Urban Forest Restoration and Park Design, A Study of Improvements in Habitat Conditions and Open Space Amenity in Kirkland, WA.

Abstract

Increasing development has contributed to the decreasing ecological health of our urban natural areas. Ecological restoration is one way to begin to reverse this trend and it is taking place in city parks throughout the Pacific Northwest. The Green Kirkland Partnership in Kirkland Washington is a city run program that realizes ecological restoration goals in its urban parks through the service of community volunteers. Restoration in urban parks brings new activities to parks with customary recreational uses. The focus of this research is the intersection of urban park design and natural area restoration. The belief that these two entities can become mutually beneficial is the founding principal for this exploration. Using case studies of four parks in the Green Kirkland Partnership this thesis aims to recognize patterns between existing park amenities, volunteer intervention, and changes in restoration site habitat based on the tree-iage matrix. The study finds three park features that could be beneficial to volunteer supported natural area restoration success: pedestrian paths through the site that connect to other pedestrian only routes, secluded benches, and educational signage. Natural areas in urban parks near to either one or all three of these features experienced a positive change in habitat composition.