Green Seattle Partnership has been busy these last couple months welcoming visitors from around the world! What an honor to host attendees of the Greater Greener Conference, leadership and staff from NPO Birth in Tokyo, judges from the Green Flag Award, the UNEP delegation for World Environment Day, as well as participants with the Bloomberg Green Festival! We shared ideas and made new connections, once again growing our network and knowledge.
Appreciations for Ashley
Before we proceed with a summary of all our welcoming events, we here at the Green Seattle Partnership (GSP) wanted to take a moment to share some appreciations for our colleague Ashley Robles who recently wrapped up an interim role as Plant Ecologist this month. She has been a phenomenal team member and partner. During her 6-month role, Ashley focused on supporting staff and participants with GSP’s 15 partner organizations, helping with contract management, scoping ecological restoration work, and supporting community engagement strategies. Some accomplishments include: working in committee with partners to develop the first GSP BIPOC affinity group and hosting 3 successful meetings, coordinating translation of GSP’s outreach postcard into 8 languages, supporting the Black Forest tree planting event, authoring GSP blog content, pulling off a last-minute World Environment Day event with the United Nations, building out new content for a 3-part Forest Steward Annual Meeting, and so much more! Most importantly, she has worked with grace and has centered relationship building and care. Thank you, Ashley!
Greater Greener Conference
Mobile Workshop | Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center
The title of this mobile workshop was “Decolonizing Ecological Restoration: A Partnership Between Tribes and City Parks”. Over 40 conference attendees participated in a walking tour to explore cultural and civic history amidst the abundant forests, wetlands, and ponds of Daybreak Star. Founded in 1970, the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation provides an extensive array of culturally responsive services and programming to Seattle and King County’s urban Native community. Completed in 1977, Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center in Seattle’s largest park, Discovery Park, has become a hub of activity for Native peoples and their supporters.
More recently, United Indians’ sister organization, Na’ah Illahee Fund, invited a women-led permaculture cohort to begin restoration planning and then initiated an Indigenous Council to guide restorations, community events, and skills development while continuing to build a healthy home for plant relatives. Supported by Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR), GSP promotes the decolonization of ecological restoration practices, community programs for youth, major maintenance of a constructed pond, and care for a landscape that provides food, medicine, and fiber. Also featured were Indigenous-led restoration efforts, wetland ecology, and urban forest restoration.
Mobile Workshop | Kubota Garden and Natural Area + Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetland
A full busload of conference attendees signed up to experience “Community-Driven Ecological Care” the Seattle way! Stops included Kubota Garden, an American Japanese garden surrounded by a riparian forest, and Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetland, a park space transformed into a farm and wetland. The strong community commitment to caring for and building our urban forest in Seattle was highlighted at every opportunity.
The first stop was Kubota Garden and Natural Area, where the tour attendees explored the history of this American Japanese garden and its surrounding forest and heard about Green Seattle Partners’ job training and community programming currently underway. EarthCorps shared their approach to hosting forest stewardship events that center on community needs and interests. Partner in Employment talked about immigrant and refugee career exposure programming. SPR staff and the Kubota Garden Foundation shared information about the history of the park and its plans for the future.
The tour then visited the Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetland. This farm plays an important role in advancing food justice in Seattle, creating a space for education and practice that center on culturally essential foods and community needs.
Seattle Parks and Recreation, along with partner organizations ECOSS, Serve Ethiopians Washington, and Tilth Alliance, shed light on how community members developed this shared space to produce food and restore wetland habitat. Engagement strategies and programming ideas were shared by staff from Tilth Alliance.
Mobile Workshop | Kingfisher Natural Area, Madison Valley Stormwater Park, Washington Park Arboretum
More than 50 Greater and Greener conference attendees toured some of Seattle’s Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) facilities located on Parks property. Titled “Green Stormwater Infrastructure in Parks”, this tour highlighted strategies to unlock the potential of GSI in transforming urban park spaces. GSI creates not only vibrant green havens and park spaces but also fortifies climate resilience. Practical applications, design considerations, and collaborative approaches involved in implementing GSI in urban environments were discussed at every location.
