Black Lake Meadows Reserve (BLMR) became part of the Olympia city park system in 2021, although it has been part of Thurston County and Olympia stormwater management for a long time before that. Enjoy its many hidden gems of beautiful trees, plants and wildlife. The crushed gravel road loop encircles a forested wetland that fills up during the rainy season and supports birds and other wildlife with abundant berries and plants. It makes this park a local bird watcher's paradise (considered to be a “hotspot” on eBird). The wetland fills up from a marvel of stormwater engineering that brings the rainy season runoff from Olympia's westside. Stormwater collects from Capital Mall, strip malls, apartment parking lots and highways into Yauger Park and then flows through pipes to eventually reach the BLMR forested wetland. Here the water is filtered to help protect the salmon habitats before entering Black Lake Ditch, Percival Creek, Capitol Lake and Puget Sound.
Enjoy the other “hidden gems” of this park, including the abundant evidence of dynamic beaver activity! Learn more about this park and its habitat from the Nature Sleuths scavenger hunt for Black Lake Meadows Reserve on the Stream Team of Thurston County website. Checkout the Stream Team Reference Wildlife Reference Library. Learn more about the birds from the free apps Merlin and eBird from Cornell University. Learn more about beavers at BeaversNW. Check out the interactive map of parks on the Olympia City Parks website.
Congratulations to Magtangle FTF !