Tokul Creek is the last major tributary below Snoqualmie Falls. The sub-basin is almost entirely within privately owned forest lands.
According to the 2001 land-cover analysis by Marshall and Associates, 14% of the sub-basin is classified as either “recent clear cut forest” or “recently regenerated forest”, the highest combined rate for these classifications in the watershed. The lower 1.7 miles of the stream are within a low density rural residential designation.
The mainstem of Tokul Creek is roughly 14 miles in length with two major tributaries in Ten Creek and Beaver Creek. The Washington Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) owns and manages a block of land in the middle of the basin under the Natural Area Preserves (NAP) program. NAP lands are intended to protect the best remaining examples of many ecological communities including rare plant and animal habitat. NAP sites are identified by the WDNR Natural Heritage Program. The Kings Lake NAP, totaling 309 acres, preserves sphagnum bogs and a 2-acre “eyelet” pond , which represent ecosystems that are now extremely rare in the region. The site protects populations of few-flowered sedge, a state Sensitive plant, Hatch's click beetle, and Beller's ground beetle, both state Threatened animal species only found in very good condition sphagnum bogs .
WDFW operates the Tokul Creek Fish Hatchery near the mouth of the creek. According to WDFW, anadromous fish are limited to the lower 1.4 miles of the stream below an impassable waterfall. Chinook, coho, pink and chum salmon, as well as both summer-run and winter-run steelhead are known to utilize Tokul Creek. Approximately 190,000 winter-run steelhead smolts are produced annually at the hatchery, primarily to support a local sport fishery. Most of the fish are released from the hatchery, while roughly 20,000 are released near the confluence of the Tolt and Snoqualmie Rivers, and 20,000 in the Raging River near Preston. In addition, approximately 60,000 summer steelhead are released annually from the hatchery (R2 Resource Consultants, Inc. 2008) .