Duck Hunting, a BMX Track, Parachutes...OH MY!

According to retired Park Manager Richard Benson, duck hunting on Lake Sammamish ended in 1982. Until then, hunting had been a fall activity since the first white settlers arrived in the valley. Though you couldn’t hunt in the state park, hunters could have their boat close to the shore and shoot away from the park. In Benson’s first few years at LSSP, he dealt with hunters actually in the park as well as park visitors who complained about bird shot whizzing nearby as they walked the trails. 

One of the fondest memories of visitors in the 1960s to late 1980s was the sight of parachutes landing at the old airport (now the site of retail stores at Pickering Place). Benson recalls a few times when parachutists actually landed in the park, including the time one landed on a picnic table and broke several ribs. Several times he had to help people whose chutes were caught up in park trees.

In 1982, the City of Issaquah wanted land in the state park to expand existing soccer fields, build baseball fields, add tennis and basketball courts. The King County park bond to pay for it failed, but two years later the city made its own 133-acre proposal. Included were lighted sports fields, a BMX dirt track, an equestrian center plus concessions and restrooms. The most controversial part of the plan was relocating the airport into the park on the north side of Issaquah Creek. State park commissions opposed the plan and asked for a revised plan that did not include the airport. However, the city’s scaled-down plan was also rejected.