For five days, Discovery Park was closed after a cougar was reported to have run through the Naval Capehart housing area and into the park on Friday, August 22, 1981.

The next morning a park visitor spotted a cougar on the loop trail near the south bluff.

On Monday, Paul Frandsen, chief park ranger, announced the park was closed. In the meantime south of the park, Perkins Lane residents south of the park said they saw a cougar in their backyards.

By Tuesday, the state game officials came with trained hunting dogs to search the entire park and Fort Lawton. A cougars was seen sighted near Smith Cove at 3PM together with another Park sighting. Finding nothing the state game officials called off the cougar hunt. The park remained closed.

On Wednesday, park ranger Bob Mindick discovered cougar tracks along the south bluff trail. Plaster casts of the tracks were made. The Burke Museum mammalogist John Rogdilski verified the tracks were cougar tracks. The state game officials returned with their dogs. At 7PM that evening a resident saw a cougar at the Burlington Northern tracks and Gay Avenue W. near the Chittenden Locks and Commodore Park.

At 1-AM thursday a state game agent spotted a cougar sitting in a Pacific Madrone on the edge the south bluff of Discovery Park. Just as the cat was about to jump from the tree, the game agent, on his first shot hit it with a tranquilizer. The cougar fell into a ravine. As the story goes, the agent jumped into the ravine only to find the cougar was conscious. Luckily the agent was unharmed. The cougar was then captured.

The wayward mountain cougar was given the name "D.B. Cougar" after the mysterious skyjacker "D.B. Cooper." The park held "D.B. Cougar Day" celebrations in the following years.

The 117 pound young cougar was taken to the South Tacoma Game Farm. It was released into the Cascade Mountain wilds on September 5th.

Where did it come from? At first the game department thought it took a marathon swim from Bainbridge Island. They later abandoned that idea.

In a 1993 children's book, "J.G. Cougar's Great Adventure," (Storytellers Ink, Seattle 1993) author Virginia Bishop Tawresey muses that the cougar came to Discovery Park by hitching a ride on an open and vacant train boxcar.

Today, the best guess is it came down the Burlington-Northern tracks from the Cascade foothills and then to the park through the Kiwanis Ravine. Animals are safe on the tracks and can easily avoid the occasional train. To protect pets and children residents along the track build fences and barriers keep them away from the trains.

Several animals besides the cougar likely used the B-N wildlife corridor. Bears found their way into yards in the Edmonds area and a deer once ran into a Ballard store window. The both probably came down the tracks.

Frandsen opened the park again to the public. The excitement was over.

The 1999 Annual Meeting of the Friends of Discovery Park will be held from 7PM to 9PM, October 6 in the Discovery Park visitor center, just inside the east gate.

Noted nature and trail author, Harvey Manning will speak on "Urban Lands and Parks." Manning calls himself a "writer, hiker, propagandist, and agitator. For three decades he has written on hiking and walking in our Cascade/Puget Sound country. His books include "Walks and Hikes on Beaches Around Puget Sound," and "Footloose Around Puget Sound." He is a staunch supporter of Discovery Park.

Chairperson Gayle Podrabsky has a full evening of events planned. Friends' president, Valerie Cholvin will open the meeting. The new officers and board of the Friends will be elected. Refeshments will be served.

Meetings and discussion on the size and impacts of the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation (UIATF) People's Lodge will begin again no later than December when the Final EIS is due to be published.

By February 2000, the Park Board will review plan amendments to the Discovery Park Master Plan and the 1986 Development Plan. The agreed amendments go to the Seattle city council from the Park Department. They are expected to include the UIATF lease and Indian Cultural Center (ICC) amendments at also.

Any attempt to amend section 3 (g) of the lease agreement could call for a legal challenge. This section reads: "PROVIDED, however that no amendment to the (UIATF) Master Plan shall require the utilization of land outside the Leased Area shown in Exhibit "A", nor shall any such amendment permit activities, uses, or structures inconsistent with the Agreement or this lease."

These are the strongest and most definitive words in the lease and must not be tampered with.

