Mileta Creek is a story of the health of the Puget Sound’s greater ecosystem, and this story is the motivation for its protection. When the preserve first came on our radar, it hosted an expansive rookery of Great Blue Herons in its alder trees. The Heron population boomed while one of its chick’s natural predators, Bald Eagles, were making their long comeback from the ravages of DDT in the mid-20th century.

By the time the preserve was purchased, the heron had done what herons do, found other places on the island to nest. The eagle population had recovered enough that large rookeries like this were not prudent for heron parents. While we miss the herons that came in such numbers to these trees, we are cheered by the comeback of the eagles to the greater Puget Sound. Mileta Creek’s watershed is important to the health of our island, and we will continue to steward this land, checking the tree line in the spring in hope that the herons return to the preserve in future years.