Category: Field Notes
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King County Parks in 2020: It’s been… a year.
Way back in December 2019, we at King County Parks were already anticipating a busy and productive year. And then… Winter flooding and storms, followed by COVID-19 closures and cancellations; shifts to virtual programming and remote work for many employees; and finally, remarkably high visitation and use – these all combined to make 2020 one…
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King County Parks: Coronavirus Update
This post is no longer updated. Please visit our new COVID page for the latest information on the status of King County Parks. We will use the Plog, Facebook and Twitter, and e-newsletters to keep you up-to-date about any changes in Parks’ operations. UPDATE 04/28/2020, 1 p.m. In light of Governor Jay Inslee’s announcement of…
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Notes from the field: Day of Caring Wrap-up
Today’s guest plogger is Charlie Wakenshaw from our Volunteer Program Last Friday, Sept 13, was United Way Day of Caring, a day we look forward to all year because it brings members of our community together to lend support for the public lands we all share. In partnership with the United Way of King County,…
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Weekend of service
“Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” –Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Over the holiday weekend our staff,…
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@ Work: Windfall
The week’s storm has kept our crews on windfall patrol. This time of year always brings the pain. In the form of fallen trees in inconvenient areas. After major and minor windstorms, or heavy rain, our staff are quite busy removing the obstructions. In the mosaic below are photos posted to issues in SeeClickFix by…
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King County Parks represented at Special Olympics 2018
Rama ‘RJT’ Tall has been a King County employee since 1990 as a Parks Specialist with the Department of Natural Resources and Parks. He is also one of the employee athletes who represented the State of Washington during the Seattle- and King County-hosted 2018 Special Olympics USA Games. RJT competed on the soccer field.…
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2017 Halloween Carnival in the WC
The White Center Teen Program put together a killer Halloween Carnival this year. Thanks to all the teen volunteers we were able to keep the ghouls contained. For more pics visit our Flickr feed. And remember – There is only Zuul.
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Grand Ridge: Water Tower Loop
Today we officially opened the Water Tower Loop on Grand Ridge. Brought to you by your friendly neighborhood REI, Washington Trails Association, and of course, your King County Parks. WTA has been with Grand Ridge for over a decade! They’ve helped us shape and maintain it, and thanks to generous donations from REI, they added mileage to…
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White Center Teen Program: 25 years of burnt toast, ballin’ and being awesome.
This year, King County Parks’ White Center Teen Program (WCTP), which takes place at the “Log Cabin” (a.k.a. White Center Community Center) at Steve Cox Memorial Park, has been commemorating its silver anniversary (that’s 25 years, for you non-Hallmark card-types!) with lots of reminiscing and festivities and a serious tallying up of some impressive accomplishments.…
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Field Notes: Dwight’s At Work, So You Can Play
If you’ve set foot in Marymoor Park, you have experienced Dwight’s handiwork. Dwight is a member of your Marymoor Park staff, who are tasked with keeping that massive park clean, safe and open for everyone to enjoy. But Dwight brings a specialization: he’s a one-man-pep-rally-dancing-machine. Dwight has worked for King County Parks for many years as…
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Field Notes: Skill, Craftsmanship, Grit, Sweat…Oh Whatever! Hand Me The GoPro And A Saw
In case we didn’t mention this before, we have a lot of acreage to take care of – like 28,000-plus acres. Every day of the week, y’know those seven, our crews are out there — supporting facilities, fields, trails, off-leash areas and one-another. This-here video is a little slice of daily life for our Small…
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The kids are alright
A couple classes from Carnation Elementary walked down to join the Snoqualmie Tribe, who just happened to be hosting a planting event today along the Tolt river. We were privileged to provide support, and weren’t alone. Turns out Mountains to Sound Greenway and King County’s Stewardship Partners are also big on that whole restoration/education thing.…
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‘Merica – Americorps lends KC Parks a hand
Americorps brought their hard work ethic and national pride to the slopes of the Issaquah Highlands. They went all Michael Bay on the Scot’s Broom (don’t bother correcting my grammar – look it up). Anywayyyyy, big shout out to the crew and our new volunteer coordinator for getting rid of pure invasive evil.
