, see note below.
If you ever cared about the Sno, still do, or hope to one day when the fish return we need to let King County know that this is not acceptable use of an existing access point.
Please add your name to the petition, remind parks that this isn’t public use and should not be allowed. Let’s get Carnation saved then attack Fall City, the river and the fish would benefit.
Paul Rohde
Note back from Parks below:
Hello Paul:
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and concerns with us regarding safety at Tolt-MacDonald Park boat launch. We appreciate your concern and have been working with Carnation Paddle Sports (CPS) throughout our permitting process to discover and mitigate issues like those you have raised.
The owner of CPS are Carnation residents familiar with the property and its use throughout the year. While CPS will undoubtedly attract new visitors, we view this as a positive for the local business community. It is also our belief that CPS’s presence will offer the added benefit of providing additional eyes, ears and voices to curb undesireable behavior and improve awareness of park rules and water safety best practices. Considering the area is unsupervised and users are left to park as they will, we feel the introduction of CPS staff and some of the changes we are implementing can bring order and efficiencies to the site user’s experience.
For example, Parks staff will be marking the lot to identify traffic flows, ‘keep clear’ areas, and parking zones for vehicles, as well as truck with boat trailers. The parking plan (see image) was developed by CPS in consultation with Parks Division staff, and it takes into account the turning radius of a truck and trailer. CPS understands that Parks may request modifications to the layout if we determine improvements can or should be made in the future.
CPS is also encouraging patrons to make reservations online in advance and plans to release customers in timed intervals in order to mitigate vehicle traffic in the parking lot and to create space between participants on the river.
As for the comparison of CPS to recreational river floating that takes place in Fall City, the reality is King County Parks and the other agencies involved (WDFW, Puget Sound Energy, Fall City Community Association, Fall City Metropolitan Park District) all benefit from the presence of the vendor, Fall City Floating (FCF). In fact, several agencies within the County are actively considering contigency plans in the event that Covid-19 related impacts preclude FCF from operating this season. Such is the extent of FCF’s positive impact on the Fall City community in terms of reducing trip traffic, parking congestion that would otherwise flow into local neighborhoods, and collecting/disposing of literally tens of thousands of pounds of waste and recycling from our park, local boat launches, and the river itself.
The business owners fully appreciates the fact that this site is and will always remain a point of public access to the river, and have acknowledged that their business cannot interfere with the public’s right of use.
We hope some of these points address some of your concerns.
Sincerely,
Rogelio
Rogelio Diaz (He/Him)
Parks and Recreation Division
201 South Jackson Street, Suite 700
Seattle WA 98104
www.kingcounty.gov/parks | Facebook | Blog
200 parks, 175 miles of trails, 28,000 acres of open space
Not sure how many might be aware of this issue, so I wanted to shine a light on it.
I used to spend a fair amount of my free time searching for steel on the Snoqualmie, especially loved the section between plumb landing and Fall City. That section of river is now just an unnavigable shit show of happy splashers courtesy of the business exploiting the public land and resources there. This in my mind needs stopped.
More troubling for me today is that King County Parks is in the process of creating another poo parade business on public land a few miles down stream. The boat launch in Carnation (mouth of the Tolt) is about to be taken over by a paddle board rental business. The shipping containers are already onsite messing up access to the single lane dirt ramp. Carnation Paddle Sports is the proposed business.
I know the Sno doesn’t have fish any more like it once did, but I am not going down without a fight on this and could use the help of other concerned users.
There is a petition being circulated to lend voices to the notion of getting this stopped.
https://www.change.org/p/fair-use-for-carnations-natural-resources
King County Parks seems to think it is a great idea, see note below.
If you ever cared about the Sno, still do, or hope to one day when the fish return we need to let King County know that this is not acceptable use of an existing access point.
Please add your name to the petition, remind parks that this isn’t public use and should not be allowed. Let’s get Carnation saved then attack Fall City, the river and the fish would benefit.
Paul Rohde
Note back from Parks below:
Hello Paul:
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and concerns with us regarding safety at Tolt-MacDonald Park boat launch. We appreciate your concern and have been working with Carnation Paddle Sports (CPS) throughout our permitting process to discover and mitigate issues like those you have raised.
The owner of CPS are Carnation residents familiar with the property and its use throughout the year. While CPS will undoubtedly attract new visitors, we view this as a positive for the local business community. It is also our belief that CPS’s presence will offer the added benefit of providing additional eyes, ears and voices to curb undesireable behavior and improve awareness of park rules and water safety best practices. Considering the area is unsupervised and users are left to park as they will, we feel the introduction of CPS staff and some of the changes we are implementing can bring order and efficiencies to the site user’s experience.
For example, Parks staff will be marking the lot to identify traffic flows, ‘keep clear’ areas, and parking zones for vehicles, as well as truck with boat trailers. The parking plan (see image) was developed by CPS in consultation with Parks Division staff, and it takes into account the turning radius of a truck and trailer. CPS understands that Parks may request modifications to the layout if we determine improvements can or should be made in the future.

CPS is also encouraging patrons to make reservations online in advance and plans to release customers in timed intervals in order to mitigate vehicle traffic in the parking lot and to create space between participants on the river.
As for the comparison of CPS to recreational river floating that takes place in Fall City, the reality is King County Parks and the other agencies involved (WDFW, Puget Sound Energy, Fall City Community Association, Fall City Metropolitan Park District) all benefit from the presence of the vendor, Fall City Floating (FCF). In fact, several agencies within the County are actively considering contigency plans in the event that Covid-19 related impacts preclude FCF from operating this season. Such is the extent of FCF’s positive impact on the Fall City community in terms of reducing trip traffic, parking congestion that would otherwise flow into local neighborhoods, and collecting/disposing of literally tens of thousands of pounds of waste and recycling from our park, local boat launches, and the river itself.
The business owners fully appreciates the fact that this site is and will always remain a point of public access to the river, and have acknowledged that their business cannot interfere with the public’s right of use.
We hope some of these points address some of your concerns.
Sincerely,
Rogelio
Rogelio Diaz (He/Him)
Parks and Recreation Division
201 South Jackson Street, Suite 700
Seattle WA 98104
www.kingcounty.gov/parks | Facebook | Blog
200 parks, 175 miles of trails, 28,000 acres of open space