Urban Natural Areas Seminar

Keep an eye on this page for the next offering of the Urban Natural Areas Seminar. We do not anticipate holding the seminar in 2021.

2020 Urban Natural Areas Seminar:
Let’s Talk About Plants

Wednesday, January 29, 2020
8:30am – 3:00pm

UW Botanic Gardens
Center for Urban Horticulture – NHS Hall
3501 NE 41st St.
Seattle, WA 98105

PNW forest plants

This interdisciplinary program is a gathering for all those involved in the various phases of urban restoration projects, providing an opportunity to discuss some of the unique challenges and strategies involved in the planning, design, construction and care of restoration projects within high density urban areas. Presenters will focus on challenges and opportunities that arise when managed natural areas are located in densely populated areas with many built environment interfaces, broadly varied stakeholders and multiple land uses.

This year’s program focuses on native plant selection, use and stewardship; Traditional Ecological Knowledge and management practices; and fine tuning native plant care practices to better meet the functions and challenges of urban natural area plantings. Attendees will learn about new findings and approaches and hear about case studies with actionable takeaways that can be implemented in their own work. Join us for this rare opportunity to exchange information across the mix of professions responsible for creating and maintaining urban natural areas.

Who should attend? Landscape architects, garden designers, landscape contractors, restoration companies and organizations, volunteer stewards, project managers and landscape maintenance staff from institutions and agencies.

Resources for Attendees:

Cultivating a Long-term View (Presentation PDF)
Clayton Antieau, Senior Specialist, Environmental Review and Environmental Permitting, Seattle Public Utilities, City of Seattle (Clayton.Antieau@seattle.gov)
Indigenous Lands Before Urban Parks: Indigenizing Restoration in Discovery Park
Jessica Hernandez (Binnizá-Zapotec & Ch’orti’), MS, MMA, Ph.C., National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow , Ph.D. Student, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, College of the Environment (jhernan@uw.edu)
- Indigenizing Urban Seattle Podcast
- Indigenizing Conservation in a Changing Climate Art Symposium, 3/10/2020 & 3/12/2020
Taking the Edge Off: Best Practices and Practicalities (Reference List PDF)
Christina Pfeiffer, Horticulture Consultant & Educator, and Consultant at Urban Forestry Services | Bartlett Consulting (capfeiffer@comcast.net)
Devils in Disguise; Know what’s Lurking in your Landscape (Presentation PDF)
Karen Peterson, King County Noxious Weed Specialist (Karen.Peterson@kingcounty.gov)
- King County Noxious Weed Control Program
- Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board
Barriers and Bridges to Adopting Different/New Practices
- Amy Boucher, Volunteer Coordinator | Parks & Recreation Department, Tacoma (amyb@tacomaparks.com)
  - CHIP-in! Citizens Helping Improve Parks
- Charlie Vogelheim, Green Cities Project Manager | Forterra
  - Green City Partnerships
  - Green Cities Toolbox – site safety
- Michael Yadrick Jr., Plant Ecologist | Green Seattle Partnership, Seattle Parks & Recreation
  - Green Seattle Partnership
Diseases of Northwest Native Plants
Clayton Antieau, Senior Specialist, Environmental Review and Environmental Permitting, Seattle Public Utilities, City of Seattle (Presentation PDF)
Native Plants are Our Greatest Teachers
Valerie Segrest (Muckleshoot), Regional Director of Native Food and Knowledge Systems at the Native American Agriculture Fund

Past Seminars

2019: Stewardship Required: The Power of Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Long -term Function of Urban Natural Areas

Stewardship Required:
The Power of Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Long -term Function of Urban Natural Areas

Wednesday-Thursday, January 30-31, 2019
8:30 am – 3:00 pm

UW Botanic Gardens
Center for Urban Horticulture – NHS Hall
3501 NE 41st St.
Seattle, WA 98105

Most people expect established natural area landscapes to be low maintenance. That concept comes back to haunt us when the realities of invasive weeds, aggressive native species, and plant encroachments demand immediate attention. As the fox said in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, “You become responsible forever for what you have tamed.” And so, for all the urban natural area plantings we create: stewardship is required.

Taken out of the context of wilderness areas, urban natural areas demand attention to the details of plant selection, site design, and maintenance standards to keep them functioning well. The significant costs of deferred maintenance that have been documented for urban trees and landscapes apply equally to urban natural areas. With proactive and timely collaboration between researchers, city planners, site managers, landscape designers and engineers, field crews, volunteer stewards, and others, we have the power to improve and protect this valuable environmental resource in our communities. Join us for this rare opportunity to exchange information across the mix of professions responsible for creating and maintaining urban natural areas.

