King County Parks had a busy year making good on the levy promise to bring 2,700 acres into the King County system by 2020. By the time 2019 rolls around, Parks will be on the lookout for a mere 500 more acres to reach the goal. As an added bonus, scooping up lands happens to…
Category: natural area
Happy #OptOutside
#OptOutside While #optoutside started as a way to change behaviors on Black Friday, it’s bigger than one single day. It’s a choice you make every day. You’ve heard it before: being outside is good for you. Good for your health. Good for your attitude. Spend some time taking care of yourself . . . instead…
Forest Stewardship 101
While your own yard might benefit from a simple raking, King County’s forests require a little bit more attention. Why not let nature take its course? Many of the 26,000 acres of forestland owned by King County Parks used to be timber plantations and weren’t managed to be forest habitat. These forests tend to be…
Ring around Ring Hill Forest
Sweater weather. Wool sweater weather. I pulled on my woolliest sweater and headed for the woods psyched because I’m a newbie at King County Parks and knew there’d be something among the trees about which to Plog. The week before, I met the field crew who takes care of the parks in northeastern area of…
Natural Area Appreciation Post: Lower Bear Creek
With 14,000 acres of natural and working resource lands owned by King County, there is a lot to appreciate. The Lower Bear Creek Natural Area is just 11.68 acres in size but it’s packed with both upland forest and areas of wetland. About half of the property is located within the 100-year floodplain of Bear…
