Current Projects (2008)
City of Bellevue
SUN is currently assisting the City of Bellevue Parks & Resource Division with a variety of projects this season, including habitat mapping and forest inventories in city parks. Check back soon for more information.
SUN's Citywide Habitat Assessment (CHA)
In 2005, SUN established long-term monitoring plots in two of Seattle's eight forest types, the beginning of a process by which SUN hopes to assess current conditions of Seattle's forests. Staff initially focused on mixed conifer-decidous and mixed conifer-madrone forests, and composed an interim report on the condition of these forest types. Currently, SUN ecologists are analyzing data collected in Seattle's madrone forests, and will soon release a status report on these forest types. SUN would like to thank the Bullitt Foundation for helping to support this effort. For more details on this project, see our Citywide Habitat Assessment page.
Green Footprints Action Works (GFAW) mapping project
Green Footprints Action Works and Seattle Department of Neighborhoods
Educating neighbors in the Madison Valley about the importance of urban forests is one of the roles SUN plays in our advisory capacity to the GFAW project. GFAW promotes a vision of sustainable, safe and connected neighborhoods in Seattle, and encourages all Seattle residents to consider our collective role as stewards of private and public land within the city. The project area includes the hillside community of 2,520 residents bordering Washington Park Arboretum to the west.
In October 2007, GFAW received a grant from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods to construct ecological resource maps of the neighborhood and identify opportunities throughout the area to improve their green infrastructure. The maps will help the community identify future neighborhood projects and create a neighborhood action plan. SUN, in partnership with the Seattle Audubon Society, is excited to be involved in this unique community project! To learn more about the GFAW project, visit www.greenfootprintsactionworks.org.
Green Seattle Partnership (GSP) restoration monitoring -continued!
Seattle Parks & Recreation
SUN continues our multi-faceted work with Seattle Parks & Recreation to conduct vegetation monitoring of GSP sites, host the GSP sites on our Interactive Habitat Map, and develop a scientific study to analyze invasive tree control methods in Seattle parks. In conjunction with the 15 GSP sites SUN sampled in 2007, 10 additional sites will be entered into the monitoring program by the end of 2008. SUN will also provide a monitoring workshop for Washington Native Plant Society's (WNPS) Native Plant Stewards so additional monitoring of GSP sites can occur throughout the city.
Hamlin Park revegetation study
City of Shoreline Parks & Recreation
In 2007, SUN conducted an inventory of Hamlin Park for the City of Shoreline. During the survey, SUN ecologists mapped 12 habitats within the park ranging from developed areas and shrublands to conifer and madrone forests. One of the most interesting findings is that 15 acres of the park consist of a forest type known as “conifer without understory.” This forest, located within the central matrix of the park, has a dense overstory canopy composed mostly of western hemlock trees with smaller amounts of Douglas fir, western red cedar and western white pine. However, aside from the trees, these areas are completely bare, containing no shrubs, regenerating trees or any type of understory vegetation.
The City of Shoreline is concerned about this unusual situation, and asked SUN to design a revegetation study of the area. In March of this year, SUN ecologists established six experimental plots throughout the park (one in each bare area) using three different soil treatments and various native plant species. We also conducted baseline monitoring of each plot prior to treatment installation and will monitor the plots over the next two growing seasons. At the end of that time, we hope to have a good sense of which treatments are effective and which plant species are the most successful. We also hope to determine whether heavy foot traffic in the park is affecting understory growth. This information will allow the City of Shoreline to expand the planted areas and establish more “understory islands” throughout the park.
Juanita Bay Park
City of Kirkland
Juanita Bay Park is a 135 acre natural area consisting of a wetland and forest mosaic, located near downtown Kirkland. The park is an important recreation destination within the city and provides vital wetland habitat for many species of wildlife. SUN is currently mapping invasive species within the wetland portion of the park and will create an “action plan” for a restoration project that the City of Kirkland would like to implement this year. We are excited about this opportunity to help make a visible difference in an important and well-visited park.
