Future of WA state park Blake Island to be decided with public help

The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission is seeking public feedback on the future of one of the closest state parks to Seattle.

WSPRC is in phase two of a four-phase process to develop a master plan that will map out Blake Island Marine State Park’s future. Located 3 ½ miles southwest of Alki Point, the 1,127-acre park is boat-access only, offering campsites, beach exploration and countless hiking trails, with the Cascade Mountains in the distance.

Four “alternatives” were presented by WSPRC at a community meeting in Port Orchard on Feb. 25, ranging from removing the marina and restoring the park’s natural state to funding expensive marina improvements alongside the addition of a lodge, cabins and employee housing.

Planners are seeking feedback through a survey that asks the public to rank each proposal on a scale of one to five and provides a comment box for each alternative. It is available online until April 30. Additional thoughts can be shared via an online public comment form. The project website states the plan is being developed with input from tribal governments. The Seattle Times contacted the office of tribal relations but did not hear back by the time of publication.

Originally an ancestral camping ground of the Suquamish people, Blake Island is believed to be the birthplace of Chief Seattle in the 1780s. It became a state park in 1959; shortly after, a concessionaire from Seattle opened Tillicum Village, a popular attraction with a restaurant and longhouse that featured Indigenous dancing and storytelling performances.

From 2009 to 2021, Tillicum and the passenger ferry service to get there were operated by Argosy Cruises. After Argosy terminated its concession agreement with WSPRC in 2021 – leaving the deteriorating buildings empty and eliminating a key piece of public transport, contributing to the decrease in visitors in recent years – park planners were forced to consider the fate of the park.

Its marina, considered the entry point that welcomes visitors, has needed costly improvements, including dredging, for several years. Alexandra Sullivan, the lead planner on the Blake Island project, explained that the future of the park and marina are closely tied.

Improvements will cost an estimated $30 million, according to Sullivan. It’s a steep price tag that comes at a time when obtaining funding for projects can be a challenge amid the state Legislature’s budget woes.

Kinnan Murray, a WSPRC area manager who oversees several state parks, including Blake Island, said that initial designs for a marina project were drawn up several years ago, separate from the master planning project.

“The real catalyst for the master planning process was with Argosy Cruises pulling out of the concession lease to operate Tillicum,” Murray said. “Then we were looking at general maintenance upkeep of a 20,000-plus-square-foot building. That’s given us the opportunity to pause and reflect on what does the public actually want in a recreational setting on Blake Island?”

The alternatives

The first of four alternatives is called “Back to Nature” and proposes restoring the island to a more natural state by removing the marina and intentionally reducing the facilities available.

“We aren’t planning on closing it for public access,” Sullivan said of the first proposal, which WSPRC predicts would result in lower visitation. “But it would make it more difficult to get there and might limit what kinds of boats could go there.”

The second proposal, “Rustic Retreat,” suggests funding marina improvements but no new concessions. It would allow better access for boaters while maintaining a more untouched natural feel.

Option three, “Concession,” builds on marina improvements with a focus on concessions and high visitation. It seeks the continuation of “Tillicum Village scale concession,” with an operator on a long-term lease that would offer educational or entertainment programming and include public commercial transport via boat. Drawbacks include finding a concessionaire, funding the marina improvements and potential visitation impacts on wildlife.

Argosy Cruises opted to end its agreement during the COVID-19 pandemic, citing restrictions, the need for upgrades inside the Tillicum Village buildings and the need for dredging, which impacted the company’s ability to use the marina, according to Sullivan.

The final alternative, “Recreation,” involves a large-scale expansion of facilities alongside increased public access via commercial transport. It includes the addition of overnight lodging, including a main lodge, standard cabins and deluxe cabins. Along with marina costs, the development of the facilities would be expensive and require new staff housing. The slide deck noted that development would increase greenhouse emissions and could have negative impacts on wildlife.

Sullivan explained that staff will use the feedback on the proposed alternatives to develop a preliminary recommendation, moving the project from stage two to stage three.

“That will be our preferred alternative,” she said. “That may be one of the ones we’ve developed already, or it might be a combination of elements from multiple alternatives.”

The last stage of the project, which began in 2024, will involve writing the master plan document, which is submitted to a seven-member Parks and Recreation Commission for approval. The project website states they anticipate sending the plan in 2026.