Seward Park has many events and volunteer opportunities involving stewardship,
recreation and environmental education.
Discuss park issues at monthly meetings
The Friends of Seward Park meet on the 4th Thursday of most months at 7:00-8:30 pm. Upcoming meetings are on April 24, May 22, and June 26. We meet at the Seward Park Environmental and Audubon Center (SPEAC). However, due to a scheduling conflict, please inquire for the meeting location on April 24: friendsosp@yahoo.com.
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. Gloves and tools are provided. To participate email Jillian Weed with Seattle Parks and Recreation Jillian.weed@seattle.gov or call (206) 615-1046
- April 19 open to everyone. Forest Edge site, invasive removal
- April 28 Mercer Island High Schools 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Forest Edge site, invasive plant removal
- May 3 open to everyone. Forest Edge site, invasive removal
- May 17 open to everyone. Forest Edge site, invasive removal
- May 31 open to everyone. Garry Oak site, invasive removal
- May 31 is our Thank you donor! Volunteer Party, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Meet at Shelter 2 at 10 a.m. We are hoping this is a big one with lots of people and free t-shirts
Trails Committee Volunteers Needed
The Friends of Seward Park intends to seek a grant this summer to design a trail plan for Seward Park. We desire to repair trails and replace certain social trails while working to keep the rustic character and quiet nature of the interior forest trails. What are your thoughts about Seward Park’s trails? What do you like or not like about the trails? We seek volunteers to give input and assistance with a trail planning grant. Please contact us at friendsosp@yahoo.com.
Native Plant Appreciation Walk, April 27
Seward Park is best known for having the largest old growth Douglas-fir forest left in Seattle, but it also hosts lakeshore and marsh habitats, skunk cabbage wetlands, a Garry oak grove with a small remnant of prairie, and Seattle’s only readily visible earthquake fault scarp. Several plants uncommon elsewhere in Seattle occur in Seward Park, such as Pacific yew, Pacific dogwood, poison-oak, snowbrush, red-stem Ceanothus, creeping snowberry, western goldenrod, and others. With a grant from the Washington Native Plant Society, the Friends of Seward park are restoring part of the oak prairie, which may be blooming with camas for the first time since early settlers cleared the area for farming in 1852.
Meet at 10:00 am outside the Seward Park Environmental and Audubon Center by the park entrance on Sunday April 27. Duration and distance are flexible: plan on two hours and 1-2 miles, or bring a lunch and stay all day. Binoculars for eagle-watching are suggested. Please RSVP to friendsosp@yahoo.com.
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.
Seward Park Environmental and Audubon Center (SPEAC)
Grand Opening, Saturday April 26Ribbon cutting at 12:00 noon with Audubon CEO John Flicker. Entertainment, building tours, fireside chats, and more 12:00 - 5:00pm. See the SPEAC website for details: wa.audubon.org/education_Centers_SewardPark.html
Seward Park Playground Improvement Foundation (SPPIF)
The pirate ship in the play area became unsafe and was removed by Parks. SPPIF formed to pursue development of a first-class playground to replace it. SPPIF has received a grant from the Department of Neighborhoods to hire a design consultant and develop and playground plan with public input. The Friends of Seward Park is fiscal sponsor for this process. For more information or to become involved, please email sppif@mac.com or visit: columbiacity.wikidot.com/sppif:welcome>/p>
For more information, email us at
the Friends of Seward Park
Volunteer Activities
Maintain trails and replant native vegetation.
Remove invasive plants from the native forest.
Create appropriate signage for the park.
Publish the natural and human history of the park.
Coordinate a community calendar for park activities.
Produce seasonal family activities and nature walks.
Provide a voice for community concerns.
How You Can Help
Hands-on work parties in trail restoration and habitat preservation.
Research in botany, forestry, marine biology, or natural history.
Fundraising, grant writing and community outreach.
Newsletter publication.
Bilingual translation:
Vietnamese, Spanish, Cambodian, Laotian, Japanese, Chinese and Somali.
or e-mail us at the Friends of Seward Park.
The Friends of Seward Park is a non-profit organization.
Your donations are tax deductible.