March 21, 2012

Dear friend:

Monday, March 19, was an exciting day at the King County Council.  The Council unanimously passed my motion urging the U.S. Congress to designate the Mountains to Sound Greenway as a National Heritage Area.  With the combined support from the Kittitas County Board of Commissioners and now the King County Council, the likelihood of the Mountains to Sound Greenway becoming a National Heritage Area is greater than ever before.

The Mountains to Sound Greenway was formed as a nonprofit in 1991, and is still governed to this day by a sixty-member board of directors.  In 1998, the Federal Highway Administration designated it as the country’s first National Scenic Byway.  Today, the Mountains to Sound Greenway consists of 1.5 million acres, including 1,600 miles of recreational trails, 28 cities, and 1.8 million people. 

If designated as a National Heritage Area, the Mountains to Sound Greenway will be the 49th such area, but will be the first in Washington State.  Such a designation is made for landscapes with strong traditions of historic preservation, natural resource conservation, recreation, heritage tourism, and educational projects that can be more easily supported through public-private partnerships.  While a designation as a National Heritage Area could increase public awareness of and strengthen conservation efforts within the greenway, the designation does not affect private property rights, legislate new public lands, or add land-use regulations or more regulatory authority for lands within the Mountains to Sound Greenway.

The Mountains to Sound Greenway is truly one of the jewels of the Northwest, and I thank my colleagues on the King County Council in joining me to urge Congress to designate it as a National Heritage Area.  For more information on this project, you may visit the Mountains to Sound Greenway website at http://mtsgreenway.org/designation.

Deep-Vein Thrombosis (DVT)

Members of the Metropolitan King County Council join (l-r)  Dr. Roger Stark, with the Washington Policy Center,  Dr. Anneliese Schleyer, Associate Medical Director at Harborview Medical Center and Dr. David Hadley, President of the Harborview Medical Center Board of Trustees. The members declared March 2012 Deep-Vein Thrombosis (DVT) Awareness Month in King County.

On Monday, I also presented a recognition naming March 2012 as Deep-Vein Thrombosis Awareness Month.  Conditions caused by DVT kill more people every year than breast cancer and AIDS combined.  As you may know, a pulmonary embolism caused by DVT tragically took the life of my mother, Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn.  Since then I have worked to increase awareness of DVT so the public can recognize the early warning signs in order to seek treatment for this deadly, but preventable disease.  More information on the Coalition to Prevent Deep-Vein Thrombosis can be found at www.preventdvt.org. 

As always, I remain committed to serving you on the King County Council.  Please do not hesitate to contact my office for assistance with King County issues. 

Best regards,

Reagan Dunn
King County Councilmember, District 9

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If you have any questions or comments, please email me at reagan.dunn@kingcounty.gov or call my office at (206) 296-1009.

Phone: (206) 296-1009 | Fax: (206) 296-0198 | TTY/TDD: (206) 296-1024 | Toll Free: (800) 325-6165
Mailing Address: King County Courthouse, 516 Third Avenue, Suite 1200, Seattle, WA 98104-3272