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Forests are an important part of the character, environment and economy that make King County a unique place to live. Forests provide many ecological, social and economic benefits, including retaining and filtering storm water, replenishing groundwater for streams and lakes, providing fish and wildlife habitat, sequestering carbon and releasing oxygen that we breathe. Forests provide recreation trails for hikers, runners, mountain bikers and equestrians. And forests provide jobs and revenue through the harvesting of timber and other forest products.
King County Parks manages more than 22,000 acres of forest land. Of this acreage, roughly 3,400 acres are designated as working forests and are managed by our Forestry Program to balance timber harvests with resource protection and restoration through sustainable and adaptive forest practices.
The remaining forestland is dispersed across 18,600 acres of open space sites and ecological natural areas. King County Parks intends to expand its forest stewardship beyond the working forest sites, and conduct forest assessments, stewardship planning and integrated forest management on other county forestland sites, as appropriate.
King County Parks is conducting an Integrated Urban Forest Assessment in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, Cascade Land Conservancy and the University of Washington. This assessment, as well as subsequent forest stewardship plans and practices, will be done in accordance with the 2010 King County Open Space Plan: Parks, Trails, and Natural Areas.
The King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks completed the McGarvey Park Open Space Forest Stewardship Plan in 2011, which recommends a series of adaptive forest practices that will improve forest health and promote plant and animal biodiversity.
McGarvey Park Open Space - Forest Stewardship Plan (Acrobat pdf)
Danville-Georgetown Open Space – Forest Stewardship Plan
King County is encouraging residents to attend a public meeting March 26
to learn about and comment on a draft forest stewardship plan for the long-term health of 340 acres of forest east of Maple Valley.
The public meeting will address the County’s recently-completed
Danville-Georgetown Open Space Forest Stewardship Plan, and is set Tuesday, March 26, 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at the Tahoma Junior High School Library, 25600 SE Summit Landsburg Rd., Ravensdale.
The Forest Stewardship Plan will be available for review at the meeting. For information about the plan and the meeting, please contact David Kimmett at 206-263-7159 or by e-mail at david.kimmett@kingcounty.gov
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