The tour began at the King Fisher Natural Area for an examination and discussion of creek and watershed restoration projects. The group then delved into the design and topography of the Madison Valley Stormwater Storage Facility, which includes a combined sewer overflow (CSO) basin. The workshop concluded at the Washington Park Arboretum, where the successful collaboration between the University of Washington and the City of Seattle is evident, showcasing a county CSO facility and the tangible results of this impactful partnership.
Weekend Tour | Discover Discovery Park
GSP’s Eric Sterner led Greater and Greener conference attendees on a walking tour of Discovery Park, one of Seattle’s largest parks (534 acres) and one of its most ecologically diverse, with natural areas featuring majestic bluffs overlooking Puget Sound, tidal beaches, groves of madrona trees, grassy meadows, dunes, and a lighthouse.
It was a clear day, and attendees enjoyed a breathtaking view of the Sound, and the Cascade and Olympic Mountain ranges, including Mt. Rainier. Discovery Park naturalists hiked with guests through the park, sharing the unique history of the park and the biologically rich natural environment. These visiting Parks professionals also experienced firsthand how Discovery Park provides a large open space of quiet and tranquility away from the stress and activity of the city, a sanctuary for wildlife, as well as an outdoor classroom for people to learn about the natural world.
The park is also home to the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center, which serves as a community center for Native Americans in the Seattle area and headquarters for the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation.
Visiting Colleagues Tour: NPO Birth from Tokyo Japan
Seattle Parks and Recreation staff hosted a delegation from Tokyo-based non-profit NPO Birth for a tour of Kubota Garden and Natural Area. Like GSP, NPO Birth’s mission is to “is to share the importance and joy of living close to nature with more people; to learn more knowledge and skills to protect nature and the ecosystem and working together as a team.” Like GSP, they leverage decades of experience and knowledge in ecology and community building to advance this mission. It was a sincere pleasure to meet with them and we hope to visit again in the future.
Green Flag Award
Seward Park
SPR Communications Manager Rachel Shulkin authored a wonderful summary of how Seward Park came to be recognized as the first city park in the Unites States to receive a Green Flag Award. Of course, GSP activities and programming, as well as other civic community groups and leaders, played a key role in this achievement. Here are some of the judges’ comments:
On the topic of Maintenance of Equipment, Buildings & Landscape, “The work of Green Seattle Partnership, ensures the ongoing maintenance of the shoreline in particular for the benefit of wildlife and biodiversity.”
On the topic of Environmental Management, “The Green Seattle Program is a great asset to the park, enhancing environmental stewardship and community engagement.”
On the topic of Biodiversity Landscape & Heritage, “The work of Green Seattle Partnership is commendable in this area, and it was a pleasure to meet them during the visit. As well as hands on conservation work, they provide infill for educational activities and downloadable resources from their website.”
We are looking forward to continuing to support this important park, natural area and place.
World Environment Day
Pigeon Point
Seattle was invited to participate with World Environment Day on June 5th as the featured North American site. Along with partners from Society for Ecological Restoration NW Chapter and GSP organizations, we welcomed leaders from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), including Rafael Peralta, Regional Director for North America, UNEP. Participants moved mulch, joined bird and plant educational walks, painted a mural, made fabric prints, listened to youth speakers, ate great food, and got raffle prizes! A big thank you goes to Ashley Robles for her willingness to take on last minute event logistics, to NRU staff or providing event support, to Superintendent Diaz for his willingness to join us, and to Samantha Burton from SPR Communications for capturing additional photos and video (Pigeon Point Park World Environment Day June 2024 | Flickr and Instagram coverage: Seattle Parks and Recreation (@seattleparksandrec) • Instagram photos and videos).
Photo credit: Danielle Devier
Bloomberg Green Festival
Jefferson Park
GSP staff and Forest Stewards hosted participants at Jefferson Park on July 13th as part of the Bloomberg Green Festival. Participants learned about our programming and helped manage blackberry in a forest edge between Jefferson Golf Course and the playfield.
