The Reporter recently ran a two-part series on the future of Lake Sammamish State Park – once a popular regional destination for families, boaters and picnickers.

The park has little appeal to those groups now. And, really, who can blame them?

Families must contend with the absence of lifeguards at the swimming beach, boaters find sunken docks in the winter, and picnickers must negotiate grass dotted with goose poop – hardly a reassuring sight for parents who want their kids to run and get some exercise.

This dilemma is compounded by the fact that the state has precious little money to spend on parks, but that doesn’t mean nothing can be done.

Bridle Trails State Park in Kirkland is thriving thanks to people who formed a foundation to help maintain the park.

Similar to Lake Sammamish with its urban placement, Bridle Trails State Park struggled to keep its gates open for about 20 years. Now, the foundation works in cooperation with Washington State Parks to provide one half of the operating costs of the park – about $30,000 yearly.

Why not something of the same for Lake Sammamish?

In fact, Kirkland leads the way when it comes to these sorts of community partnerships and initiatives to help protect our city’s 40-plus parks.

The Green Kirkland Partnership – an alliance between the City of Kirkland, nonprofit partners and the community – seeks to remove invasive plants in city parks and plant native species. Last year, more than 2,000 Green Kirkland volunteers contributed over 10,000 hours to restore natural areas in Kirkland parks. Volunteers also planted more than 3,000 native plants and trees.

In addition, the Kirkland Council wants to form a group of about 40 residents to help chart the future of our parks and green spaces. The Kirkland Park Funding Exploratory Committee would explore things such as park needs in the newly annexed neighborhoods, including the future of the Finn Hill Parks District, which manages O.O. Denny Park, and the potential acquisition of Totem Lake as a city park or open space.

The committee is expected to advise the council on ways to approach funding, including a possible 2012 ballot measure.

These are just a few examples of ways the city and community have stepped up to preserve our parks.

And there is much to love about Kirkland parks. These natural areas rank amongst the highest of things that make the city a great place to live and play.

The Reporter is partnering with the Kirkland Park Board and in the coming weeks we will feature several parks and highlight aspects that make each park unique.

The first story in “Our Parks” series will look at the jewel of Edith Moulton Park – one of Kirkland’s newest additions in the Juanita neighborhood.