Adopted Master Plan
On June 20, 2016, Mukilteo City Council adopted the Japanese Gulch Master Plan. The master plan provides guidance for the development and preservation of Japanese Gulch Park. A feature of the plan is for the 76th Street Trailhead to transition the former Highland Memorial Park into a park area to ease the transition between the surrounding developed area and the park.
The Japanese Gulch Master Plan is organized into three parts:
- Part I is a traditional Park Master Plan with background, design alternatives, references to public outreach, decision making process, and cost estimates.
- Part II is an implementation plan that provides additional directional information regarding stewardship, emergency services, and maintenance.
- Part III is the appendix with crucial data regarding public outreach, natural inventory, cost estimates, and level of service.
Hiking in Japanese Gulch
If you are interested in hiking in Japanese Gulch please see the MukMaps Interactive Trail Map to find a path! Most of the trails in Japanese Gulch include rolling hills or switchbacks and can be muddy at times.
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Working in Japanese Gulch
History of Japanese Gulch
Mukilteo’s history of a passage port to the Snohomish River dramatically influenced the character of the settlement. The Mukilteo Lumber Company was established in 1903 and was later purchased by Crown Lumber in 1906. The lumber industry grew Mukilteo’s Japanese population to approximately 150 Japanese compared to approximately 200 Caucasian. The lumber industry provided the Japanese workers housing in what is now the “lower” Japanese Gulch. Following the closure of Crown Lumber Company in 1930, the vast majority of the Japanese community moved away.
Following the incorporation of the City of Mukilteo in 1947, a portion of Japanese Gulch was incorporated within the city limits with a large portion within the City of Everett. Pieces of Japanese Gulch had been purchase by the City of Mukilteo for the use of a park over the last 19 years, but the last 98 acres of Japanese Gulch Park was purchased with a Snohomish County Conservations Futures Grant in February 2014. It has been a grassroots effort, in large part headed by the Japanese Gulch Group that led to the purchase of the different parcels making up Japanese Gulch Park.
Sources:
- City of Mukilteo GIS Data, 2014
- Historylink.org Essay 8422 written by Marget Riddle December 29, 2007, revised January 10, 2011.
