Kevin Kim-Murphy has long loved running the trails of Dockton Forest. But up until a few weeks ago, Kim-Murphy, an organizer of the Vashon Island Ultra Run, always turned around before those trails took him onto Glacier Northwest’s vast holdings.

“I know some people went there, but I try to stay off other people’s property without permission,” he said.

Now, Kim-Murphy’s runs continue on as the forest opens up into madrone-covered bluffs and expansive views of Puget Sound and Mount Rainier. 

“I went out there, and I was blown away by what a beautiful place we live in and how great it’s going to be to have access to it,” Kim-Murphy said. “It’s got majestic views. It’s really spectacular.”

Kim-Murphy is hardly alone. Since the county purchased the undulating 250-acre property on the eastern edge of Maury, many Islanders have begun running, hiking, walking their dogs and dirt biking at the former gravel mine site, said Amy Carey, director of Preserve our Islands.

“I think people have been using it a bit more freely and more frequently,” she said. “They feel like it’s theirs now, and they have been celebrating the win by going out there.”

As Islanders begin to make the newly converted land their own, meanwhile, officials at the county’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks (DNRP) are moving forward on plans to make the property fit for recreational use.

DNRP spokesman Doug Williams said that although the county hasn’t been chasing people off the 250-acre site, a lengthy process lies ahead before the property can be considered an official King County park or natural area, beginning with public meetings in the next month or two to inform and hear from county residents.

“There are so many decisions that need to be made. It’s easier to talk about the decisions that don’t need to be made. … Our to do list is extensive on that right now,” he said.

One of the department’s top priorities, Williams said, is to comply with an environmental cleanup order the state Department of Ecology (DOE) placed on the site when it was owned by Glacier. Like much of the property on Vashon and Maury, the soil at the site is polluted with arsenic and lead from nearly 100 years of Asarco’s smelting operations in Tacoma.

“We need to determine what steps need to be taken per DOE and other regulatory agencies to address this historic pollution,” Williams said.

Though DNRP officials have just begun working with DOE to determine the extent of the pollution at the Maury site and what type of soil remediation will be required, Bob Warren, head of the toxics cleanup program for DOE’s Northwest Region, said that county’s cleanup of the site will likely be less extensive than what Glacier would have faced since the county’s use will be much less invasive than Glacier’s planned mining.

“It could be shallow soil excavation to get rid of the contamination, and just do that in the areas where the planned use would be,” Warren said. “And perhaps in the wooded areas, you might leave that undisturbed and just have the public stay out of those areas.”

Decisions must also be made about a more noticeable hazard on the property: a large conveyor belt and other smaller mining structures left behind by Glacier. Williams said determining what will happen with those structures is further down on the department’s to-do list.

“There’s so much we don’t know about what (the Asarco pollution) means for public access and site development. We really need to tackle that issue before we worry about what needs to stay and what needs to go out,” he said.

Williams said the public will be involved in the cleanup process from the very beginning, and he hopes to soon make information on the topic available online.

“We’re trying to figure out what the relevant components of any kind of a cleanup are and get links to that information collected and put onto a website,” he said.

Williams said King County will also want the public involved in shaping what the future park will look like. Residents will have ample opportunity to give input on what types of access they will have to the park and what amenities will exist there. In addition, he said, the public should be involved in determining what types of environmental protections will be in place at the site.

“I’m sure there are a lot of folks on Vashon with a lot of good ideas,” he said. “I want to make sure we develop a system for processing the ideas. … This is the beginning of what’s going to be a lengthy process with a lot of touch points for the public to get involved in shaping the future of this site.”

Carey said she has seen the county undertake similar tasks before and has been pleased with the amount of public involvement.

“King County is always very careful about having a collaborative public process,” she said. “We’ve been through this on smaller projects. … They’re great at really reaching out.”

Kim-Murphy, meanwhile, has high hopes for the new park. He said he’s been impressed with King County’s management of Island Center Forest, where the county has constructed new trails and maintained, connected and extended existing trails since taking charge of the 360-acre parcel in 2005.

“If they do at the gravel pit even close to what’s been done at Island Center Forest, it’s going to be such an amazing resource for us,” he said.