Happy Valentine’s Day! Here at Green Cities, we’re celebrating by remembering all the things we love about our parks and natural areas. Going for a walk or a run on a trail gets your heart pumping. Volunteering in your community gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling of giving back. Keeping our natural areas healthy is an important part of our overall urban environmental health. Work parties are great opportunities to meet someone new, or spend time with someone special you already know. And trees, well, they’re so good to hug. What’s not to love?
Tell us about a park or natural area that has a special place in your heart. And then spend some quality time together at an upcoming work party!
Green City Partnerships 
I only have eyes for you, Interlaken Park!
I have to admit that I have a tender spot in my heart for Golden Gardens! After 2 years with GG as my Beach Naturalist “home beach” and then forcing my family to volunteer there for my birthday last year, Golden Gardens has cemented itself rather firmly into my life. Even though it has a dog park, fantastic marine preserve, establish firepits, sand volleyball courts and a great forest up above my favorite things about it are the following:
1. I can bike there from my house and never have to go up a major incline
2. There are LOADS of fun see life to be seen at the rocky extremes of the Marine Preserve
-Katie
PS. You can support forest restoration of Golden Gardens by drinking beer at the Noble Fir every Wed (after 6:30) through April
I never really thought about declaring my love for a natural area, but now that you mention it, it makes a lot of sense. Although I DO love Interlaken and enjoy watching the owls chase squirrels through there, I have been fostering a relationship with a little piece of the East Duwamish Greenbelt over the past 7 months.
See, I became a Washington Native Plant Steward in July last year and as part of that program, we had to take on a one-acre restoration site that was assigned by the Green Seattle Partnership. So our team of 4 native plant stewards has been showing our site at 39th Ave. South and South Trenton a lot of love. It used to be completely covered in ivy, from floor to ceiling, concealing its true beauty and all that the land has to offer. But we’ve been slowly removing that restrictive overcoat to reveal the beautiful native landscape that lies beneath.
As we spend more time at our site, we get to know it better. For example, on a stroll through there last month, we discovered a new western redcedar struggling up through the dense ivy mat. We carefully clipped the ivy from the stem and pulled it back to give this young tree a chance. And last year we found that our site has some trillium and bleeding heart.
For now, we’ll continue to spend time with our site. It’s a great outdoor activity that my wife enjoys as well, joining me at least 1-2 times per month. It’s brought us closer to our teammates, and now we’re meeting more of the neighbors and getting them involved in taking care of the site. So, slowly the relationship grows and you’ve gotta love that!
Ravenna Park in Seattle.
OR my new favorite, Crestwoods Park in Kirkland 🙂
When I first met Frink Park I was but a child. Over the years we have only grown closer. She is historic and wise, beautiful and wild. She brings a calm, commanding joy to my life that I have had little luck finding elsewhere.
You are the best Frink Park- let’s continue to take care of each other for years to come.
Happy Valentine’s Day First Creek! Over the last three years I have had the pleasure to explore, learn, and restore parts of this awesome Tacoma natural area. I feel fortunate to be on this First Creek adventure with a group of wonderful First Creek Middle School students and staff, great community members, and a fantastic Habitat Steward (thanks Dan).
I love all of Seattle’s forested parks. Growing up in Seattle I have so many parks that I love. I can narrow it down to three.
1 ) My childhood love would have to be Burke Gilman Trail. I spent endless hours bike riding on the trail with my best friends and exploring the wild woods that run along side. Little did we know back then that our favorite blackberry patches and thick bouncy beds of ivy were such a threat to the trees we also loved. Had we known, we would have been the most fierce young forest stewards. We would have loved ripping out ivy and making platforms for composting. So much fun!
2) Next park love came Seward Park. Growing up in the northeast Seattle I had no idea that a real forest with big huge old growth trees existed in the City. The beauty of this park where I can run, bike, swim, and walk my dog, is what also opened my eyes to the beauty of south Seattle, where I bought my first house.
3) I actually found true love at a Park. I first worked with Mario on a trail project at Lincoln Park 10 years ago. Last year around this time we got engaged at Lincoln Park, and we are now happily married.
Two years ago I took my now husband, Tony and his good friend Sonny to the volunteer valentines planting event. It was a great way to spend time in the parks we love with the people we love. Yay Seattle Parks and GSP!!
Gotta love Seward Park! My wife (~9 months pregnant at the time) and I walked the lower loop in early January last year. Two days later, our son was born.
I’ve spent the night with West Duwamish.
A couple years back I was measuring the water status of GSP seedlings to see if they were drought stressed, which happened to work best in the middle of the night. I had spent a lot of time in the greenbelt, but nothing compared to what I heard, smelled, and saw hunched down with a headlamp and my little seedlings.
West Duwamish, you are wild!
Point Defiance, it has everything. Waterfront, forrest, open spaces. Quiet spaces and great hiking and biking options
Point Defiance, because it has everything. Deep wood, waterfront, terrific views & open spaces. I love hiking and biking there.
Dear First Creek,
You are a beautiful watershed full of trees, plants, and cute little frogs. We also enjoy seeing the trees we’ve planted grow and thrive. We are full of love for all green spaces, but especially for our little First Creek!
We are looking forward to Global Youth Service Day, April 21st. We hope lots of volunteers will join us as we tenderly care for you.
Sincerely,
First Creek Middle School Environmental Science Club
My story comes out of our community efforts in Cheasty Greenspace at Mt. View, Beacon Hill’s east side urban forest. You can have a read here:
http://waymarkers.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/living-in-fear/
Cal Anderson: you’re ghetto fabulous. And scary at night. And your fountain MUST contain cryptosporidium. But you hold the key to my heart. I love you.
***LINCOLN PARK***
My love of Lincoln started with two tallboys, and a 3AM walk with my then boyfriend, now husband. We were married in the same magic, and every time i enter into those tall trees, I remember my parents standing with me, and walking me through the sun-dappled trees to join two human paths and create a garden all our own. My son, now 2, loves the zip line, and the buoyant waters of the pool. I think i will never know a heaven like this piece of land, and I wish for everyone who walks in it to breathe in the love that has been created and continues to grow from it.
Bradner Gardens. Trolley Hill Park. Green Lake. Any park with a fenced in Off Leash Dog Area. Jefferson Park.