Seattle Parks and Recreation’s Lifelong Recreation Sound Steps Walking Program aims to get walkers aged 50 and over moving by hosting three full days of walks to highlight Olmsted-designed parks, from August 4th to 6th. The walk on Saturday, August 6 will conclude in Queen Anne, by way of Ballard and Magnolia.
This walk…highlights the historic Olmsted park plan and some improvements made possible by the voter-approved 2000 Pro Parks Levy and the 2008 Parks and Green Spaces Levy.
Thursday, August 4: Meet at Seward Park’s Caffe Vita (5028 Wilson Ave. S). The walk proceeds from Seward Park to Capitol Hill by way of Genesee Park, Jefferson Park, Cheasty Blvd, Mount Baker Park, and the many other parks along Lake Washington Blvd.
Friday, August 5: Meet at Victrola Coffee (411 15th Ave. E). Walk from Capitol Hill to Ballard, by way of Volunteer Park, Interlaken Blvd., the Washington Park Arboretum, the University of Washington campus, Ravenna Park, Green Lake Park, and Woodland Park.
Saturday, August 6: Meet at Aster Coffee (5615 24th Ave. NW). Walk from Ballard to Queen Anne by way of Discovery Park, Magnolia Blvd, Kinnear Park, and Queen Anne Blvd.
Total distance for each day is between 12 and 13 miles. Each day will begin with coffee at 8:30 a.m. and will include stops for lunch, afternoon cold drinks, and an early dinner. The walk itself is free, but you’ll need to pay for your own food and beverages. Although many rest stops are included, the walk pace is moderately brisk.
People can join the walk for one, two, or all three days. It’s one way, so walkers should plan to use Metro, or have an accommodating friend or family member to deliver them each morning and pick them up later in the day.
To join the group for this unique opportunity to experience Seattle’s Olmsted parks on foot, please respond by Tuesday, August 2 to Mari Becker at sound.steps@seattle.gov or 206-684-4664.
The Port of Seattle and the City of Seattle are discussing a possible land exchange and creation of a new waterfront park in the Smith Cove area, directly across from Queen Anne at Pier 91. Those discussions could result in a relocated city park and playfield with expanded shoreline access.
The county is currently looking to identify potential locations for the tank and one potential location is in Smith Cove, just south of the Magnolia Bridge. The Port of Seattle owns the parcel of land across from the cruise ship terminals currently being used for tenant storage. To the west of that parcel is land owned by the city that is used for the Smith Cove play field.
King County proposes to design and build an underground diversion structure and tank to store peak flows during large storm events. A diversion structure at 32nd Avenue West will transfer flows through a gravity sewer line in the right-of-way to an underground storage tank located in the Smith Cove Park/Port of Seattle West Yard area. After storms have passed, in-tank pumps and force main will send flows back to West Point Treatment Plant in Discovery Park. No treatment facilities will be built at the project site.
The public is invited to provide input in a meeting on March 3 from 6:30-8:30 pm at the Magnolia Community Center at the Catherine Blaine Cafeteria (2550 34th Ave West).
Last spring a Queen Anne man committed suicide in Discovery Park. The death of businessman Shaun Murphy shocked his family and friends and this blog became a place for them to share their memories. Murphy left behind a wife and young children.
We wanted to share a note we received from Allison Murphy who is now looking for support for her efforts to raise money for suicide prevention.
I will be joined by thousands of people at Green Lake on October 10 to walk in the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) Out of the Darkness Community Walk in honor of Shaun Murphy who we lost in May to suicide. My personal fundraising goal is $5,000. I recognize that this goal is considerable, but I would appreciate any support that you can provide for this worthwhile cause.
For reasons we cannot truly understand, we lost our beloved Shaun Murphy in Discovery Park in Seattle on May 25th, 2010. Shaun was a devoted father, husband, son, brother and friend. He was the respected leader of a successful business and a pillar of the community. Shaun’s passing taught us that suicide is not a tragedy that is isolated to a certain stereotype. It does not occur only with those who are perceived as fragile, ill, or secluded. To the contrary, Shaun was as strong, loving and passionate a person as most people will ever come across in a lifetime. We miss Shaun dearly and we sincerely believe that our efforts here along with any support we receive will help bring awareness, education, and ultimately prevention from this tragedy that impacts so many Americans.
To make an online donation please search for my name (Allison Murphy) on www.outofthedarkness.org and the click “support this participant.” If you would rather donate by check please make the check out to AFSP and mail it in with the offline donation form.
Though these stories don’t hale from Queen Anne, they could affect many in the neighborhood. To keep us all abreast of what’s going in in our neighboring communities, here are a couple stories from two of our sister sites, MyBallard and MagnoliaVoice.
