Northwest Trek closed to repair extensive damage

Northwest Trek could be closed until mid-February so employees can clean up the Eatonville-area wildlife park and repair exhibits and fences damaged by recent snow, ice and wind storms.

“It looks like a battle zone out there now, with downed trees, damaged exhibits and plant debris strewn everywhere,” Dave Ellis, Northwest Trek’s deputy director, said Thursday.

No animals have escaped because of the damage or been hurt in the storms. However, snow and ice weighed down branches on the trees and thousands of large branches – some as heavy as 200 to 300 pounds – broke off.

Most of the park’s deciduous trees lost their tops, which cracked and crashed to the ground. Branches and debris fell on exhibits, viewing pavilions, fences and pathways throughout the park.

“I have not seen this much debris down before,” said Ellis, who has worked at Northwest Trek for nearly 28 years.

Park officials estimated cleanup and repair work will cost about $200,000. The park will ask its insurance company to cover the costs after the deductible is paid. It expects to lose more than $20,000 from closing the park.

Officials hope to reopen the gates for Presidents Day weekend Feb. 17.

Ellis said he couldn’t remember a time that the park has been closed for so long because of storm damage. Usually, the park, which is only open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in the winter, is closed for a weekend after a major storm.

“It definitely hurts us,” Ellis said of the recent run of bad weather.

Northwest Trek was last open to the public Jan. 13-15. In the following days, snow and ice hammered the park. Then came 60 mph wind gusts and pounding rain. Power was lost for five days and among other things, the wolf, cat, raptor and bear exhibits were severely damaged.

In the wolf exhibit, a large tree came down and smashed part of the perimeter fence to the ground. The animals could have made a run for it but didn’t, Ellis said.

“The wolves are like everything else that we have,” he said. “They are not going to go out unless they are pushed out.”

The snowy owls and turkey vultures were moved out of their exhibit and other animals were held in their night dens.

Because the park lost power, the curator brought home the turtles, salamanders and toads that need to live in controlled environments. The curator lives in a house on the park property and has an electrical generator.

“His home was very popular through the course of the whole thing,” Ellis said.

Downed trees also took out nearly four miles of fencing around the park’s 435-acre, free-roaming area. The trees came down on 26 spots along the chain-link fence.

The park’s priorities have been to repair the fences and keep the animals and staff members safe.

“Our focus has been securing the animal exhibits,” Ellis said.

Maintenance workers, zoo keepers, seasonal staff members and the naturalist have been toiling during daylight hours to clean up the mess. They had to dodge tree branches during this week’s wind and rain storms.

“Many of the branches broke off (in the ice storm) but didn’t come all the way to the ground,” Ellis said. “When the wind came, they were coming out of the trees like missiles.”

Next week, the park will bring in logging contractors with wood chippers to help remove the larger branches.

The park’s forest management plan helped prevent further damage, Ellis said. The park has been removing trees thought most likely to come down in powerful storms – from around the buildings, park entrance and animal exhibits.

“The plan really paid off in terms of preventing a lot of trees from coming down on our main buildings,” Ellis said. “We didn’t have as much serious damage as we used to years ago.”

Stacey Mulick: 253-597-8268 stacey.mulick @thenewstribune.com