mike kuhns urban forestry seattle

–1

Urban Forestry in SeattleMike Kuhns

USU Extension Forester

Seattle Facts & Figures

• Metro area population 3.4 million; city 600K• Density 7,100/mi2 (SLC is 1,700/mi2)

41% f it ’ i t• 41% of city’s area is water• 37 in./yr. precip; 0.8 in. in July; cool, mild• Home of Starbucks, Nirvana, Microsoft, Pearl

Jam, Amazon, Jimi Hendrix, Boeing (sort of), Bruce Lee (buried)

• Called ‘Rain City’, ‘Emerald City’, ‘Jet City’

–2

Sabbatical with the U.S. Forest Service PNW Research Station’s New Urban Natural Resources Stewardship Program

–3

Seattle City Forestry

• SDOT – Non-boulevard street trees– City Arborist; City Landscape Architect

• Parks & Rec Park and boulevard trees• Parks & Rec – Park and boulevard trees– City Forester

• Planning & Development – Private trees• Seattle City Light – Utility trees

–4

Seattle Urban Forestry Issues

• Parking strips privately owned w/ city easement• Canopy cover from 40% in 1972 to 18% in 2007

– Goal to increase cover to 30% in 30 yearsy• Most canopy not native• New ordinance may restrict all private tree removal

– Currently can remove 3 trees/year without permit– Partly due to major landslide & stormwater runoff concerns

• 2007 Urban Forest Management Plan –tiny.cc/SeattleUFMP

Citizen Involvement

• Seattle Urban Forest Stakeholders• Green Seattle Partnership

C d L d C• Cascade Land Conservancy • PlantAmnesty• Seattle Parks Foundation• Earthcorps• Many community, neighborhood groups

Urban Canyons

Space for Trees

–5

Traffic

–6

Traffic Circles

SEA Streets

–7

–8

Tree Protection

–9

Signs

Woody Weeds

• Woody weeds everywhere; only Tamarisk requires control.

• Noxious weeds they’ve given up on:• Noxious weeds they ve given up on:– Blackberries, butterfly bush, ivies, Scotch broom.

• Weeds of concern: – Common hawthorn, English holly, English laurel,

European mountain-ash

–10

Woody Plants of Note

• Japanese maple (Acer palmatum)• Incense-cedar (Calocedrus decurrens)

S t B b th (C i )• Santa Barbara ceanothus (C. impressus)• Raywood ash (Fraxinus oxycarpa)• witch-hazel (Hamamelis species)• variegated sweetgum (Liquidambar

styraciflua ‘Variegata’)

Woody Plants of Note

• cucumbertree (Magnolia acuminata)• Persian parrotia (Parrotia persica)

l l f l (P if )• purpleleaf plum (Prunus cerasifera)• sawtooth oak (Quercus acutissima)• Swedish whitebeam (Sorbus intermedia)

Japanese maple(Acer palmatum)

incense-cedar(Calocedrusdecurrens)

Santa Barbara ceanothus(Ceanothus impressus)

–11

Raywood ash (Fraxinus oxycarpa) witch-hazel (Hamamelis species)

witch-hazel (Hamamelis species)variegated sweetgum (Liquidambar

styraciflua ‘Variegata’)

cucumbertree (Magnolia acuminata) Persian parrotia (Parrotia persica)

–12

purpleleaf plum (Prunus cerasifera) purpleleaf plum (Prunus cerasifera)

sawtooth oak (Quercus acutissima)Swedish whitebeam(Sorbus intermedia)

Weyerhaeuser Bonsai Collection

–13

References

• Seattle City Tree Portal – www.seattle.gov/trees• Seattle SEA Streets – tiny.cc/SEAStreets• Pervious pavement – www perviouspavement orgPervious pavement www.perviouspavement.org• Wash. Park Arboretum – depts.washington.edu/wpa• Butchart Gardens – www.butchartgardens.com• Bonsai – www.weyerhaeuser.com/Company/Bonsai• King County Weeds – tiny.cc/KingCountyWeeds• Fremont Area – www.fremontseattle.com• USU Extension Forestry – extension.usu.edu/forestry

Thanks to…

• U.S. Forest Service PNW Research Station Urban Natural Resources Stewardship

• Nolan Rundquist Seattle City Arborist SDOT• Nolan Rundquist, Seattle City Arborist, SDOT

Mike KuhnsUSU Extension Forester

435-797-4056

mike.kuhns@usu.eduextension.usu.edu/forestry

www.treebrowser.orgwww.utahforestproducts.org