This year marked the 3rd annual Seattle Forest Week from October 28 to November 4, a time dedicated to celebrating the Urban Forest through education and restoration. Events ranged from art exhibits and symposiums to planting bulbs and trees.
Saturday, November 4th was set as Green Seattle Day, an opportunity for community members to join forest stewards and local organizations in supporting the restoration of Seattle’s parks – through weeding, mulching, and planting. Unfortunately, due to extreme weather conditions, Green Seattle Day was canceled and instead spread out through the month of November. Events occurred at various locations across Seattle, and all had great turnouts! A huge thank you to our partner organizations and volunteers for their flexibility and fantastic work.
Seattle Forest Week
Arbor Day at Jefferson Park
Arbor Day 2023 was a huge success. Thanks to our many volunteers, we were able to plant 26 large trees around Jefferson Park and the community center, adding needed shade, improving air quality and more. Special thanks to members of the Beacon Arts Council, Beacon Food Forest, University of Washington, and Seattle University who came out to support and plant. Mayor Harrell even came to learn and plant trees alongside youth participants like the Paw Cast Kids group!
Fronds, Fall, and Urban Farm Fun
Hosted at Rainier Beach Urban Farms and Wetlands, this celebration focused on exploring the wetlands at the farm, flower printing, planting, zero-waste pumpkin recipes, forest bathing, and more.
Roots to Waves: A Walk of Connection
Sea Potential led a BIPOC affinity event for folks to explore the interconnectedness between forest and sea at Discovery Park Beach! This event strengthened participants sense of place with site history and sensory-based activities, interesting facts and observations throughout the walk, and reflections on what contributes to a vibrant and thriving community for all of us and our non-human relatives.
Other events that occurred across the city were:
- Art at the Arboretum with Seattle-based artist John Grade.
- Various events at Freeway Park from the Freeway Park Association.
- The 2023 Urban Forest Symposium with the University of Washington Botanic Gardens.
Green Seattle Day
Green Seattle Day closed out Seattle Forest Week…kind of. Participants and event leads came through with flexibility and creativity after bad weather canceled most events on November 4th. We are so excited to share out that baby plants are getting in the ground all across Seattle in rescheduled events. Here’s a couple of the make-up Green Seattle Day events that welcomed neighbors into the forest to plant and hang together.
Rescheduled for November 11, Serve Ethiopians Washington was joined by 36 volunteers who planted 110 plants! This was Serve Ethiopians first time hosting a Green Seattle Day site. We are so grateful for their commitment to Be’er Sheva Park and the Rainier Beach Neighborhood. Extra props to staff at Tilth Alliance and Forest Steward Eric for providing support.
Our Burke-Gilman Forest Steward and volunteers persevered though the heavy rain on November 4, with 66 folks coming out to plant a total of 1,196 plants. Eighteen volunteers also gathered.
Rescheduled to November 12, Golden Gardens with our Forest Steward Doug was joined by 18 volunteers to plant 87 new baby plants.
At Kubota Gardens Natural Area Partners in Employment (PIE) youth participants were joined by 10 volunteers who planted 122 plants. Also occurring on November 18, our East Duwamish Greenbelt Forest Steward team was joined by 17 volunteers and planted a total of 70 plants.
Seward Park Audubon rescheduled for November 25 and planted 200 plants with 16 volunteers. That same day, Dirt Corps was joined by 29 volunteers and planted 300 plants at Westcrest Park.
Wrapping up our rescheduled Green Seattle Day events on November 29, Earthcorps was joined by 5 volunteers and planted 130 plants.
Thank you again to everyone who came out and supported Seattle Forest Week! And if you missed the fun, we will continue to be out in Seattle parks (almost every day of the week), welcoming volunteers and program participants to plant with us. Check out our CEDAR events page for a list of upcoming volunteer events.