• 1896
  • Secretary of War selects Magnolia as fort site.
• 1897
  • Seattle Chamber of Commerce assembles land and deeds it to the U.S.
• 1900
  • Fort Lawton established
• 1903
  • Olmsted Brother's Seattle Park plan includes Fort Lawton.
• 1908-1941
  • Fort Lawton in dormant. Has minor use.
• 1917
  • Civic leaders and Seattle P-I editorial call for return of fort for use as a park.
• 1938
  • During the Great Depression, the City refuses the offer of the fort for one dollar.
• 1941-50
  • Fort Lawton is major embarkation point for troops going to Pacific conflicts.
• 1964
  • Army declares plan to excess 85% of Fort Lawton.
• 1968
  • Forward Thrust bond issue vote provides $3-million to purchase fort for a park.
  • Washington Oceanographic Commission calls for aquarium-research center at West Point. (It was denied.)
  • Marine parkway from Smith Cove to West Point proposed. (It was denied.)
  • Pentagon proposes anti-ballistic missile site to intercept inter-continental nuclear missiles.
  • Environmental and civic groups organize Citizens for Fort Lawton Park opposing missiles and supporting a park.
  • In December Department of Defense announces abandonment of missile site at West Point.
• 1969
  • Senator Henry M. Jackson introduces Federal Lands for Park & Recreation Purposes Act (Ft. Lawton bill) to let cities get surplus federal property for park and recreation uses.
  • Veteran's group proposes "Arlington of the West" cemetery on South bluff of park. (It was denied.)
  • Park Superintendent Hans Thompson requests proposals from arcitect firms for designs for Fort Lawton (Discovery) park.
  • Post Commander causes furor by closing Fort Lawton gates. (Sen. Jackson has them opened.)
• 1970
  • President Richard Nixon signs Jackson's bill into law.
  • Native-Americans storm fort claiming ownership and are repulsed.
• 1971
  • Bureau of Indian Affairs enter for 30-acres of property for UIATF.
  • BIA application withdrawn next month with request to include cultural center in the park.
  • President Nixon announces that 426 acres of Fort Lawton is being available for public park and recreation use at no cost.
• 1972
  • Kiley Fort Lawton Park (Discovery) Master Plan submitted to City.
  • Metro Seattle receives City permit for sludge lagoon at West Point on South Beach. (This was later removed and the beach restored.)
• 1974
  • Kiley's Discovery Park Revised Plan updates Kiley's 1972 plan.
  • West Point Golf Association initiative for 18-hole golf course at Discovery Park rejected by a voters by a 2-1 vote.
  • Friends of Discovery Park organize to oppose initiative and to defend the park's master plans.
  • City signs lease with United Indians of All Tribes Foundation for a 19-acre Indian Cultural Center.
• 1975
  • Golf Course initiative voted down overwhelmingly by voters.

  THE EDITOR'S CORNER

  What is most disturbing is more than one attack on Discovery Park comes at one time.

  While facing the enormous UIATF People's Lodge which the Friends say violates the lease with the city, we face plans by some King County Council members to overload the West Point Sewer Plant with new sewer flows and to increase pollutant loads going into Puget Sound.

  The People's Lodge is far too big and has far too many impacts on the park.

  At public hearings over the Lodge a few citizens made borderline remarks the greatest amount of racists remarks came from the UIATF speakers themselves. It might understandable only as they had little of substance to say about a DEIS which favored them. But the remarks just aggravated old wounds rather than "heal" them.

  Architect Johnpaul Jones caused a stir by suggesting that artifacts from a new Indian museum in Washington D.C. could be displayed at the People's Lodge. This was doubly disturbing, as a museum is not allowed under the zoning at Discovery Park.

  Robert Kildall
  POTPOURRI

  Discovery park added a new supporter this summer. Her name is Hazel. Her mother is Allison Grover, the park's day camp director. Hazel cheered up everyone on her visit to meet the park staff.

  Another newcomer arrived at the West Point beach. It was a "Moon Snail" with plenty of friends in tow that caught the park naturalists eyes in August.

  It was July 31st the day of the "Torchlight Parade" in the 50th year of the Seattle Seafair event. The town was packed, the buses were full and the crowds were all headed for the parade.

  Friends' member Ruth Kildall was heading home and waiting for a bus. Two young Taiwan students staying at Seattle University asked how to reach Discovery Park.

