Mercer Slough's new education center unveiled

A thought-provoking new way to experience Bellevue's Mercer Slough opens Saturday.

The setting itself is somewhat improbable, a place that a century ago was submerged in Lake Washington and now is a wetland, bounded by freeways and downtown Bellevue.

It's also a place where coyote tracks are visible on trails in the morning.

"This is actually a pretty remarkable place," said Glenn Kost, planning and development manager for Bellevue Parks Department.

"You've got 320 acres of wilderness just sitting here. It's kind of cool."

Now there's a different way to see it, too.

The $11 million Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center opens Saturday with ceremonies beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 11,and running through 5 p.m., showing off an assortment of new buildings.

The area exists because Lake Washington was lowered when the Ballard Locks opened in 1916, exposing the lake bottom and creating the slough, which subsequent generations used as a blueberry farm and then a city park.

Access was limited, but the new center will change that.

Kost and assistant park manager Christina Dyson-Farrell say it was carefully constructed to meet the most stringent environmental standards. They point to such Earth-friendly features as rooftop gardens and floors of recycled 2-by-4 scraps.

The new buildings are constructed on "pin pilings," sunk deep into the soil for minimum impact, "rather than tearing up the slope," noted Kost.

Dyson-Farrell stands on a west-facing, leaf-shrouded overlook suspended three stories above the slough: "Welcome to my office," she says.

It embraces an array of details intended to be kind to nature — the roof is cut away to make room for a big-leaf maple and Douglas fir, and rainwater is channeled through a series of open troughs running along decks at waist level, so even leaves in a gutter turn into entertainment. Roofless open-air elevators provide disability access.

A "wet lab" was carefully built with the expectation that countless kids in muddy boots will be welcome there, viewing "pond dips," or slough samples, through microscopes.

Classes have been offered at the center for 15 years through Pacific Science Center, although the setting hasn't been as fancy. Students have left watercolor descriptions of their adventures on its walls: "I love science camp! Mud! Muck!" wrote one happy camper.

Other additions include a classroom, community center and even a treehouse.

Before the new center was built, about 8,000 students a year passed through slough classes, using a refitted house moved to the site from downtown Bellevue. The new center is expected to handle 40,000 children, families and other visitors each year.

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259

or pwhitely@seattletimes.com