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COMMUNITY | Mayors meet up to discuss Leadership Eastside [9] CRIME ALERT | Redmond Police Blotter [3] SPORTS | This issue’s spotlight is on the Redmond High girls soccer team. [15]
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2015
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
Digging into Redmond’s past Archeologist, team discover 10,000-year-old stone tools underneath peat along Bear Creek 10,000-YEAR-OLD TOOLS
ANDY NYSTROM anystrom@redmond-reporter.com
Redmond resident Gene Schaffer, who minored in anthropology in college, often wonders what his city and the greater Seattle area looked like in the past. “I wish there was ways I could turn back the clock a mere 200 years to see what it was like, because this (Redmond) was all solid trees and undeveloped… but we just looked at something from 10,000 years ago,” he said. As he exited the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center auditorium last Saturday, Schaffer’s eyes widened a bit as he discussed the presentation he just witnessed by Dr. Robert Kopperl, a veteran archeologist who works for SWCA Environmental Consultants.
In front of a packed house of about 275 people at the Redmond Historical Society’s Saturday Speaker Series, Kopperl dug into his lecture about he and his team discovering more than 4,000 stone artifacts — including tools, flakes, scrapers, spear points and more — in 2009 and 2013 underneath peat along Bear Creek during the city’s salmon restoration project. It is a site where arrowheads and other hunting tools were made some 10,000 years ago. “It is the oldest archeological site with stone tools that has so far been investigated by archeologists in the Puget Lowlands and the Washington Straits region,” Kopperl told the crowd. In an earlier report, Kopperl noted that the site is the first opportunity to study
With a photo of parts of 10,000-year-old stone tools on the screen behind him, Dr. Robert Kopperl discusses the major find in Redmond with the crowd at last Saturday’s event at the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center. ANDY NYSTROM, Redmond Reporter how American Indians made the Puget Lowlands their home at the end of the last ice age, some 16,000 years ago. Mayor John Marchione told the crowd that the City of Redmond and its partners planned and worked to complete the rehabilitation of the lower
Bear Creek since 1990. The 3,000-foot project near State Route 520 was relocated from a mostly straight, channelized stream to a meandering run to support healthy and diverse fish fronts, including the largest wild Chinook salmon population in the Sammamish basin.
Constantine, others discuss climate change SAMANTHA PAK spak@redmond-reporter.com
Climate change is no longer just a thing of the future — it is here now. This was the message King County Executive Dow Constantine and members of county staff delivered during a media tour last Friday. The tour focused on the local impacts of climate change. Constantine said indicators such as low snow pack in the mountains, the high heat this past summer and more frequent and devastating wildfires throughout the state are just a dress rehearsal of what’s to come. “The trends my staff have looked at are troubling,”
Constantine said.
DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS
The tour began at Sixty Acres Park in unincorporated King County near Redmond, with county scientists discussing the Sammamish River. Jim Simmonds, supervisor of water quality and water quantity for King County, said the county has been tracking stream flows and measuring water pollution for “many years.” He said when they identify any sort of pollution, they can take action. This year, Simmonds said they have seen some “alarming trends” as many streams they have been monitoring
Kopperl noted that their discovery happened during a routine environmental compliance project for the city to survey the waterways and the site. “We were thrilled by the significance of this discovery that teaches us about Redmond’s [ more TOOLS page 13 ]
Following levy failure, RPD examines how to maintain level of service SAMANTHA PAK spak@redmond-reporter.com
Debra Bouchard (left) discusses with Dow Constantine how they measure river water temperatures. SAMANTHA PAK, Redmond Reporter are at their lowest flow level — which is not surprising as this summer, the area saw more 90-degree days than ever.
In addition to measuring pollution and water levels, the county also measures water temperatures. [ more CLIMATE page 14 ]
After a city levy addressing public safety — among other issues — failed in August, the Redmond Police Department (RPD) must now figure out how to maintain a level of service that will keep up with the increasing demand for calls for service. Police Chief Ron
Gibson said since 2012, calls for service have increased by about 5 percent each year and 2015 is on track to continue this trend. “The demands for service are not decreasing,” he said. Gibson said they are fine through 2016 but they will have to figure things out after that. Currently, he said, the city’s finance department is doing an analysis to see how much the city’s current levy — which passed in 2007 — can cover and sustain the RPD’s needs. The 2007 levy allowed RPD to add 17 positions to [ more CRIME page 16]
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