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Seattle Parks and Recreation news and events

Community encouraged to participate in review of design for the Seattle Sensory Garden at Woodland Park Zoo

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Seattle Parks and Recreation invites the community to review the schematic design and provide feedback for the new Seattle Sensory Garden at Woodland Park Zoo. The public meeting for this project is Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Phinney Neighborhood Association, 6532 Phinney Avenue N. in the Red Room.

At the meeting, Seattle Parks and Recreation project manager and the design team of Fischer Bouma Partnership and Richard Hartlage of Land Morphology will provide project information and present the schematic design.  The design incorporates feedback heard from the community at the first public meeting in September. [Read more…]

Community invited to participate in design of the Seattle Sensory Garden at Woodland Park Zoo

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Seattle Parks and Recreation and Woodland Park Zoo invite the community to participate in the planning for a new Seattle Sensory Garden at the zoo. The first public meeting for this project is Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015 from 7 -8:30 p.m. at the Phinney Neighborhood Association, 6532 Phinney Ave N. in the Red Room.

At the meeting, Seattle Parks and Recreation’s project manager and the design team of Fischer Bouma Partnership, Richard Hartlage of Land Morphology and Mark Epstein of Hafs Epstein, will provide project information and gather community input for the design of this unique garden. [Read more…]

Pacific chorus frogs take over Seattle parks

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A Pacific chorus frog hides in a peony plant in the Magnuson Park P-Patch. Photo by Emily Bishton.

A popular music group is back at Magnuson Park and performing daily after sundown.

Pacific chorus frogs range from green to brown with black stripes that run from their eyes to their shoulders. The frogs are about the size of a quarter. They reproduce in temporary ponds that dry up in midsummer, like the habitat in Magnuson Park. Temporary ponds usually attract fewer tadpole-eating predators.

Pacific chorus frog eggs found in the wetlands. Photo by Miriam Preuss.

Pacific chorus frog eggs found in the wetlands. Photo by Miriam Preuss.

Emily Bishton, the director of nature programs at Magnuson, said the frog population boomed after the park’s wetlands were created in 2009.

“Every year I’m astonished at how many frogs are here,” Bishton said. “It’s a joyful thing for the families I take on nature walks and it’s an unbelievable educational opportunity for the public.”

For three years Woodland Park Zoo, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Seattle Parks and Recreation have teamed up with volunteers to collaborate on a project to monitor amphibians in urban spaces. The volunteers have been documenting native and non-native frog populations in Magnuson Park, Carkeek Park, Camp Long, Discovery Park and other local parks.  Washington Fish and Wildlife biologists use the data to understand and protect amphibian habitats.

Pacific chorus frog on a wetlands log. Photo by Emily Bishton.

Pacific chorus frog on a wetlands log. Photo by Emily Bishton.

Last year the teams were made up of Woodland Park Zoo staff and volunteers, students in the zoo’s Advanced Inquiry Program master’s program, ZooCorps teen interns and community members. They monitored 17 sites in King and Snohomish counties and found amphibians at 14. This year, 16 teams are monitoring 19 sites and reporting their findings to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s observations website. Volunteers are trained to ensure that data is reliable.

Lynn Ferguson has been monitoring the frogs at Magnuson Park for more than 10 years, first with Frogwatch USA and now through the zoo.  She monitors where the frogs lay their eggs and their reaction to the lights at the nearby ballfields. To gage comfort level, Ferguson notes the frequency and volume of ribbits when the field lights turn off and when they turn on.

“If you want to hear it just drive through the 65th Street entrance to the boat launch parking lot and roll down your windows,” Ferguson said.

Over at Carkeek Park, volunteer Julie Webster said she spends a lot of time educating passersby about the monitoring project. Webster has been monitoring at Carkeek for three years. She is a long-time zoo volunteer. She said the project appealed to the scientist in her and is a hit with her young nephews.

“I really enjoy being out in nature and doing something that requires me to be still and aware,” Webster said. “As I look for amphibian egg masses, and later tadpoles, I notice other things about the park like the diverse vegetation, other animals visiting the pond, the variance in water levels and the impact of storm water overflow.”

Webster said there seems to be an increase in the amphibian population this year, and Bishton believes the frogs are louder than ever. Bishton said she was standing in the park recently around 8:30 p.m. and was taken aback by the sound.

“Here were all these kids playing on the ballfields, the park was packed, and yet I could hear no sound except the wave of frogs –this sound booming out of the wetlands and up the hill to the historic district,” Bishton said. “I was transfixed. It was pulsing. The scene is etched into my mind.”

The frogs can usually be heard throughout the summer, but people who want to hear peak chorus performances are encouraged to head to Magnuson Park before mid-April while the mating season is at its height.

If you are interested in volunteering for the zoo’s amphibian monitoring project, please click here to join the waiting list for 2015.

Seattle Parks and partners offer recreation, volunteering opportunities for people with mild memory loss

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People with mild memory loss are invited to join Seattle Parks and Recreation, the Alzheimer’s Association Western & Central Washington Chapter, the Phinney Ridge Association and the Greenwood Senior Center for a walk through the Woodland Park Zoo each Monday from July 15 through September 16. For more information and to register, please call 206-529-3868 or email lrhine@alz.org.

And Parks invites people with mild memory loss to give back to the community in a supportive group setting, helping package and sort food at Northwest Harvest’s Cherry Street Food Bank. The food bank on First Hill serves more than 5,000 people every week. The volunteer work (care partners are welcome but not required) takes place on the third Tuesday of every month. The next opportunities are July 16, August 13 and September 10. For more information and to register, please call Mari Becker at 206-684-4664 or email her at mari.becker@seattle.gov.

These series from Seattle Parks’ Lifelong Recreation Program give people with mild memory loss opportunities for regular exercise and places to build relationships.

Budget Cuts Bring an End to Old Timers Picnic

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Budget cuts and the loss of a major sponsor have brought an end to a 38-year tradition, the Old Timers Picnic, offered by several City agencies each August as a summer outing for seniors. 

Co-sponsored by Seattle Parks and Recreation, the Human Services Department’s Mayor’s Office for Senior Citizens, and Senior Services, the picnic provided a hot dog lunch, an outdoor experience at a park, live music and entertainment, information from the Mayor, civic leaders, and service providers, and a social experience on an August day almost guaranteed to bring fair weather. 

In recent years the picnic has taken place at the Woodland Park Zoo, where picnickers could wander the exhibits after lunch. Each agency brought in-kind resources to the event, so the only real expense was the food. In 2010, the sponsor providing funding for the food ended its support, and the cost of the food fell to Parks. Parks has experienced a 10% reduction in its operating budget in 2011 and can no longer support the event.  

“I’m terribly disappointed to have to end this great tradition,” said Acting Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams, “but we just don’t have the funds to pay for it. When financial times improve, we’ll try to put together another event that celebrates the energy and wisdom of our seniors.”

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