Nothing could hold Jim and Carolyn Freese back from trudging through the mud, stepping over fallen tree branches and pushing past plants en route to their final destination, wherever that may be.

The Bothell couple simply trekked as far as they could go before the land dipped into a ravine. The Freeses looked down, smiled at the stunning forest laid out before them and snapped a few pictures before heading back to safe, even ground and proceeded to explore the area some more.

After locating a large twisted red Cedar tree that has undergone such wear and tear that it no longer reaches upwards, but sideways instead, Carolyn remarked: “It’s still there.” Jim added: “Oh, it’s going to be here for a while.”

On a recent Friday afternoon, the Freeses spent about a half hour touring part of the North Creek Forest (near their home, off of 242nd Street Northeast), which the city of Bothell purchased from the Boy Scouts of America Dec. 15. The 35-acre, $460,000 land acquisition — located one mile from the Bothell city center — is fully funded through grants from the Washington State Department of Commerce, Snohomish County Conservation Futures and King County Conservation Futures; additional funding is through the King County Proposition 2 Park Levy.

Jim Freese — interim executive director of Friends of the North Creek Forest — called the land a game-changing piece of property, which will be preserved as open space and be available to the public for passive use and for nearby schools to use as outdoor classrooms.

“Once you get them in the forest and show them what they can do, it sells itself,” Freese said of educators and students and their surroundings.

“It’s almost like magic for students when they discover it. If we can move away from studying (just) the ABC’s to understanding whole systems …” he added about the upland coniferous forest to the University of Washington, Bothell wetlands to the Chinook salmon-spawning streams. The entire 64-acre forest houses large Douglas Fir, Western Hemlock and Cedar trees, and copious plants and animals, including the Pileated Woodpecker and the Band-tailed Pigeon.

Friends President Jeanie Robinson noted that they’ve got some momentum going and have 29 acres to go.

Boy Scouts property representative Bryan Zemp called the deal “the ideal way to sell scout property, knowing that it will become a public space to benefit people for years to come. This honors the spirit and tradition of scouting.”

Friends Vice President David Bain — a leading authority on Orca whales — is especially interested in the salmon, which the endangered whales devour to help in their aid and recovery, he said.

Like Freese, Bain — also vice president of the Cascadia Environment Science Center — said students are a top priority in introducing them to the world of water quality, land-use patterns and more: “We want to develop young minds through experiential learning they get to do hands-on starting early in elementary school through high school.”

Freese’s Friends of the North Creek Forest and Help Our Woods banded together with the city to help preserve what Bothell officials call its “last great forest,” which is surrounded by an urban area projected to grow 30 percent in the next 18 years.

Securing the grants was both a laborious and exciting process, according to Freese, who noted that Bothell resident and Rep. Derek Stanford lent support the whole way, as well.

“We showed up at City Council meetings asking if we could apply for these grants,” he said. “At the end of April, we got the Snohomish grant, and then six days later, we got the commerce grant — boom! boom! (both for $200,000 each). And we said, ‘Wow! Look what we can do when we work on it together.” They later secured a $109,000 federally funded land and water grant, the second highest in Washington state.

Aside from council meetings, the Friends spread the word at the University of Washington, Bothell and Bastyr University’s Earth Day events, RiverFest and the Brightwater Sewage Treatment Plant grand opening, and received key endorsements from UW-Bothell and the Northshore School District. The Friends estimate they’ve amassed more than 2,000 hours of labor toward forest restoration.

Bothell Deputy Mayor Josh Freed said 1 ½ years ago, it was questionable whether the land acquisition could be made, but perseverance by everyone involved and a common vision to preserve the forest pushed the purchase forward.

“I know we were all pretty excited about the opportunity that was out there,” said Freed, noting that the city, citizens and students will benefit from the purchase. “It’s a win-win all around.”

The Friends’ board of directors is a “dream list,” according to Freese, consisting of 12 founders that include Warren Gold (UW-Bothell associate professor of ecology and environmental science), Robinson (who holds a master’s degree in theological studies and a bachelor’s in education) and Maximilian Dixon (past president and founder of the UW-Bothell/Cascadia Community College Sustainability Organization).

UW-Bothell senior Darryl Nevels, a Friends founder and restoration-ecology student, says that visiting the forest is an ideal way to escape from city life. He likes to hike and just spend time in the woods. “It’s my niche,” he said.

And he’ll be spending a good deal of hours there with Gold on a UW Restoration Ecology Network mapping project studying plant diversity. “The forest is so close to UW-Bothell and we’re excited to keep on working,” he said.

“The North Creek Forest is a wonderland of forest habitat right here in the heart of Bothell. Its purchase by the city is the result of an amazing grassroots effort by a group of Bothell residents and forward-thinking city councilmembers and staff,” said Gold, who has lived in Bothell for 12 years. “I am incredibly grateful to the tireless efforts that have resulted in the preservation of such a gem of a marvelous resource, and I look forward to seeing it sparkle for generations to come.”