Over in Magnolia, Discovery Park is facing the threat of looming budget cuts at Seattle Parks and Recreation, which if passed, could shut down and lay off the staff at the Discovery Park Environmental Learning Center (aka the Visitor Center) as soon as July. MagnoliaVoice has the full story.
In Ballard there is an update on the long-developing Burke-Gilman Trail ‘Missing Link’ story. Recently a judge ruled that an environmental review would have to be conducted on a small section of the ‘missing link’ in Ballard before the project could continue, a process that is expected to take about six months. This morning the City of Seattle decided not to appeal this decision. Read the full story at MyBallard.
Every wanted to see herons up close and personal? This weekend is your chance. This Saturday, March 6 community members are invited to tour the heron nests in the Kiwanis Ravine in Magnolia with Heron Habitat Helpers. The tour begins with some social time and an annual update on the herons at the Discovery Park Visitor Center at 10 a.m. The walking tour of the heron nests starts at 11 a.m. There will be scopes set up through the ravine to better view the nests.
Heron Habitat Helpers work with the colony of Great Blue Herons that nest in Kiwanis Ravine year after year. Every year the herons return to their nests in February, spending several weeks in courtship before selecting a mate for the season. The female hersons typically lay three to five eggs; both parents alternate incubating the eggs for roughly 28 days. Usually by June or July the heron chicks develop wing feathers large enough for flight.
Tour goes have a choice between two walking distances–the short tour or “total circumnavigation.” For those unable to make the walk, Heron Habitat Helpers will be able to provide riding tours as well. For more information, email info@heronhelpers.org.
Discovery Park is looking for volunteers to plant trees and heal habitats this Saturday, January 30 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. The park will provide plants, tools, gloves and guides. Volunteers are asked to bring energy and enthusiasm. If you’re interested in volunteering, it’s recommended that you pre-register here www.seattle.gov/parks or call (206) 386–4250. Meet at the Discovery Park Visitor Center at 1:00pm.
Do you love taking walks through the wilderness? Could you spend hours exploring a museum? Do you enjoy talking to other people about what you’ve learned? If yes, this just might be the perfect job for you! Discovery Park in Magnolia is looking for volunteer park docents to lead programs and guides through the park.
Docents lead many of the programs here at Discovery Park, including teaching school groups, tots, families, seniors, and more! We provide our docents with extensive training in Northwest natural history and interpretation techniques so they can feel comfortable venturing into the world of education at a park. Docents are the reason that Discovery Park is able to provide so many educational programs to the public. They are able to help children touch their first sea star or hear a red-winged blackbird by the ponds. They teach the importance of our natural world through games, sensory activities, and FUN!
Through the program, volunteers participate in two 6-week training sessions (one beginning in February, the other in August) including field training, natural history lessons and hands-on activities to prepare each docent for leading public educational programs. In return, docents commit to leading 12 programs over the course of the following year.
Applications to become a volunteer docent are being accepted through the end of January. Training for the Docent Class of 2010 begins Wednesday, February 24. For more information contact Docent Coordinator Kristin Benshoof at 206-386-4236 or kristin.benshoof@seattle.gov. or download an application.
11: a.m. update: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officials confirm that a 40 pound male coyote was trapped and killed this morning in Magnolia. “It’s unfortunate to have to take this action, but public safety is our first priority,” said Captain Bill Hebner, who heads WDFW’s enforcement program for the northern Puget Sound region. “We are confident this is the coyote that was approaching people in a dangerous manner and had attacked pets.”
The second coyote that has been seen wandering around Magnolia is believed to be a female. Hebner says the WDFW will continue to monitor her whereabouts by reports sent in by residents. The female may not pose safety risks now that the more aggressive male has been killed, the press release states.
9 a.m. update: Our news partners, The Seattle Times, is now reporting that one coyote has been killed. According to the paper, wildlife officials say the male coyote was caught in a leg trap and shot by a wildlife officer on private property early this morning. Officials are still trying to determine whether to trap and kill the second coyote that has been seen around the neighborhood.
Earlier: Officers from the Department of Fish and Wildlife along with Seattle Police are attempting to hunt and kill at least two coyotes in the Magnolia area, reports our newspartner the Seattle Times. “We determined we have a human health and safety risk,” said DFW’s Bill Hebner, who says officers are working in the morning hours to find the coyotes. “If they can secure a safe shot and be 100 percent sure, they’ll take it.”
DFW and workers from the BNSF Railway are also setting traps for the coyotes. If they catch one, they’ll “humanely dispatch it,” Hebner says.
Although Fish and Wildlife officials and Seattle Police are looking for the coyotes primarily in Magnolia and along the railroad through Interbay, given that they’ve been spotted all over Queen Anne recently, it is a possibility they are still in the area. The coyotes have been wandering Magnolia streets since November, but were not seen in Queen Anne until recently. One of the coyotes attacked a dog on in Magnolia on January 11, who was badly injured by will recover.
