Tom Teigen set me straight

Last week, I wrote about my belief that Snohomish County needed a big-deal, destination park along the Snohomish River.

It already has parks that access the river: Spencer Island, in the river's estuary; Lord Hill, southwest of Monroe; and Thomas' Eddy, a wildlife preserve southeast of Snohomish. But these are mostly for folks who want to walk softly and enjoy nature — or in the case of Lord Hill park, enjoy it with their horse or mountain bike.Teigen, the county parks director, surprised me when he added up the numbers, which show that 22 percent of the county's 10,000 acres of parks at least border the river.

They aren't the more traditional, "mall" type multipurpose parks with lots of parking, lots of lawn, lots of goodies to play with. Parks where you can put down a blanket on a beach or gravel bar to enjoy the sun, where you can splash around in the river's shallows, and where you can toss a Frisbee or play ball on a vast expanse of grass that's best experienced barefoot, then have a picnic.

Teigen said having a big, active, multiuse park on the river has never really been in the county's plan. Oh. But the reasons he gave make sense.

Over the years, "We made the decision not to place active parks on the river," he said, in no small part because of flooding concerns and the amount of effort and cash necessary to clean up after a flood.

Environmental stewardship also plays a part, he said, and is a factor in the decision to have park land along the river that can mostly be left alone to enhance habitat for wildlife.

"We have a huge amount of acreage on the river," he said. And that may grow.

One possibility for expansion, he said, is Field's Riffle Park on the Lowell-Snohomish River Road just west of Highway 9.

"In the summer you see kayaks, canoes and jet skis there. It's a neat little recreational opportunity," he said, and its 62 acres includes a nice sandbar. The county is exploring whether to provide more access to the park and whether it makes sense to add any traditional parks features to what now is primarily a wildlife-habitat area.

What it comes down to is that for the most part we all have to pick our park destination depending on what we want to do: If we want to play ball, we go one direction; if we want to walk a trail, we go another direction. And if we want to go to Kayak Point Park for a big family picnic, well, we go there.

I can live with that.

Scott Barry: 425-745-7816 or sbarry@seattletimes.com