There is a group of citizens
working to preserve
the unique habitat and cultural legacy
of this historic park.
Friends of Seward Park
Upcoming Events
and Seward Park News
Audubon Environmental Center Grand Opening!
visit http://sewardpark.audubon.org
The Friends of Seward Park meet on the 4th Thursday of most months at 7:00-8:30 pm. Upcoming meetings are May 22nd, and June 26th. We meet at the Seward Park Environmental and Audubon Center (SPEAC).
The next Friends of Seward Park meeting will be May 22nd.
Seward Park Reforestation Work Parties
Recently, an anonymous donor made a substantial donation to the Parks Department for forest restoration in Seward Park. As a result, regular restoration work parties will be held at Seward Park every 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Meet in front of Audubon center at 10 a.m.
First Saturday Natural and Human History Walks at Seward Park
Se-kal-oulsh, June 7
We’ll explore a tale of oaks and camas, longhouses and log cabins, fire and farming, lynching and lost rivers, wapato and warfare. In 1927 Jennie Davis, daughter of Lake John Cheshiahud, submitted a list of the Duwamish villages that existed on Lake Washington in the 19th century as evidence in a court case, including an unidentified village recorded as “Se kal oulsh”. How does this relate to Seward Park’s oak trees, Seattle’s first photographer, fire ecology, the murder of James McCormick, butterfly diversity and the revocation of federal recognition for the Duwamish Tribe by the Bush administration?
Come find out from 10:00 am to 12:00ish on Saturday June 7 in front of the Seward Park Environmental and Audubon Center. We’ll find out how and why Native Americans maintained prairies and why the Friends of Seward Park are restoring our only local oak prairie. We’ll discuss Indian and pioneer economies in the 19th century, and trace the history of the Lake Washington village list through lynching, warfare, exile, lake-lowering and lawsuits.
Christmas Bird Count
It was another wonderful day of counting birds on December 29th! Among the highlights were the large flocks of Northern Pintails observed flying over Andrew’s Bay, several Pacific Loons and a Spotted Sandpiper. We had great looks of Hermit Thrushes, Fox Sparrows and a sunning Sharp-shinned Hawk. Click to see the bird count results.
Storm Damage
After the big storm last winter, there are a gazillion branches down everywhere in the park, along with several trees. In one place, trees lifted the sidewalk as they fell. Elsewhere, a Douglas-fir ripped up bedrock near the earthquake fault in the park. Other trees simply splintered.
At least two of the 85 trees identified as 'hazard trees' two years ago fell over, along with many trees not identified as hazards. A huge, beautiful old madrona went down across trail #7, along with my favorite Douglas-fir for pointing out fire scars from the fire 200 years ago. Although the forest looks very different with a carpet of branches, it is also clear that the damage could have been much, much worse. We'll look for these and other lessons from the storm.