Green Seattle Partnership Analysis

On Saturday April 30th 2016, I did volunteer work with the Green Seattle Partnership at St. Mark’s Greenbelt. It is a recreational park located next to St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle. I helped removed some invasive weeds that were a threat to the native plants. I volunteered from 10 am until 2 pm, and I enjoyed the time that I spent there. The people I met who were working for this project are very professional, and they believe in caring for the environment. They genuinely care about the parks in Seattle and that was clear to me when I was working with them.
The Green Seattle Partnership is the largest urban forest restoration project in the country (“Green Seattle Partnership”). It was formed in 2004 in coordination with the Department of
This includes the absence of tall trees. Native vegetation helps us by providing ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are services provided by the environment that give us a variety of benefits such as clean drinking water, waste decomposition, storm water management etc. The Green Seattle Partnership cares about ecosystem services, because humans and other living species rely on those benefits to survive (“Green Everett Partnership”).
One important ecosystem service that native vegetation provides is storm water management. Seattle has an average of 37.49 inches of rain a year ("Rain Stats"), which makes storm water management an important ecosystem service for this city. The existence of native plants will soak up more rain water as opposed to dead zones with barren land. This also means landslides are most likely to occur in dead zones (“Green Everett Partnership”). Landslides can cause injuries, loss of property, and even death! If we don’t save the native vegetation, then people may get
The people who were working in this organization are very passionate people, and they care about the parks around Seattle and are working towards their 20-year strategic plan. They took the time to explain to me the effects of invasive plants and how to pick out these weeds. Their passion made me want to volunteer with them again during the summer. Now I truly understand the effects of these invasive plants and the effort it takes to maintain Seattle’s forests and parks.
The Green Seattle Partnership is an amazing organization that set up a great goal for the future of Seattle parks. They take care of the native plants and they do it with great passion. Native plants provide us with a lot of benefits, such as storm water management and our physical-mental wellbeing. It is great to know that there is an organization that cares about the parks and forest in Seattle, and they really inspired me to come and volunteer with them