  When asked how they knew about the park, they said they read about it. After coming to Seattle someone told them "It is a very beautiful park."

  The three rode the bus together. The students got off at the park's east gate.

  Discovery Park is beautiful. It has magnificent views and is a touch of wildness in the city. It give visitors a intimate contact with the nature of the Northwest. Enjoying the park makes every day a special day.

  The Park Department publication Grassroots applauds Discovery Park's outreach effort with Day Camp scholarships. They note the Friends of Discovery Park support this program and frequently contribute to the scholarship fund. Allison Grover, 1999 Nature Day Camp Director, extended the day camp opportunity to several local shelters. Children from Broadview Women's Shelter and the Seattle Emergency Housing Service Shelter got scholarships covering tuition and transportation to and from Discovery Park.

  WHAT VISITORS ARE SAYING

  Editor's Note:

  Since Discovery Park opened over twenty-five years ago, thousands of travelers from every state in the union and from every continent except Antarctica have been drawn to it. Visitors are amazed to find that just a few minutes from the center of a city it is still possible to find a place of wildness, quiet and tranquillity for its citizens.

  Our elected officials must realize the importance the beauty, quiet and solitude of Discovery Park is in preserving sanity and to give renewal to citizens of a metropolitan city like Seattle.

  By their efforts citizens created this great park. Before we allow an over-sized Peoples' Lodge to be built or a sewage treatment plant to expand again, it is imperative our leaders appreciate the precious open space and natural values of this park. Too many parks were ruined because elected caretakers chose not to defend the people's property they held in trust.

  Everyone can understand and appreciate the beauty of Nature and enjoy the rejuvenation of the spirit when away from the stress of the city.

  "Visiting with Seattle in-laws Richard & Andrea and twins. This is an excellent memory of the work of our son-in-law's father, Donald Voorhees. A rare experience! More power to you !! In the founder's spirit."

  -Dr.Helmut Gograf, Paris France

  "How refreshing to see and experience such enthusiasm and education. Knew it as Ft. Lawton. Great to see it was not developed."

  -Kettering, OH

  "Lovely! Just beautiful."

  -Tokyo, Japan

  "Very splendid."

  -Spain

  "Very nice!"

  -Munich, Germany

  "Superb park."

  -York, United Kingdom

  "Every city should have one of these."

  -Atlanta GA

  "Helps me to reflect and focus out here-Peace! Thanks."

  -Queens, NYC

  "One of our favorite stops in Seattle ! Beautiful new center!"

  -Wilmington DE

  "21 years later, they have done a great job. I wish I was a kid again."

  -Alexandria VA

  "Yesterday I felt sad but I feel much happier here."

  -Hamilton NJ

  "A most terrific setting."

  -San Francisco CA

  "I wish we had this in the Bronx.

  -Bronx NY

  "Down was better that up."

  -Wadwick NJ

  "As beautiful as the desert I'm used to. Thank you!"

  -Tucson AZ

  "Its beautiful."

  -Jerusalem

  "Enjoyed the exhibits, including the leaves in the concrete and the shuttle."

  -Bellingham WA

  "Our own piece of paradise. We loved it then. We love it now. Let's love it later! Keep Discovery Park beautiful!"

  -Magnolia, Seattle

  "The baby eagle stood up and flapped his wings."

  -Redmond WA

  "Great Park. I love to run loop."

  -Seattle, WA

  "Love the north meadow! Leave it greasy and natural."

  -Seattle WA

  "It made me happy."

  -Kirkland WA

  "We want a ground to which people may easily go after their day's work is done, and where they may stroll for an hour, seeing, hearing and feeling nothing of the bustle and jar of the streets:"

  Frederick Law Olmsted
  (1822-1903)
  LEARN ABOUT DISCOVERY PARK BIRDS THIS FALL

  Walking in Discovery Park can be enhanced if you learn to identify and enjoy its abundant bird life.

  Can you identify chickadees, nuthatches, kinglets, warblers, grosbeaks. grebes, scoters, mergansers, and a myriad of Discovery Park birds?

  If not, join the Saturday bird walks open to birders or would be birders of all levels continuing until November 22. Call for information: (206) 386-4236.