The building in front of you is the Discovery Park Environmental Learning and Visitor Center. It’s a fantastical educational resource for people of all ages, and hosts regular evens and programs. “These programs are hands-on experiences employing games, props, and activities to enhance the learning adventure. They are developed to give people a positive experience outdoors and a sense of community and connection with our green spaces”[1].
If you want to get more involved in supporting the forests health through maintainenace and restoration of it’s native biodiversity, volunteering is another fantastic option. Many parts of the park require the removal of blackberry and other invasive species, and the reforestation and replanting of native species to the area. Remember our conversation on the restoration efforts in Capehart forest? These were done, “primarily by volunteer planting crews working with Green Seattle Partnership. Many thousands of native shrubs and trees have been planted in an effort to build high-quality forested wildlife habitat.”[2]
There is also something you can do to protect the Utah Wetlands and other wetland areas. If you see a wetland being filled or threatened, you can “notify the Dept. of Local Services code enforcement 24 hours a day, 7 days a week”.[3]
After it’s designation as a Public park, Discovery has been generally seen as a place of preserving biodiversity and natural habitat, as well as a peaceful area for one to be able to take a break from their daily lives and find calm and solace in nature.
Unfortunately, however, there are still many that see Discovery as simply land that has not yet been used. Over the years there have been proposals to build an outdoor amphitheater in the middle of the park for music and performance events, which would go against the main idea of keeping Discovery Park as simply a natural place, undisturbed. This project was only prevented due to public involvement of park-goers such as yourself, who engaged in public advocacy. They reached out to the City of Seattle and made their thoughts knows, fighting for the preservation and continued restoration of the park.
Many more proposals such as this one are expected in the future, and we will need to continue to speak up for the protection of this place, and the importance of preserving it as is.
