20-year Forest Restoration Plan - City of Kirkland

20-Year Forest Restoration Plan• Timing—early or late, not middle of day, weekday vs. weekend• Regular events—predictable• Sports 1-2 hours—find time before or after• Email communications reminders• Optional/multiple dates• Electronic reader boards to announce events• Reward as a driver and motivator• City declare certain dates Green Kirkland Partnership Days• Banners on over passes or key intersections and roads• Floats on 4th of July• Parades (little league)• shorter “shifts” with a “break” that included an educational/naturalisttour of the park would give people a stretch, provide an opportunityfor “shift change” and serve as an educational purpose boosterand reward for participants• Maybe a mid-week morning or evening option?• “Incentives” are always good, a metro pass to get there? a couponfor a discount at a local merchant for some “green” product likea shopping bag or garden gloves? I am not into promoting a lotof “stuff” giveaways but if there are re-usable replacements forother “throwaway” items that support the “green” theme, that issomething that people like and others will see and ask about, thusspreading the word• Taking a long-term view which preserves what could easily be lost.Innovate how natural spaces can be appealing for families andyoung people without putting in playgrounds everywhere• The only Green Kirkland events that I recall are about removal of invasivespecies. I don’t know if that is all that is organized to date butwonder if there are other opportunities which might appeal to thosenot inspired by invasive plant removal. Maybe even renaming toNative Plant Preservation work would be a little change to increasevolunteering in this area• Need point person—volunteer coordinator• Ask volunteers to give 2 hours on the Saturday work projects andmore if they want. Tough to commit to a half day if it’s nice. Manywill stay more than two hours anyway.• Reader boards in neighborhoods, Internet, TV, Establish grass roots,phone/internet connections, Signs in parks Thru Parks Dept., flyers/seasonal catalogs• We have contributed our time and will continue to do so. We arewilling to contribute money if there were tight guidelines on whatthe funds would be used for and, ideally, if our gift was matched bythe city or another donor• The high school students are always looking for community servicehours. (LWHS and ICS). Construct teams of vols., with prizes for mosthours in, or work done• The feeling that it is a futile job as once they leave that park theivy will start to regrow without a maintenance program in place.Advertising more to alert volunteers that an event is planned to outsidework in the parks. At these events a lot of apartment dwellersmentioned to me that these workshops gave them the opportunityto “garden”• Hard work. Work through organizations: Sr. Ctr., church groups,student groups, etc.• Make the events about more than just the restoration. Make them alittle more social. Maybe go for more singles looking to meet people.Reach out to new Kirklanders, i.e., people who moved into the cityin the last year• Do projects that are on a different day, other than Saturday. Manyparents are fully involved with children’s activities, I play tennis. Ifyou had people committed to ownership of a specific park, all couldarrange together a work party coordinated by Park Department• Put up signs at PCC market. Engage businesses to do the work inKirkland and outside of it (REI, Green Car Company, PCC). Organizework parts with WTA or SeattleWorks• If we can get more school groups involved, I think we might bringin more families. I think once the school kids work at an event, theywould like to return. Can we use GPS “treasure hunts” to promoteorienteering in our newly restored parks?• Groups should be formed with goals and consistent work days (oncemonthly) as opposed to pop-up notices of requests for help• Keep promoting as school community service hours. I didn’t likeshowing up for ivy pulls and not getting to pull ivy for an hour whilewe got ecology lessons. Dang it I wanted to pull that nasty ivy! Theevents are the first to go when I have other commitments. Don’thave any suggestions for that problem• Set targets, assign challenges• Get the word out—publicize! (call John Kurley)• One day or weekend events may be more motivating than a generalcall for volunteers• When I was in high school—LWHS they had us maintain 2 parks forour science projectQ9. Best way to contact you?• Email• Websites• Kirkland Courier• Seattle Times and PIQ10. Which days and times would you prefer for volunteer events?• Wed Evening• Sat• Sun• Summer weekdays• Summer Thursday’s• non-rainy daysQ11. What would you like to see in the Green Kirkland Partnership 20-YrStrategic Plan?• Taking a long-term view which preserves what could easily be lost.Innovate how natural spaces can be appealing for families andyoung people without putting in playgrounds everywhere• It’s exciting to see urban forest restoration expand from SewardPark to Seattle to other cities such as Kirkland• I recently surveyed the Kirkland shoreline and was dismayed to seehow much of our own public lands still have concrete breakwatersand solid bulkheads. We could go a long way towards setting a betterexample for private landowners if we “greened” those places71