DFW cites the seemingly increasing aggression of the two coyotes as reasoning for hunting them down. The agency will not attempt to move the coyotes because, as KING5 reports, once they’ve lost their natural fear of humans they cannot be successfully relocated. Hebner says the department is worried the coyotes could get more aggressive, potentially attacking humans, sighting two separate cases in East King County in 2006 when two children were attacked and needed medical attention, and another case in 2007 when a child in Kent was bit.
Out sister-site, MagnoliaVoice, will be updating on this story as it progresses.
Our sister site, Magnolia Voice, wrote about a sustainable holiday decoration workshop at the Discovery Park Environmental Learning Center this weekend, and although I know we’re not in Magnolia, I thought some Queen Anne residents might be interested in partaking.
From 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 12 participants will be able to create wreaths, garlands and sprays out of non-native, invasive plants – like English ivy, Scot’s broom, and holly – that were removed from Discovery Park. The Environmental Learning Center will provide basic materials, but decoration-makers are invited to bring their own ribbon, cones and decorative additions.
The cost is $20 per person and $16 for each additional person in a party. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Register in advance to make sure you have a spot using course code #45620.
The elusive cougar that officials have been tracking for days, was finally caught at 2 a.m. this morning on the road that leads to the Daybreak Star Cultural Center in Discovery Park.
Get the full story from Magnolia Voice, who reported it first. After sightings all over Magnolia since August 28 (see the sighting map here), officials were able to track down the cougar’s scent with dogs, which chased the cat into a tree before officials sedated it with a tranquilizer gun.
Officials say the animal is doing well, and will be transported to Snohomish County, where he will be released into the wild later this afternoon. He is about 3 years old and weights 138 pounds.
And the question on everybody’s mind, how did the cougar get in Magnolia. Wildlife officer Nicholas Jorg, who captured the cougar, has a theory:
Discovery park will open again today, at 11 a.m. For more information on the capture, see reports on Magnolia Voice.
Here is the text of Wildlife officer Nicholas Jorg’s statement:
You know, a lot of times cats like this, that are good mountain lions, they try to avoid people. So primarily by doing that, they move around at nighttime, and I think maybe in a stormy night a mountain lion could wander around and find out – you know – wake up the next day and he’s in a real urban environment, thinking ‘how the heck did I get here?’ So he might have followed some corridor down, and once you get to a certain point maybe traffic keeps scaring him further and further in the wrong direction, or something along those lines. It’s all kind of guessing and hypothetical at this point, but if he comes back we’ll have a better idea because we’ll have locations on him from the collar. But it’s very unlikely he’d come back. I think it was probably a big accident that he got here in the first place.
When I first saw that mountain lion on the tree, I was – there was still a little bit of astonishment even for me, because I was a little bit of s skeptic still about whether it really existed or not, but when you see that big cat in the tree and you think, ‘wow, I’m in Seattle,’ it was impressive to see that beautiful animal. He’s a real handsome cat; I don’t know if you’ve gotten a chance to see him or not. He’s a real pretty animal. It was nice to see him in there in that he was actually cohabitating with the community so well, really. He didn’t really cause any problems, and he was trying to stay out of sight.
Our sister site, Magnolia Voice, has reported that Discovery Park is closed until at least Monday, while officials attempt to catch the elusive cougar that’s been spotted numerous times over the last few days.
The park was closed after another sighting last night. Get the full story here, and stay tuned for updates!
Read up on our previous cougar sighting coverage here.
Join botanist Clay Antieau on August 8 from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. for a native plant workshop in Discovery Park. The workshop will explore what native plants do in the dog days of summer. Antieau says that it is hot and dry outside now but there is lots happening in the plant world including sex, legacies, photosynthesis, parasites, disease, dormancy, and death.
The four hour outdoor workshop in Discovery Park will explore the identification and history of native plants and invasive introduced plants. Sponsored by the Washington Native Plant Society, this workshop will give a broad overview of our area’s ecosytems, the impact of human activities and invasive species on the Puget Sound region, and challenges of restoration.
Antieau is a horticulturist, botanist, and environmental scientist who enthusiastically combines these disciplines to offer unique abilities and perspectives in horticultural and environmental education and environmental science. A recognized local authority, he currently works for the City of Seattle as an environmental scientist and planner.
There is a $20 registration fee for this workshop ($10 for WNPS members). There is a limit of 25 participants, so pre-register by calling 206-527-3210 or emailing maria@wnps.org. Participants will need to be physically able to cover a 2 to 3 mile walk through the Park. Morning snacks will be provided and participants should bring a sack lunch.
Meet at the Discovery Park visitor center. Directions here.
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