This site has been created by several Discovery Park Adopt-An-Area Stewards to share the experience they have gained from over twelve years of on-the-ground experience in removing invasive plants and re-introducing native plants, with the ultimate goal of restoring at least a small part of the Discovery Park ecosystem to a pristine, ecologically functioning, historically authentic and completely native state.
The site is devoted to the specific area we call the North Slope Restoration Project (NSRP). This consists of the union of three old adopted areas from the 1997 time-frame: Area 31, Area 24 and Area 9, together comprising a little over 12 acres. A detailed description of the project area can be found elsewhere on this site.
As of 2009 this restoration project and well over 50 others in Discovery Park have been enrolled into the Green Seattle Partnership (GSP) and are being actively restored and monitored according to protocols developed by GSP. The GSP encompasses all the 2500 forested acres in Seattle and has expanded into a Green Cities Partnership with other nearby cities under the leadership of the Cascade Land Conservancy.
For purposes of tracking restoration in the NSRP, all work is now logged into a GSP database and the historical adopted areas have been partitioned according to the following list:
For a lot more information on the Green Seattle Partnership, go to their web site: GSP
There are many useful resources there for GSP Forest Stewards who have taken training on forest restoration and are actively working on many GSP-enrolled sites in parks all over Seattle. Currently there are well over 100 official Forest Stewards, all unpaid volunteers. On this site you can access the online restoration map to see all of the GSP sites in Seattle. This map and the restoration database behind it is maintained by EarthCorps Science: EarthCorps Interactive Restoration Map
This site will evolve from its current state over time to achieve the following goal:
Provide a set of maps and other graphics showing the areas being actively restored by stewards. This data will include lists of plants found in the area, plants which have been planted in the areas, before and after image archives showing restoration progress over time and narratives detailing what works and what doesn't work in our experience.
Rather than repeat a lot of material here about the history of the Park and its current programs and details, we suggest you check out the sites below if you don't know anything about Discovery Park.
Note that this site is totally paid for, maintained and managed by the volunteer stewards who have created it. We have no endorsement from Seattle Parks for any of the content presented here and we alone are responsible for the opinions expressed herein.
That being said, please remember that the Park is owned by the people of Seattle and managed for their benefit by the Seattle Parks Department. We, as stewards, respect that and realize that we work under the leadership of the staff who are paid to take care of and restore the Park according to the Master Plan worked out by citizens many years ago. We do our work guided by that Plan, and later documents like the Vegetation Management Plan, and we understand that Parks has the last word on the restoration efforts we undertake.
So, before you head off with your trusty loppers and shovel to fix problems you see in the Park, first, get trained on the proper way to tackle such problems and consult with Park staff on what problems they would like your help in solving right now. The best way to do this is to join a scheduled work party or get trained as an Adopt-An-Area steward and get your own area to restore at your own pace.
To become a steward, contact Sandy Demeritt to schedule a training session and take a tour of the Park to find an area in need of your help. She can be reached via email: Mail AAA Manager or by calling the Discovery Park front desk at 206.386.4236 and asking to be connected to her number.