The University of Washington Bothell (UW Bothell) is a four-year undergraduate and graduate campus in northeast King County, one of the three campuses of the public University of Washington. The campus was established in 1990 (which is the same year the University of Washington Tacoma opened). UW Bothell shares a campus with Cascadia College. UW Bothell is the largest branch campus in the state and the fastest growing four-year university in the state of Washington.[4] In 2014 and 2015, Money Magazine ranked UW Bothell as the best university in Washington state in terms of value and quality. In the same study, UW Bothell ranked 10th nationally among public universities and 36th overall. UW Bothell is located just northwest of the junction of Interstate 405 and State Route 522. Classes are offered day and evening for full or part-time students. Programs are offered in business, education, nursing, computing, and interdisciplinary arts and sciences. UW Bothell currently offers 40 bachelor's and master's degrees in five schools:
UW Bothell is the largest branch campus in the state. Freshman applications increased by 20% from 2010 while transfer applications grew by 24%. The total head count of full and part-time students is 4,172.[9] The count has gone up significantly over the past years. UW Bothell began accepting freshmen in autumn 2006. The first class to finish all four years at UW Bothell graduated in June 2010. An agreement with the City of Bothell limits UW Bothell and Cascadia College enrollment. The enrollment limit is currently 10,000 FTE students. Initially, enrollment was limited to 3,000 FTE students until an entrance was built with direct access to State Route 522. The Washington State Department of Transportation completed this project in September 2009. Main article: UW Bothell Wetland Restoration Project UW Bothell is home to one of the largest wetland restoration projects on the West Coast, covering 58 acres (23 ha). Prior to the restoration of the wetlands, the land had been used for cattle grazing.
[11] Before this North Creek was straightened and confined to transport timber from upper areas of the watershed to sawmills located around Lake Washington. The complex ecological restoration project for the wetlands began in 1997 along with the construction of University of Washington Bothell and Cascadia College campus. The goal of this project was to restore the area within the surrounding urban watershed into a sustainable and fully functional floodplain ecosystem. To manage and ensure forthcoming sustainability, great detail was given to essential theories of ecosystem science and ecological restoration in the design and implementation of the site. The hydrology was restored; drainage ditches and dikes were filled or removed. Small topographic variations were added to encourage environmental diversity and multiple plant communities. Between 1998 and 2002, over 100,000 plants were planted. Seven years after initial planting, the Wetland restoration project met it's 10-year objectives.
The wetland is also an area for education. Over 30 courses have visited the restored wetland from the CUSP (Center for University Studies and Programs), Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Programs.[13] Students interested in researching inside the wetlands can fill out a Wetlands Research Permit. ^ - UW Bothell's Fast Facts 2012-13 ^ WSDOT - Project - SR 522 - UW Bothell/Cascadia Community College Campus AccessThe University of Washington, Bothell/ Cascadia College campus is the location for one of the largest and most complex floodplain restorations ever undertaken in the Pacific Northwest. It is a bold attempt to restore highly altered pastureland to a sustainable, functioning floodplain ecosystem within an urbanizing watershed. The project is unique in the degree to which fundamental theories of ecosystem and restoration ecology were utilized in the design and are being employed in the management of the site. North Creek channel and green springtime vegetation.
Photographer: Warren Gold, May 2009. Woody debris bank jam along North Creek. Photographer: Warren Gold, 2007. Red-legged frog in the Wetlands. Photographer: Facilities Services, 2009. In 1989 the Washington State legislature authorized the construction of two UW branch campuses to increase access to higher education. Following its start in 1990 in a temporary location, the Bothell branch of the University of Washington opened its doors at a permanent home in the fall of 2000. UW Bothell was located jointly with the state's newest community college, Cascadia Community College, on a 127-acre site containing the floodplain of a moderate sized stream (North Creek) and a hillside created by glacial deposition over 15,000 years ago. North Creek is a salmon-bearing stream, containing viable populations of a number of salmon species despite being the central stream in one of the most rapidly urbanizing watersheds of the central Puget Sound region. The portion of North Creek that runs through the campus is just upstream from its junction with the Sammamish River near the north end of Lake Washington.
Aerial view of the Wetlands before restoration. Photographer: George White, March 2004. Aerial view of the Wetlands after restoration. Photographer: George White, July 2011. There is abundant evidence that this floodplain landscape once supported a rich mosaic of different wetland ecosystem types. Over the past 80 years or more, these natural communities were cleared by logging and displaced by pastureland following the straightening of the stream channel and creation of dikes to reduce flooding. The State of Washington purchased the land from the Truly family, who had long maintained a ranch operation on the site. The initial construction of the campus occurred on the hillslopes above the floodplain and required the filling of sensitive spring-fed wetland habitats on those slopes. Permits to allow wetland filling mandated the mitigation of these impacts by restoring 58.5 acres of floodplain wetlands along North Creek on campus. The project design and implementation was led by renowned wetland ecologists at L.C. Lee and Associates.
The design included a restoration of underlying physical, chemical and hydrological features of the stream channel and floodplain through creating a new stream channel and complex floodplain microtopography. Establishing these foundational characteristics at the outset, along with effective monitoring and adaptive management, has created the conditions for a thriving and naturally developing wetland ecosystem. The construction of the wetland, including extensive earthwork to construct the stream channel and floodplain, as well as planting, stretched over 4 years from 1998 to 2002. Since that time, the two campus institutions have devoted considerable resources to monitoring and maintaining the developing natural system to ensure its long term success. The site has become a living laboratory for students on campus and visitors from nearby K-20 schools and the general public, as well as wetland and restoration professionals who come to study a great success story in ecological restoration.
Children looking at a map of the wetlands. Photographer: Warren Gold, December 2006. Professor Warren Gold talking with students from UW Bothell ecological methods class (BES 316) about wetland vegetation analysis. Photographer: Warren Gold, 2003.Photographer: Warren Gold, March 2010. This collection includes photographs documenting the restoration project, from its early day before and during construction through its ecological development to the present times. Images address many aspects of the science and natural history of the site and its human use. We welcome your use of these images for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to the photographer(s) under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 Unported license. The collection aslo includes maps and documents relevant to the wetlands restoration project. Text: Warren Gold, Professor, University of Washington Bothell Photographers: Warren Gold, Marc Studer, Campus Facilities staff Curator/Project manager: Denise Hattwig