Discovery Park Habitat

Last Updated: 11/20/2010

Profile - Thomas (Tom) Palm

Webmaster of DiscoveryParkHabitat.org, Discovery Park Adopt-An-Area Steward (1997-2010), Green Seattle Partnership(GSP) Lead Forest Steward for Discovery Park (2009-2010), Discovery Park Advisory Council (DPAC) Board Member (2003-2010), Treasurer (2005-2007), President (2008-2010), Secretary (2010).

I am a 45-year resident of Seattle who first walked around Discovery Park in the early 1970's, when I lived in Magnolia, and have continued to go there continuously since moving to North Beach in 1980. Below is my micro-biography to indicate where my current interests came from:

• Born in Minneapolis. Schooled in Catholic and public schools in Seattle, Edmonds (WA), Minot (ND), New Orleans (LA).
• College at University of Minnesota (Physics), University of Washington (B.S Math), Seattle University (2.5 years in Master of Software Engineering program).
• Vietnam-era US Army draftee
• Life-long consumer of any news related to astronomy, astrophysics or cosmology.
• Programmer, analyst, project manager and Fellow at Honeywell (Ballard) for 21 years.
• Programmer, analyst, project manager, product manager and Fellow at various software companies East of Seattle for 12 years.
• Outsourced to an involuntary retirement in 2002; had a realization that I could be a full-time volunteer for things I cared about for the rest of my allotted time.
• Learned to appreciate the NW forests over 36 years of mountain climbing, back-packing and hiking. Learned about native plants from 23 years of hiking with my late wife, a Master Gardener, and augmented this with intensive book-learning the last eight years as I created the database on this site and rooted in the ground in my area of Discovery Park for 300-400 hours per year. I carefully observe plant behavior and development and try to recognize each one on my 1200 miles per year of hiking, including at least 200 Discovery Park loops per year to see it at every season, in every weather and lighting condition and have experienced many "lucky" animal encounters.

What organizations do I believe in enough to spend my time (and $ when I have it) on ?

• Hike leader for two hiking clubs for 15 years; Issaquah Alps Trails Club (IATC) in Issaquah and Snoqualmie Valley Trails Club (SVTC) in North Bend. On sabbatical now for two years due to recovery from back surgery.
• Volunteer for Northwest Ecosystem Alliance (NWEA) and its four year campaign to save the Cascade Crest forest corridor, The Cascades Conservation Partnership (TCCP) as well as other activities including the Rare Carnivore crittercams project. [This organization is now called Conservation NW].
• 30 year supporter of The Nature Conservancy, and The Nature Conservancy of Washington
• The Washington Toxics Coalition (WTC)
• The Washington State Public Interest Research Group (WashPIRG)
• The Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust (MTSG)
• The Green Seattle Partnership (GSP)
• The Cascade Land Conservancy(CLC)
• EarthCorps(EC)
• People for Puget Sound (PFPS)
• Friends of Discovery Park (FODP)
• Heron Habitat Helpers (HHH)
• The Trust for Public Land (TPL)
• The Washington Environmental Council (WEC)
• ACLU of Washington
• Washington Trails Association
• Phi Beta Kappa of Washington (UW)
• The Planetary Society
• New Beginnings of Seattle
• Doctors Without Borders(MSF)
• Amnesty International
• Food Lifeline
• Bailey-Boushay House
• Washington Native Plant Society (WNPS)

• UW Botanic Gardens (UWBG) and its related projects, Center for Urban Horticulture (CUH) and its related projects, The Washington Park Arboretum (WPA) and The Union Bay Natural Area (UBNA) and UW Restoration Ecology Network (UWREN) and The Elisabeth C. Miller Library