Seward Park: Many visitors, but few set foot in the 'Magnificent Forest'

Any day when rain isn't pouring, all manner of human motion circles the last big remnant of deep and dark native forest that once covered the hills around Seattle. Joggers and walkers and wheel spinners huff, puff, pedal or push, feel the breeze blow in off Lake Washington, watch wigeons and mergansers dabble and dive, or even eagles wing and soar.

On a clear day, Mount Rainier visually leaps from the horizon in the southeast.

Mobs of humanity daily enjoy the 2.5-mile paved path around the Bailey Peninsula, a former island that in 1913 became Seward Park -- arguably the finest and wildest park in Seattle. Oddly though, relatively few people hike the six or seven miles of true trail that penetrate the 277-acre park's old-growth forest, a surprisingly intact and lonesome grove of towering, snaggy Douglas fir, red cedar, hemlock and bigleaf maple.

Some people prefer it that way.

However, over the next couple of years, more people will be visiting and appreciating the "Magnificent Forest," as it is called, because of an unusual partnership between the Seattle Parks Department and the non-profit conservation group Audubon Washington. Designed to provide a more tangible connection between urban youth and nature, the partnership envisions a complete restoration of the park's aging environmental learning center, followed by a host of ongoing outdoor programs for local middle and high school students beginning in 2007.

DAN DELONG / P-I

Dave Davison of Bainbridge runs along a trail in Seattle's Seward Park.

Both say Seward Park is a logical location for such an endeavor, since its diverse mix of natural habitats sits at the foot of the most ethnically diverse community in Seattle.

"There are 37 different languages spoken in the schools of the Rainier Valley," says Christina Gallegos, Seward Park naturalist. "Seward Park is where human diversity meets natural diversity."

The partnership is part of the national Audubon Society's effort to reach a more diverse audience with its mission to protect native wildlife habitats. Gallegos said it also will help Seattle Parks economically realize its goal of reaching an underserved segment of Seattle's population: urban youth. The city is contributing $680,000 to the renovation; Audubon is moving well toward its goal of raising $3 million to fund the renovation and the first three years of its programs.

"One of the main reasons we chose Seward Park is the amazing natural resource that is Seward Park -- the ancient forest and its native plants, the shoreline -- and the proximity to such a large urban population," says Candy Castellanos, Audubon Washington's education director. "For us, this project is an amazing opportunity to build community. We feel stewardship is about healthy homes and a healthy environment -- healthy places to live, work and play."

DAN DELONG / P-I

An old hollow log on the Seward Park beach gets a thorough going over by 6-year-old Arlo Johnson of Seattle.

A prime focus will be the 212-acre forest, one of only two patches of old growth left in Seattle (the other being in Schmitz Park in West Seattle).

Home to four species of owls, six species of woodpeckers, two active bald eagle nests and dozens of other bird species, Seward Park's forest is much loved by many people. A good illustration was a city proposal last year to remove a couple of dozen dead or dying old trees for the sake of public safety. The plan didn't cut it with park lovers, who pointed out those snags are prime habitat for many birds. Ultimately, it did not fly.

"Sometimes when I'm wandering around the park, because I enjoy it so intensely, I can feel like I'm in a part of the wilderness," says Al Smith, a nearby resident who has spent countless hours removing invasive English ivy from the forest. "To me, to have that in the city is really special."

However, most park visitors never venture into the forest, never take the trails that wander lush ridges and ravines, lined with fern-draped maples, sporting woodpecker-drilled fir snags and laced with salal, Oregon grape and ferns. In researching its program for Seward Park, Washington Audubon found that the vast majority who hike in the park take only the paved perimeter trail, an old road and a popular teenage cruise in the 1960s that was closed to public vehicles in the early '70s.

"Many people may not feel comfortable exploring on their own," Castellanos says. "It's our goal to do guided walks to teach people about the Magnificent Forest. We feel until people understand what a jewel is in their back yards, they may not feel a need to protect it."

DAN DELONG / P-I

Among the wildlife visitors can spot in Seattle's Seward Park are magnificent bald eagles.

Part of the reason many never venture into the forest is that the loop path is a terrific walk along the lakeshore. Another part of it is fear.

Gallegos says Seattle police tell her Seward Park is relatively trouble-free. But the park has something of a reputation as a dumping ground for murder victims. A quick search of P-I files shows bodies were recovered from what the reports called "Seward Park" in 1969, 1985, 2003 and a few weeks ago; the '80s case was apparently a victim of Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer.

"It gives people the impression that it's not a safe place to be," says Gallegos, who says that most of those bodies were not found in the park at all, but in the Seward Park neighborhood. "It's why you don't see more people in the forest. I walk those trails by myself all the time and it's one of the places I feel safest."

One problem park managers deal with on a regular basis is dog owners who let their critters run free. Park regulations require that dogs be kept on leash at all times and in all places in Seward Park. On a recent four-hour visit throughout the park, most visitors with dogs had their animals on leash, but several did not, including two who let their dogs wander unrestrained in the forest.

DAN DELONG / P-I

Allan Smith of Rainier Valley has spent countless hours removing invasive English ivy and non-native blackberries from Seward Park.

"We're trying to provide the opportunity for people to see wildlife, " says Gallegos. "The dogs do just the opposite."

In the forest, wandering dogs also trample native vegetation. Sometimes they bite people. Eighty-two-year-old park regular Bob Richman was walking the forest last summer when he came around a curve in a trail and was bitten by an unleashed dog. It took 21 stitches to close the wound.

"People who leave their dogs off leash -- that's a problem," says Richman. "Another reason (for the rule) is that the dogs destroy vegetation."

One type of vegetation in the park most visitors would just as soon avoid is poison oak. Most patches of the itchy stuff are marked by signs. Stay on the trails and it won't be a problem. But sometimes visitors manage to find it. Not long ago a Brownie troop had a nighttime fire-ring function. Some of the parents may have searched for dead brush to throw in the blaze. Big mistake.

"About half of the parents got this incredibly awful itching," says Gallegos.

Poison oak is a native plant and thus a natural part of the forest -- a forest some people would prefer not be the focus of the new attention Audubon may bring.

"Some people are bummed by them coming," says Gallegos. "They think it's going to be much busier, more commercial."

Audubon's Castellanos says the group may, in the long run, put more people in the park, but it also will protect the forest.

"Because we are a conservation organization, we want to ensure that any increase in use of those trails won't damage the trails," she says.

Richman, for one, isn't thrilled about the group's plans.

"I'm not too excited," he says, "For me, almost the wilder the better."

Seward Park: Many visitors, but few set foot in the 'Magnificent Forest'

By Greg Johnston

Seattle P-I

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