Professional Credits: APLD-4.5/Day 1, 3.75/Day 2, CPH-3/Day 1, 2/Day 2; ecoPRO-3/Day 1, 2/Day 2; ISA-1/17/Day 1, Up to 2.25/Day 2; LA CES-5.25/day, NALP/WALP-5.25/day

Resources for Attendees

Day One (Jan. 30):

Under Pressure: The urgency to acquire public lands (and how to keep up with growth). (Presentation PDF)
Sarah Brandt, King County Parks, Open Space Government Relations Administrator, and
Lina Rose, King County Parks Volunteer Program Manager
The Power of Collaborative Design: Lessons for urban natural areas from a study of urban parking lot landscapes
Christina Pfeiffer, Horticulture Consultant & Educator and a Consulting Associate at Urban Forestry Services, Inc.
- Analyses of Landscape Design and Maintenance Requirements in Urban Parking Lots. Journal of Environmental Horticulture, Dec. 1987
Stepping inside and outside the lines: Collaboration, pragmatism and stewardship in design, construction and maintenance of a restoration project. (Presentation PDF)
Justin Howell, Owner and Manager of Applied Ecology, LLC
Growing Wild Plants (Presentation Text, PDF) (Presentation slide set coming soon)
Ned McGinley, Nursery Manager, Sound Native Plants
Best Practices for Financial Stewardship (Presentation PDF)
Micki McNaughton, Arborea, LLC
Winning Public Support and Sustainable Funding for Natural Areas (Presentation PDF)
Barbara Wright, Healthy Community Advocate (formerly Seattle-King County Environmental Health Deputy Director and King County Parks Manager)
- Contact: barbarawright100@msn.com
- Seattle Metropolitan Park District
- Seattle Parks Legacy Plan

Day Two (Jan. 31):

Planting Preparation and Maintenance – is the Gold-Standard Really Needed? (Presentation PDF)
Matt Knox, Environmental Supervisor, City of Kent Public Works Department, Environmental Engineering
Growing Healthier Natural Areas: Embracing Lessons from Other Professions (Presentation PDF)
Ben Thompson, Urban Forestry Specialist, Washington State Dept. of Natural Resources
- Urban Forestry in Washington State / Subscribe to Tree Link News
Stewardship in Action: Tour of Yesler Swamp with self-guided materials (Presentation PDF)
Joanna Long, Pacific Connections Horticulturist, Washington Park Arboretum, University of Washington Botanic Gardens
Building partnerships for Wildlife Management in Seattle’s Natural Areas (Presentation PDF)
Patti Bakker, Supervisor of the Urban Forest Restoration Program/Green Seattle Partnership within Seattle Parks and Recreation
Best Practices for Stewardship: A 4-Phase Approach to Working with Volunteers (Presentation PDF)
Mariska Kecskes, EarthCorps, Senior Project Manager
Be a Mad Scientist! Use Experimentation to Blow Up ‘Common Sense’ and Magnify your Impact. (Presentation PDF)
Josh Latterell, Ph.D., Environmental Programs Section Manager, King County Water and Land Resources Division
- Glyphosate outperforms watering for increasing the growth and survival of black cottonwood stakes in pasture grasses on the Cedar River, WA. King County Monitoring Memo. Feb. 14, 2017.

Other Resources:

February 25, 2019: Green-Duwamish Watershed Workshop: Stewarding Public Lands and Waters with Encampments
February 23, 2019, Educator Workshop: Project Learning Tree: Connecting Elementary Science to Urban Ecosystems

What do we mean by urban natural areas? Primarily, landscapes planted with native species in parks and public lands, wetland buffers, and the boundary areas between the built environment and natural forests.

What is the format of this seminar?

Participants will be seated in groups, arranged by interdisciplinary roles/job titles. One facilitator or presenter will be at each table.
Unstructured networking time is offered at lunch and breaks.
Structured networking time will be facilitated through round table discussion questions.
Day 1, Jan. 30: Presentations will focus on early-stage processes (Planning/Design/Plant Selection/Installation Standards/Budgets/Admin).
Day 2, Jan. 31: Presentations will focus on fostering long-term stewardship (Monitoring/Maintenance/Adaptive Management).
Registration will include one- and two-day attendance options.

