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
|
UW Botanic Gardens Center for Urban Horticulture – NHS Hall 3501 NE 41st St. Seattle, WA 98105 |
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) - 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) - Barriers and Bridges to Adopting Different/New Practices
- Amy Boucher, Volunteer Coordinator | Parks & Recreation Department, Tacoma (amyb@tacomaparks.com)
- Charlie Vogelheim, Green Cities Project Manager | Forterra
- Michael Yadrick Jr., Plant Ecologist | Green Seattle Partnership, Seattle Parks & Recreation
- 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. - 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 - 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
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
- Presentation: Impacts of Urbanization on Seattle’s Urban Forests (PDF)
- Seattle Public Utilities: Report Illegal Dumping
- Seattle Police Department: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design
- Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board
- King County Noxious Weed Control Program
- Green Seattle Partnership
- Bee City USA
Dean W. Koonts, ASLA, Principal | HBB Landscape Architecture
- Presentation: Design Approaches to Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) in Natural Area Parks: A case study from Kinnear Park (PDF)
- Presentation Handout (PDF)
Christina Pfeiffer, Horticulture Educator | Consulting Associate, Urban Forestry Services, Inc.
- Presentation: Maintenance and Stewardship Approaches to CPTED in Natural Area Parks (PDF)
- Pruning Resources (PDF)
Micki McNaughton, Urban Forestry Special Project Coordinator | 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
- Presentation: Crossing the Bridge: Natural Areas and Human Health (PDF)
- Green Cities: Good Health
- Wolf, K.L. 2017. Nature for Human Health and Wellness. Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin 78,4: 18-22.
- Wolf, K.L. 2016. Nature’s Riches: The Health and Financial Benefits of Nearby Nature. University of Washington and The Nature Conservancy
- House, E., C. O’Connor, K. Wolf, J. Israel, & T. Reynolds. 2016. Outside our Doors: the benefits of cities where people and nature thrive. Seattle, WA: The Nature Conservancy, Washington State Chapter, 26 pp.
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