Anyone who takes a walk through their local forested park can witness a grand display of green that stretches as far as the eye can see.  This green display is composed of what one would expect in a forested parkland: shrubs, trees, and understory plants.  Ideally these forested lands are composed of multi-aged canopy of trees and a forest floor alive with native species that are habitat to a diversity of native insects and wildlife. 

Benefits: Not only do citizens benefit from these park lands through recreation, but these forest lands also provide numerous other benefits.  For instance,

• Forest lands improve air quality by intercepting airborne particulates and absorbing gaseous pollutants such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. 
• Forest lands filter and absorb rain, which decreases the rate of water runoff. 
• The shade provided by forest lands decreases stream temperatures, cools urban areas and decreases heating and cooling energy consumption by 5-10% per building (Nowak et al 1994).  
• Residents adjacent to a forested parkland have 15% higher property values. 
• Research shows that trees are critical capital assets, just like roads, bridges and schools.  “They’re a significant investment that provides value to cities and residents…people don’t think about them until they’re gone.” 

The Problem: However, what many don't see during their walks through our local parks, is the English Ivy that is carpeting much of the understory and even winding its way into the tree canopy.  The grand deciduous trees – big leaf maple and red alder – are dying of old age, while native evergreens cannot reseed or compete with the invasive plants.  The uniqueness and functioning of our forested parks is being lost to a blanket of strangling weeds. 

With the exception of habitat restoration or mitigation projects, most of the urban forests are not maintained, based on the historical mindset to “leave nature to take care of itself”.  Yet recent field analysis of urban habitat lands has demonstrated that urban natural areas need ongoing maintenance and stewardship to thrive.  Without a massive, coordinated community effort, 70% of our forested park lands will be lost within the next 20 years.

The Solution:  CLC has developed a series of public-private partnerships with municipal agencies to develop community-based stewardship programs for forested parklands and community open spaces.  The Green Cities Program has developed a 20 Year Plan for the Green Seattle Partnership, and is now using this model to develop the Green Tacoma and Green Kirkland Partnerships.  

Current Green Cities Programs

• Green Seattle Partnership 
• Green Tacoma Partnership
• Green Kirkland Partnership
• Green Redmond Partnership