Skateboarders built an unauthorized park on Duck Island in Green Lake as part as a do-it-yourself challenge, and criminal charges have been filed because it caused massive damage to a bird habitat.
Seattle Parks and Recreation, the department that oversees Green Lake, discovered the skateboard bowl earlier in the week after receiving complaints about it. Duck Island has a close proximity to the shore, and some parkgoers complained to the city about the concrete after noticing it.
The so-called skate park island was created for a nationwide Do-It-Yourself challenge hosted by TransWorld SKATEboarding and Nike SB, a brand dedicated to skateboarders. People from all over the country submitted videos to skateboarding.transworld.net, including one from Portland that included this information about Project 58 in the caption:
"Alongside Nike SB, we (TransWORLD) hooked up 14 skate shops across the country with $500 to get cement, tools and anything else they might need to create or add to an existing DIY spot in their community ... We’re pushing you to vote for your favorite edit because the top 3 shops will be receiving some extra cash to add even more to their spot."
The creation of the skatepark bowl on Duck Island was documented in a video that shows several teenagers transporting the materials over the lake by canoe, laying down concrete and then skating on the bowl. The video was submitted to the website, but it's since been deleted, along with the webpage with information on the Project 58 challenge.
A spokeswoman for Seattle Parks and Recreation told KIRO 7 News that a skateboarding company on Capitol Hill submitted a video, but the company claims it had nothing to do with the project.
See video from Chopper 7. Scroll down to read about criminal charges being filed.
People cannot legally be on Duck Island because of safety reasons, and the skateboard bowl, which takes up a quarter of the island, created damage to an area that serves as an unofficial bird
sanctuary.
Seattle Parks and Recreations put in a report to police. KIRO 7 News called the Seattle Police Department, which wasn’t commenting on the case as of Thursday.
Parks and Recreation employees plan to dismantle the bowl over the course of a week. But they said it will take months for the island to be restored to its usual habitat.
About Duck Island
Constructed in 1936, the man-made island was used as a Works Progress Administration project to clean up Green Lake.
Decades later, the Washington State Game Commission repurposed it as a wildlife refuge for donated cygnets. Duck Island's steep drop-off made it a poor nesting habitat, however, as swans require
shallow waters with reeds and grasses. The cygnets did not survive, and the island ceased being a game reserve in 1983.
Despite it being off-limits to parkgoers, some people have kayaked or canoed to Duck Island for drinks, and at one time there was a rope swing there.
Cox Media Group
