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Stewards and the Green Seattle Partnership

The WNPS Native Plant Stewardship Program in King County evolved in some exciting ways during the spring of 2007. The stewards still went through the renowned 10-week training program with many of the knowledgeable and inspiring presenters that have donated their time since the beginning of the stewardship program in 1996. The stewards still focused on native plant identification and learned about Western Washington native plant communities. This year, the training especially emphasized urban forest ecology and environmental restoration practices because the WNPS Stewards have joined the Green Seattle Partnership in the Partnership's effort to restore 2,500 acres of Seattle's urban forests by 2025.

Stewards exploring tools and methods used to monitor restoration project success during the spring training.

The 2007 Native Plant Forest Stewards put all they learned to work by teaming up to restore selected areas in six Seattle Parks. Near the end of the training, the class of twenty-one stewards was divided into six teams. Each team was assigned to a 1-acre plot within a Seattle Park. Based on what they learned during the training and during field trips, each team designed a project plan to restore, maintain, and monitor that acre of a Seattle Park.

Over the course of the following year, each steward dedicated at least 75 hours toward implementing the team's project plan.

These hours were spent:

Designing a plan to remove invasive plant species and to replace them with native plants
Creating maintenance and monitoring plans to ensure the project's success
Implementing the plans with their teammates and with volunteers as they host work parties with local community members.

Park projects and the stewardship teams:

Carkeek Park — Jan Bird, Linda Rantala, and Sally Anne Sadler
Discovery Park — Cindy Balbuena, Jason Broad, and Andy Quast
Interlaken Park — Nancy Bowen-Pope, Jeanne Eisenberg, Jonathan Goff, and Siggi Marcum
Lakeridge Park — Bryan Baker, Bill Brookreson, and Donna Mikula
Ravenna Park — Rosemary Baker, Paige Igoe, Danah Palik, and Ann Stevens
West Duwamish Greenbelt Park — Ellen Dobrick, Barbara Scott, and Joy Wood

Darrell Howe, a steward who has been involved with the Green Seattle Partnership in Frink Park, will continue his efforts there and will spend time working with each of the park teams as a "Roaming Field Specialist".

2007 Stewardship Final Report_12/31/07

This program made possible with support from the Seattle Foundation.

Our partners include