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Field notes: South Utility/Mow Crew – At work, so you can play
Every once in a while someone takes time out of their busy schedule to send props to our crews and the work that they do. We forward these to the teams, but they don’t check mail much, because they are usually on to the next project. So instead of feeling like we just awkwardly missed…
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Farewell Parks & Rec – Signed King County Parks
We have literally been to your public meetings, turned pits into parks, scraped money together to keep something we love and had plenty of run-ins with the library (not at all true, but certainly adds some color). You will be missed, but just like Li’l Sebastion, you will always be in our thoughts. Take us out…
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Field notes: Keeping your trails clean safe and open without the use of gnomes
As much as we’d all like to believe that gnomes are trained and disciplined enough to maintain our parks, the reality is that they are unskilled labor (with no basis in reality). On the other hand, King County Parks employees are tangible human beings, not mythical fantasy creatures, and they take care of a large swath…
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Chinook Bend – Restoration’s golden child. A birder’s rave.
According to our website: “The Chinook Bend Natural Area is located two miles north of the City of Carnation, on NE Carnation Farm Road. This 59-acre property lies within the Snoqualmie River’s 100-year floodplain and is surrounded by river on three sides. The site contains rich habitat for many fish and wildlife species in its…
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Let’s add some mileage to Grand Ridge with WTA
Washington Trails Association (WTA) is coming out to help build two more miles of trail at Grand Ridge, and let’s be honest, this network of trails wouldn’t exist without their massive amounts of sweat equity. Seriously – you see a WTA member thank them for their support. Hugging them is just dangerous, they’re always carrying…
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Cirque du Soleil – KURIOS: Behind the scenes
The all-encompassing steampunk design is a gift providing endless new delights. KURIOS opens tonight! Hopefully your tickets have been secured, because this amazing show only runs until March. Check out what SFGate has to say about this run. We spent a little time behind the curtain yesterday. Pretty amazing how much goes on underneath a…
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Ravensdale: Multi-purpose sports complex beats the boss level
Through some serious sweat-equity on Ravensdale Park Foundation’s part and a partnership with KC Parks’ Community Partnerships and Grants program, the new multi-purpose sports complex just got multi-purpose-complex-y-er. Practices have already begun, and games will start this February. A grand opening celebration will take place sometime this spring. Hopefully the lost Chicago White Sox souls won’t try and crash it.…
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Your King County Parks staff…
Once a year we get together to celebrate our coworkers for their time served as public servants, and give heartfelt goodbyes to those who are retiring after MANY years of service. We love and appreciate all these folks for all they do – and have done – to keep our parks clean, safe and open. By…
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26,000+ acres & flooding is just another day
We know no one wants to be out in our parks when the weather is ugly, but we still have to keep them “clean, safe and open(ish)” during this season. A half-foot of rain or more fell in the foothills of eastern King County Jan. 5th, and that meant major flooding on the Snoqualmie and…
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Otter release at Maury Island Marine Park
PAWS forwarded us some photos of a recent release at our Maury Island Marine Park. Try not to squee yourself.
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We’re at Work, So You Can Play: Snoqualmie Valley Trail
A typical Fall morning for our Grounds Crew. Tree removed before 9 a.m. in a remote section of the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, trail life resumes unimpeded.
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Aquatic Center getting shipshape
Just because people aren’t swimming right now doesn’t mean this joint isn’t hustling. Construction workers and staff are hard at work, scrubbing the facility, installing solar panels, vents, ducts, ceilings. This place is getting some major love. Seriously, that is our staff hand scrubbing individual tiles. Hard at work, so you can play.
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Launch of Pianos in the Parks
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Microsoft – Intern Day of Caring
Microsoft was kind enough to loan their interns, and they were out in force in King County Parks yesterday. Parksmonkey made it around to document their work at Tanner Landing, Redmond Ridge and along the Burke-Gilman Trail. Enjoy, and for more photos hit up our Flickr feed.
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Trail alert: Snoqualmie Valley Trail
Mon 7/14 we will be adding gravel to the trail with large trucks and equipment, leading to temporary closures. We apologize for the inconvenience.
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Native tree planting at Soaring Eagle Park
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Black Forest (29,930,000 tons)
Artist Hans Baumann, KC Parks staff and volunteers begin work on the installation at Cougar Mountain. Want to help? Hans is looking for more volunteers this Saturday. If you are interested, follow this link.