Nancy R. Malmgren
I was born in 1929, the same year Carkeek Park was dedicated by Seattle Parks Department.
My love affair with Carkeek Park started in 1945 when I was sixteen. I rode my bicycle from the West Woodland area to Carkeek to go horseback riding. The horses were kept in the Piper family’s hay field, now the site of the Annex and the Demonstration Gardens.
Fast forward to 1957. With the sudden death of my mother and the need of an extra bedroom for my dad, Les and I purchased the pioneer Ecklund home just above Carkeek Park.
In 1979, the Carkeek Watershed Community Action Project (CWCAP) was formed by local residents, funded by Metro under the Federal Clean Water Act, to help protect park and watershed resources, restore salmon to Piper’s Creek and promote education. Superintendent of Parks Walt Hundly approved of the plan from CWCAP.
In 1987, Piper’s Creek watershed was selected as an Early Action Watershed with money provided by the Washington State Department of Ecology. The $200K was used to move the Zoo Store to Carkeek Park to be our first environmental learning center
Since that time, most of the facilities and programs currently in Carkeek Park have become a reality due to my efforts with the help of other volunteers. From the Zoo Store to the Environmental Learning Center, from the salmon program to Piper’s Orchard, from the Demonstration Gardens to the play area, the development of all of these programs and features were spearheaded by volunteers.
Most of the money for these amenities came from grants that I wrote.
-April 25, 2016
Read the post for her Celebration of Life here: Nancy R. Malmgren, CWCAP Founder, 1929-2016
I am here watching the salmon and I am so thankful for her legacy. What a beautiful park for all of us.
I will miss Nancy’s amazing energy and all the many years of her love of all things Carkeek Park! Her yearly party at her home for watching the Christmas Ship were legendary.
I happened to have found this page today. Would like to share some memories. Before I met Nancy, I was already an advocate for the Salmon. Someone in my neighborhood suggested we meet. We worked well together. Nancy did all the hard work. She got the media, bureaucrats, politicians and grant money and reached out to the Karkeek community. She really knew how to talk to those people and to win their cooperation. She had her special ways of getting CWCAP’s needs met. That allowed me to have fun working with the Salmon. One fun project I started was the Salmon/Watershed Education program. Using my Envirommental Studies college students we taught the 5th graders the life cycle of the salmon and about watersheds. We had them using their imagination to visualize each stage of the Salmon’s life. The 5th graders were each given a baby Salmon, a fry, that were raised in the class room. When the time was right, we had a ceremonial release of the Salmon to return to the sea. Each 5th grader was convinced they could recognize their fish in the creek. Anyways, Nancy wanted to give me expose me to the public, but I told her, no, that’s not me. She made me President because the organization needed one … lol
It gives me great pleasure to see her efforts flourich to the incredible Salmon Run it is today!
Congratulations to all the volunteers, management and workers. You know Nancy would be thrilled with what you are accomplishing. If she was here right now, she’d be giving you her heart-felt smile.
Sincerely,
Tony Barone
Past-President CWCAP 1980-1994 (more or less)
Professor Emeritus Environment Studies