The Peterson Lake Park Natural Area is located five miles north of Maple Valley in the middle of the Peterson Creek basin. King County acquired the 153-acre Natural Area in its Waterways 2000 Program, to help preserve water and habitat quality in the Cedar River Watershed.
The Natural Area Site Management Plan provides a record of existing features and establishes guidelines for the future management of the Natural Area. Peterson Creek supports five species of salmon including coho, sockeye and chinook as well as steelhead and cuttroat trout. The wetlands and forests of Peterson Lake provide terrestrial and aquatic habitat for numerous resident and migratory bird species, mammals, amphibians and reptiles.
The main objective of the Natural Area Site Management Plan is to preserve, protect and enhance fish and wildlife habitat on site, providing low-impact access for nature observation where compatible with this objective. The following goals reflect the Waterways 2000 program and are used to establish balanced management of the Peterson Lake Park Natural Area:
* Preserve. Protect and restore natural systems for fish and wildlife habitat
* Preserve the rural nature of the site in keeping with the surrounding community
* Eliminate compatible uses which degrade sensitive site resources
* Provide site improvements to direct public use in appropriate areas
* Provide interpretative experiences to the community to foster public involvement in site stewardship
* Comply with restrictions resulting from the listing of salmon under the Endangered Species Act
* Implement recommendations in phases according to priority order and available funding
