Green Seattle Partnership
Encyclopedia
The Green Seattle Partnership in, Seattle, Washington, USA, is a unique public/private partnership between the City of Seattle and the Cascade Land Conservancy.
Green Seattle has a vision of a city with diverse, invasive-free, sustainable forested parklands. It is a vision where Seattle’s urban forest
will be supported by an aware and engaged community in which individuals, neighborhoods, nonprofits, businesses, and City government work together to protect and maintain this resource.
The Green Seattle Partnership is a unique public-private venture dedicated to promoting a livable city by re-establishing and maintaining healthy urban forests.
. Seattle Parks and Recreation, Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment, and Seattle Public Utilities are the three key City departments serving in the Green Seattle Partnership. The partnership is governed by a 9-member Executive Council appointed by the Mayor.
The Executive Council includes representatives from the community, Cascade Land Conservancy
Board, and directors of the key City of Seattle departments. Most importantly, the Green Seattle Partnership includes thousands of community volunteers, who, with the support of businesses and nonprofits, actively work to restore and maintain Seattle’s forested parklands.
region. After 150 years of logging, view clearing, and passive management, these remnant forests are sick. Seattle’s trees are aging and inundated with invasive plants, including English ivy, Himalayan blackberry, Scot’s broom and knotweed. Most of our trees are near the end of their natural lives.
At the same time, invasive plants have choked out the seedlings that would replace today’s forest. English ivy is an additional threat as it climbs up into the canopy causing trees to topple in high winds. Within 20 years, 70% of our forests (2,500 acres) will be an ecological dead zone were invasive plants predominate, trees are dead or dying and wildlife habitat is gone.
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 storm water. 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 2500 acres (10.1 km²) within the Green Seattle Partnership program will be healthy and free of invasive plants, according to the plan.
Green Seattle has a vision of a city with diverse, invasive-free, sustainable forested parklands. It is a vision where Seattle’s urban forest
Urban forest
An urban forest is a forest or a collection of trees that grow within a city, town or a suburb. In a wider sense it may include any kind of woody plant vegetation growing in and around human settlements. In a narrower sense it describes areas whose ecosystems are inherited from wilderness...
will be supported by an aware and engaged community in which individuals, neighborhoods, nonprofits, businesses, and City government work together to protect and maintain this resource.
The Green Seattle Partnership is a unique public-private venture dedicated to promoting a livable city by re-establishing and maintaining healthy urban forests.
"Creating a sustainable network of healthy forested parklands throughout Seattle, supported by an aware, engaged community."
About Us
The Partnership was formed in 2004 by memorandum of agreement between the City of Seattle and the Cascade Land ConservancyCascade Land Conservancy
The Cascade Land Conservancy, based in Seattle, Washington, USA, is the state of Washington’s largest land conservation, stewardship and community building organization dedicated solely to the region. The Cascade Land Conservancy is a non-profit, 501 organization governed by a Board of...
. Seattle Parks and Recreation, Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment, and Seattle Public Utilities are the three key City departments serving in the Green Seattle Partnership. The partnership is governed by a 9-member Executive Council appointed by the Mayor.
The Executive Council includes representatives from the community, Cascade Land Conservancy
Cascade Land Conservancy
The Cascade Land Conservancy, based in Seattle, Washington, USA, is the state of Washington’s largest land conservation, stewardship and community building organization dedicated solely to the region. The Cascade Land Conservancy is a non-profit, 501 organization governed by a Board of...
Board, and directors of the key City of Seattle departments. Most importantly, the Green Seattle Partnership includes thousands of community volunteers, who, with the support of businesses and nonprofits, actively work to restore and maintain Seattle’s forested parklands.
Problem
Today, 3,200 of Seattle’s 3700 acres (15 km²) of natural areas are forested parks and greenways—remnants of a once vast forest that covered the entire Puget SoundPuget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
region. After 150 years of logging, view clearing, and passive management, these remnant forests are sick. Seattle’s trees are aging and inundated with invasive plants, including English ivy, Himalayan blackberry, Scot’s broom and knotweed. Most of our trees are near the end of their natural lives.
At the same time, invasive plants have choked out the seedlings that would replace today’s forest. English ivy is an additional threat as it climbs up into the canopy causing trees to topple in high winds. Within 20 years, 70% of our forests (2,500 acres) will be an ecological dead zone were invasive plants predominate, trees are dead or dying and wildlife habitat is gone.
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 AmbroseThe 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 storm water. 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 2500 acres (10.1 km²) within the Green Seattle Partnership program will be healthy and free of invasive plants, according to the plan.
External links
- Facebook Fan Page: “Green Seattle Partnership”
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/greenseattle