The Solution
"In the 19th Century we devoted our best minds to exploring nature. In the 20th Century we devoted ourselves to controlling and harnessing it. In the 21st Century, the best minds are working on how to restore nature." Stephen Ambrose
Last year, the City of Seattle joined with the Cascade Land Conservancy to form the Green Seattle Partnership. The partnership is developing a 20-year plan to combat the invasion of ivy and blackberry and restore the forested areas to health.
The partnership is already on the ground and working. Recently it held its first Forest Stewards meeting, attracting more than 25 volunteers who will learn the best management practices to eradicate the invasive plants. In its first year of actual restoration, the partnership hoped to put 60 acres into the four phase cycle needed to restore the worst areas. In fact, work began on more than 75 acres.
The urban forest is the City’s green infrastructure. A sustainable forest will have both a multi-aged canopy of trees and a forest floor alive with native species that provide habitat for a diversity of native insects and wildlife. If we take care of it, our urban forest is a valuable asset that can serve the community many ways. The process of forest growth will itself build new soils, improve air and water quality, and retain stormwater. Trails through our natural areas will offer the cultural and recreational benefits necessary for a livable city.
The goal of the Green Seattle Partnership is to promote a livable city by re-establishing and maintaining healthy forested parklands throughout Seattle. By the year 2025, all 2,500 acres within the Green Seattle Partnership program will be healthy and free of invasive plants, according to the plan. 
“We will need to be restoring 160 acres a year at the program's peak in 2010," said Pieter Bohen, Stewardship Director at the Cascade Land Conservancy. "That means removing invasive plants and planting 110 native trees per acre. We'll achieve that goal by increasing City resources and better supporting volunteers with an active community leader for each forested area."
