Meadowbrook Pond is a nature refuge in addition to its function as a flood-control and water filtration site.

Meadowbrook is the name of the neighborhood to the north of Wedgwood from NE 95th to 125th Streets and includes the sites of Nathan Hale High School, Meadowbrook Community Center and the Pond.  Meadowbrook Pond is located directly across from the community center building on 35th Ave NE at about NE 107th Street.  The Pond is in the midst of a three-year cycle of improvements which included dredging in 2012 to remove built-up sediment, and in this summer of 2013 the Pond closed on June 10 for more construction work.

Seattle Public Utilities engineers spoke at the May 14, 2013 Meadowbrook Community Council meeting about this year’s Pond work.

Meadowbrook Pond was created in 1996 by Seattle Public Utilities as a flood control and water quality improvement site.  The area along 35th Ave NE near the Pond is called The Confluence because the north and south branches of Thornton Creek converge here, creating a flood plain.  The ability to collect and filter water at the Pond helps prevent sediments from going downstream and plugging up the creek on its way to its outlet at Matthews Beach on Lake Washington.  The Pond is working so well as a water-filtering site that it has had to be vacuumed, cleaned or dredged more often than originally planned.

The entrance to Meadowbrook Pond is marked by large rocks on 35th Ave NE at NE 107th Street.

This summer of 2013 the Pond will be enlarged at its northwest corner to increase the capacity for collecting stormwater.  Other work to be done will be to rebuild ramps at access points for sediment-vacuum trucks and for access in the regular work of clearing trash racks.  It is anticipated that the work will be complete by October.  At the finish, the northwest perimeter of the Pond will be replanted with hundreds of new trees.  As of June 10, 2013 we bid a sad summer farewell to the Meadowbrook Pond, but we look forward to rediscovering its delights in the autumn season.

UPDATE:  Meadowbrook Pond reopened on October 4, 2013, but there is still a lot of work to be done to restore the beauty of the natural environment.  During the autumn months volunteers will help plant new trees, and we hope everything will look better by Spring of 2014.