2017: Nature in the Balance: An Interdisciplinary View of Urban Area Restoration

January 11 & 12, 2017, 8:30am-3pm
Center for Urban Horticulture
3501 NE 41st St., Seattle, WA 98105

Thank you to our planning committee, the speakers, and all who attended!

Seminar description: Building on the strong response to the first seminar of this type held last year, this two-day seminar brings together professionals involved in all phases of urban restoration projects to discuss some of the unique challenges and the strategies for planning, designing, constructing and maintaining restoration projects within high density urban areas. Restoring natural areas in urban locations is made uniquely challenging by the simple proximity of people to those restoration efforts.

This year we are focusing on the challenges of undertaking restoration given the pressures of urbanization, including both human health benefits and safety concerns, tensions between restoration and visitor usage, project sustainability and managing wildlife. Participants and presenters will work together to identify ways to bridge theory and practice as we work toward restoration projects that successfully meet our communities’ ecological, social, and economic goals.

Nature in the Balance Agenda

Professional credits approved: NALP/WALP, ISA, ASCA, ecoPRO, APLD; Pending: CPH

Resources for Attendees

Presentations & Links:

Jon Jainga, Urban Forestry Manager | Seattle Parks and Recreation
Barbara DeCaro, Horticulturist and Senior Environmental Analyst | Seattle Parks and Recreation

Dean W. Koonts, ASLA, Principal | HBB Landscape Architecture

Christina Pfeiffer, Horticulture Educator | Consulting Associate, Urban Forestry Services, Inc.

Micki McNaughton, Urban Forestry Special Project Coordinator | Washington Department of Natural Resources Urban & Community Forestry Program

Washington Department of Natural Resources Urban & Community Forestry Program

Dr. Kathleen Wolf, Research Social Scientist | University of Washington College of the Environment and USDA Forest Service PNW Research Station

Clayton Antieau, Senior Specialist, Environmental Review and Environmental Permitting | Seattle Public Utilities

Presentation (including plant lists): Plant Selection and Associations that Consider Sustainability and Site Safety/Design Considerations (PDF)

Dr. Kern Ewing, Professor, Plant Ecology University of Washington School of Environmental and Forest Sciences

Presentation: Introduction to Yesler Swamp restoration project at UW Botanic Gardens – Center for Urban Horticulture (PDF)

Dr. Mark Jordan, Assistant Professor of Biology | Seattle University

Presentation: Wildlife in Urban Natural Areas (PDF)

2016: Reconstructing Natural Areas in the Built Environment

January 25 & 26, 2016
University of Washington Botanic Gardens Center for Urban Horticulture

Presentations:

Monday, January 25, 2016

Urban Habitat Restoration: Notes from 30 years of projects Part One: Design
Peggy Gaynor, FASLA, Principal, GAYNOR, Inc.

The Strategic Importance of Species Selection
Clayton Antieau, Senior Specialist, Environmental Review and Environmental Permitting, Seattle Public Utilities, City of Seattle

What’s behind today’s restoration projects?
Diane Brewster, ‎Principal and Senior Wetland Scientist at Touchstone EcoServices

Slow Restoration
Kern Ewing, Professor of Plant Ecology, UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, and registered professional Civil Engineer

High Point West Seattle – 15 years later Looking Forward- Glancing Back: Weaving Green Infrastructure into Urban Housing
Peg Staeheli FASLA, Principal MIG|SvR

Urban Habitat Restoration: Notes from 30 years of projects Part Two: Construction / Post-Construction (Maintenance & Monitoring)
Peggy Gaynor, FASLA, Principal, GAYNOR, Inc.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

The Myths of Restoration Ecology
Barbara DeCaro, Resource Conservation Coordinator, Seattle Parks and Recreation

Design and Maintenance Specifications for Sustainable Outcomes
Christina Pfeiffer, horticulture consultant, educator, and consulting associate with Urban Forestry Services, Inc.

Preparation for Best Results: Training the Troops – Urban Forestry Restoration Project

Micki McNaughton, Urban and Community Forestry Special Project Coordinator, Washington State Dept. of Natural Resources

Keys to Sustainable Success: Monitoring for Adaptive Management
Micki McNaughton, Urban and Community Forestry Special Project Coordinator, Washington State Dept. of Natural Resources

From Planning to Maintenance, Bringing it All Together
Ann Boeholt, Environmental Biologist, Pierce County Surface Water Management

University of Washington Botanic Gardens