Merton "Mert" Turk's wife, Laura, sometimes had to honk the car horn to get him in from the forest for dinner. She once told The Everett Herald he was "married to this place." Friends said he spent most of his day out among the trees, building and adding things. One of the park's original volunteers, Kim Veenhuizen, called him the "energizer bunny."
That forest at 9623 55th Ave. NE is Mother Nature's Window Park. This fall is its first autumn open to the public in more than 25 years. The city reopened it in January 2026 and held a grand opening on May 14. Most of the coverage called it a park coming back. The land records tell a different story. Twice, housing plans covered ground that is now part of these 34 acres, and twice the forest stayed whole because Turk kept pushing until the county bought the land.
A Logger's Land, Turned Into a Gathering Place
Turk logged for a living. He grew up on family land near the site, worked with his father in the Quil Ceda Logging Company, and started buying property of his own in 1947. Over the years he added neighboring parcels until he owned 15 acres. He first meant to harvest the timber. In 1963 he decided to make a park instead, so his teenage son and friends had a safe place to gather.
Over the next decade he built it out by hand. Marysville City Councilmember Peter Condyles is also president of the Marysville Historical Society, and his history of the site lists what Turk added.
- A dance floor made from wood chips the city gave him after windstorms brought trees down
- A bandstand, a food service area, running water and outhouses
- Stump seating, a barbecue and picnic tables he built himself
- Around 100 kerosene lamps hung in the trees
- An 8-track player built into a tree stump, plus pulleys to lift speakers into the branches
- Birdhouses and boxes for the flying squirrels
Turk wanted everything made from recycled material. At its peak the park held 200 people, and he made sure it was wheelchair accessible. Later he opened it to community groups and to Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops coming to learn about nature. He charged groups a fee to use it and gave all of the money to Seattle Children's Hospital.
All of that sat on his 15 acres. The forest around it covered about 46 acres, and other owners held the remaining 31. Most of today's park sits on that surrounding land, and that is where the fights came from.
Two Plans for Houses Where the Trails Now Run
Condyles' history traces both rounds in detail. Here they are side by side.
| First round | Second round | |
|---|---|---|
| When | 1990 to 1993 | 1998 |
| What was proposed | 35 homes, with a 3-acre buffer around Turk's park | 42 homes on about 8 acres east of the park, after a rezone |
| Where it stood | Plat approved by the county hearing examiner in summer 1992 | Rezone approved by the hearing examiner in July 1998 |
| How it ended | A $500,000 Conservation Futures grant awarded the week before Christmas 1992; the county bought the land in April 1993 for $580,000 | A $2.4 million Conservation Futures grant, approved unanimously by the county council in October 1998 |
That's 77 homes proposed across the two rounds. In the first round, a city sewer moratorium bought Turk some time, and he spent it lobbying. The Marysville Globe, The Everett Herald, the City of Marysville, Snohomish County and the Marysville Community Action Network all took part in what Condyles calls Turk's media crusade. The county's first grant application didn't get funded. Then the moratorium lifted, the plat was approved, and the Herald wrote that "a 45-acre park seems increasingly unlikely." The county applied again late in 1992, this time with the city as a joint applicant, and won the grant.
The 1998 grant went further than the parcel in question. It paid $1 million for the 8.2-acre parcel slated for homes and $510,000 for a 6.3-acre neighboring property owned by the Hoekendork family. It also paid $781,000 for 10 acres of Turk's own land, on the condition that he and his wife could live there for the rest of their lives. With that, the county owned all the land around Mother Nature's Window.
At the May ribbon cutting, Condyles put it bluntly, as The Everett Herald reported:
"This park should have never happened. The hearing examiner approved houses to be built where we are standing, and Mert was able to convince the County Council to spend conservation futures money on buying it."
Why Saving the Land Did Not Open the Gate
Once the county owned the land, it ran into problems it couldn't get past, and a full county park never got built. In 2009 Marysville annexed the area, as the city and county had planned from the start, and took ownership. Citing safety concerns and needed upgrades, the city fenced the property off. Everyone expected a short closure. Then the Great Recession hit, improvement costs rose and residents disagreed about what the park should be, so the project was shelved and the gate stayed locked indefinitely.
Turk died in 2013, before the forest reopened.
The restart came from inside City Hall. In 2021, four city employees took the park on as a leadership project. Alex Chamberlin came from the Marysville Municipal Court, Dave Hall and Jeramie Roth from the Parks Department, and Jeff Laycock from Public Works. They interviewed residents, police officers and parks staff and recommended splitting the work into two phases, with the first one focused on getting the public back in. In 2024, under Parks Director Tara Mizell, the city lined up $1.47 million for Phase 1. That was $750,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and $720,000 from the City of Marysville. Construction started in July 2025, as The Everett Herald reported at the time.
What a Fall Walk Shows Now
Phase 1 added accessible walkways, restored trails, benches, landscaping, irrigation and signage. It also built a new parking lot with sidewalks and a bus turnaround. Condyles' history adds lighting in some areas, stormwater systems and educational signs.
On opening day, the Herald's photos showed several named routes. Comeford Road runs under a mixed canopy of trees. Along the Cedar Loop, a robin sat on the root of a fallen tree. A marker post stands at the start of the Fern Trail. Near the trailheads, signs ask visitors to check their shoes for invasive species before they set out.
Some of what you'll pass is older than the new paths. The tree signs giving each species and age are Turk's own estimates, and his flying-squirrel boxes are still in the trees. Condyles pointed both out in an interview with the Herald after the ceremony. The bus turnaround serves the same purpose Turk's scout visits once did. Condyles told the Herald the park will be used for environmental education, with three elementary schools within a mile.
The clocks fell back last weekend, so a mid-afternoon visit makes the most of the light under the canopy. Before you go, check hours and park rules on the city's Mother Nature's Window Park page.
The Next Phase Is Still Unfunded
The city calls this work Phase 1 and plans more amenities and programming as money comes in. At the opening, the Herald reported that U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell are working to secure federal money for Phase 2. The Lynnwood Times also reported that further expansion depends on funding.
This week, Marysville is asking residents what it should prioritize across all of its parks. The city is updating its Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan to set priorities for parks, trails and recreation programs. The in-person open house at the Community Center was Wednesday. A virtual open house runs tonight, Thursday, Nov. 5, at 6 p.m., and the community survey closes Friday, Nov. 6. Updates are posted at marysvillewa.gov/PROS and on the My Marysville mobile app.
Turk's case for this forest rested on public meetings, county grant rounds and people willing to speak up. The PROS survey is the current version of that process, and it's open through Friday.
Andrew has spent years working with clients across north King and Snohomish counties, and stories like this one are part of how he explains a community to people moving into the area. If you have questions about Marysville's neighborhoods or are weighing a move nearby, Andrew Macgillivray is happy to talk it through at your pace. Let's Connect.
