As a steward, identifying and understanding the growth habits of woody plants (trees, shrubs and vines) is tremendously valuable during the Pacific Northwest winter planting season. Resources to aid learning of winter growth habits and the main diagnostic concepts, procedures, tools and resources used in woody twig plant identification are available in Dropbox.
Soil is the living skin of the earth, so they say.
The structure and function of soils in the context of urban forest restoration is underrated. Recent research is emerging on the role that soil degradation plays in poor forest health.
Inappropriate soils can lead to increased invasive plants, poor growth and development of plants or root systems, increased plant mortality, decreased seed germination, decreased spread of ground cover, and erosion. In short, inappropriate soils can undermine restoration project goals.
Dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a4iok7qerovw23j/AAAwf0fnIzg_efIqIhGUZfy4a?dl=0
During the course of the project we identified main issues occurring along Seattle Park property lines, as follows: dumping and littering, invasive vegetation, erosion and run- off, encroachment, social trails and safety, plant and animal corridors, neighbor outreach, and lack of incentives or penalties.
Using information gathered from stewards, property owners, Seattle park sites, homeowners, the Seattle Parks ecologist team, Washington Native Plant Society and other stakeholders we composed several online and offline materials. These materials were disseminated at a steward-only workshop in April 2014, shared with GreenSeattle.org, and are available in various forms in a steward outreach tool-kit.
Materials generated from this project include: